Motorcycle dealers: keeping enquiries coming through winter

For most bike dealers, the phone goes quiet once the clocks change. Fewer people are riding, and fewer are browsing for their next bike. But the riders who are still searching in winter are often serious, and the work you do now shapes how busy the spring is.

Write about what riders search for in winter

Riders do not stop thinking about bikes when they stop riding them. They look for different things. A handful of useful articles, written once, can bring visitors to your site all winter and every winter after.

• Laying up a bike. Storage, battery care, fuel, tyres and covers. Practical advice from people who handle bikes every day.
• Buying in winter for spring. Why some riders buy now, what to check on a bike that has been stood, and how to plan the first ride.
• Part-exchange now. Trading in before the spring rush means less time with a bike in the garage and the new one ready when the weather turns.
• Getting back on. Licences, kit and choosing a first bike after a break.

Write them in your own words, answer the question in the first paragraph, and link to your stock where it fits. Our piece on what to write on a dealer blog has more ideas.

Keep your stock pages fresh

A winter buyer has time to look closely. A site with the same bikes, the same prices and a few “sold” adverts left up since summer tells them nothing is happening. Take sold bikes down promptly, review prices on anything that has stood for a while, and add new arrivals as soon as they are ready, even if only a few a week.

Use the quiet weeks to fix photos and descriptions

In the season there is never time. In winter there is. Go through your stock one bike at a time.

• Retake weak photos in good light: both sides, front and rear, the clocks, tyres, the chain and any extras.
• Fill gaps in each description: service history, number of keys, accessories, recent work and anything a rider would ask on the phone.
• Check the details are right, from engine size to licence category, and that the first line says why this bike is worth a look.

Make part-exchange and finance easy to ask about

Plenty of winter enquiries are not “I want this bike today”. They are “what would you give me for mine?” and “what would this cost a month?”. Both are good leads. Put a clear part-exchange button on every bike page and on your home page, and ask for photos and mileage so you can give a sensible figure. Show monthly finance where you offer it, so a buyer can see what spring might cost them. Our guides to part-exchange enquiries and finance calculators for bike dealers go into more detail.

Plan your spring pages now

When the weather turns, buyers arrive all at once. Have your pages ready before they do. Think about the searches riders make in spring, such as adventure bikes, learner-legal bikes or naked bikes under a set price, and build a page for each that shows the matching stock with a short, useful introduction. Plan any spring offer or open day too, so it can go live the moment you want it to.

Stay in touch with past customers

Winter is a good time to call or email people who bought from you a year or two ago. Some will be thinking about a change, and a dealer who remembered them is the first place they will look.

How MotoVend handles it

MotoVend is priced on the vehicles you have active: £69 a month includes 20, then £1 for each extra, plus VAT. Drafts, sold and archived bikes do not count, so if you carry more than 20 bikes and fewer over winter, your bill comes down with your stock. The built-in blog lets you set an expiry date on an offer post, so it comes off your site by itself, and part-exchange and finance enquiry forms are built in. You can also build landing pages for the bikes riders search for. See MotoVend for motorcycle dealers.