Opinion/Analysis

We should consider charging a consulting fee that is relevant and fair but should also be disclosed up front.

Tagged Retailer education

Anyone who operates a business within the bike industry knows how challenging things are today. My suggestion is to approach these challenges by viewing your business as a wheel.

U.S. consumers can often buy from non-U. S. sites without paying sales taxes or import duties. Sometimes that gives foreign retailers a head start of 20 percent or more.

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — Now that the Supreme Court has (almost) resolved the state tax issue for online retailers, the time might be right to push to increase the collection of import duties.

This anonymous guest editorial first appeared in PBMA Mechanics Minute, a weekly newsletter from the Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association.

Barnett Bicycle Institute's Jeff Donaldson says recent industry reports point to the importance of investing in technical training.

Tagged Retailer education

Industry veteran Dave Goeppner says adapting to new buying habits will take courage, especially for purveyors of premium products.

Matt Powell.

Matt Powell, an analyst at The NPD Group, says he's never liked the term "omnichannel" to describe the new sports retail environment.

Industry veteran Dan Sotelo says, "IBDs need to bite the bullet, stop resisting and alienating online consumers, and just face the fact that the internet is here to stay."

Jeff Rowe, vice president of the Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association, says a trained service staff can turn lost sales into opportunities.

Where are you and your staff, at the IBD, getting technical training on an ongoing basis?

Tagged Retailer education

BRAIN's editor-in-chief says female consumers are going to vote with their wallets when they encounter sexist marketing campaigns, but it's not BRAIN's job to protect companies from themselves.

Stop means stop.

Responding to an earlier opinion column, Ray Keener says, "Americans love bicycles, they're just not so crazy about cyclists. I believe that, collectively, we as cyclists can't encourage a change in the law that further erodes the general perception of our ilk."

Photo by Bidgee, Wikicommons.

For 35 years, people riding bikes in Idaho have been allowed to do something they can't legally do just about anywhere else—treat stop signs as yields. Until June 2017, Idaho was the sole state that permitted this behavior. Now it's been joined by Delaware. Is California next?

Sarah Lamb analyzes some results from a recent PBMA member survey.

Drive Revenue and Sell Service. One simple idea from James Stanfill.

Tagged Retailer education
Sarah Lehman.

The CEO of Enve says accomplishments in Utah are threatened by recent controversies.

A contestant in the Mechanics Challenge at Interbike 2016.

PBMA president James Stanfill says the Internet challenges retail mechanics to keep it pro.

Tagged Retailer education

There’s no hidden agenda here. Senators Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch of Utah, the bill’s author and original cosponsor respectively, would like to see Moab protected for mountain bikers and more human-powered Moab-type destinations emerge. The bill doesn’t provide for motorized travel, semi-motorized travel by devices like e-bikes, grazing, mining, or sale of federal land. Nor does it amend the Wilderness Act substantively.

Without public lands, there is no mountain biking, and Sen. Mike Lee is no friend of public lands. He supports the state takeover of public lands and votes consistently NOT to fund the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management. Lee’s support of the STC bill is part of his larger agenda to undermine the environmental community, undermine the public land agencies, and give states control of federal lands.

We all know the song, right? But what does that have to do with your business?

A key to growing your profitability is to perfect the art of the add-on sale.

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