Happy New Year and Go Fast, Take Chances.

As I'm updating the Corpo blog with Slacker Radio streaming Social D 'Let it Be Me' playing through my iPod, I'm reminded that this is your year to take chances.

Let it be me, the one to take customer service a step further that the other shop down the street or across town. Take a chance on cultivating your road cycling market if you've been neglecting that demographic, with a Monday_Night_no one_gets_dropped_social-ride. Every beginner that buys a road bike, heck, doesn't have to be a beginner cyclist, anyone that would be willing to give you an email address and come out for a spin about the land for 90min at 15mph/avg speed, should be invited. Be patient, in time the number of the attendees will multiply but keep in mind that you MUST have a competent leader and sweeper for every ride. It takes one unorganized ride with little to no structure and guidance to knock your attendance back down and spread ill will for your shop ride. When done properly, for the dealer, this will turn into a ride on Monday, buy on Tuesday scenario and you'll build a healthy and happy cycling community in your town. Email me if you need more ideas on assembling a once a week social ride for your shop.

Let it be me, that takes the leap in August 2010 to gather any customer remotely interested in cyclocross with a CX/pot luck dinner every Thursday at 5pm. Make some pseudo barriers out of PVC piping, meet at the local park and work on technique. After the ride, meet back at the shop for an impromptu dinner/pot luck chow fest. People by nature want to belong to something, create fun and challenging events, and people will come back.

Let it be me that hosts a 'Themed Movie Night' once a month with stationary trainers in the shop. You supply the flicks, a gas grill for burgers, dogs, some bevies and the customers bring their trainer and a bike. Start of with fight movies by the great Bruce Lee. For every fight scene that erupts, sprint for that duration, soft pedal and recover in between the combat scenes. Or Fight Club...my favorite. How you take on movie night is your biz, this is a start in the right direction because every shop can't supply a room full of Computrainers, right?
My point here is, this is the year to be creative with how you cultivate and handle your customer base. After all, isn't that the primary job of any business-- To establish/maintain a customer base and generate revenue? Sounds easy right. For some dealers it isn't. For some dealers in my territory, they've been carrying out a facsimile of the above mentioned ideas for awhile now and have been fairing well through this recession/economical dump/what-ever-you-wanna-call-it.

In closing, say to yourself, 'Let it be me that increases the shops Community support, gives the brands we stock Credibility, and kills it with Customer service.' --the 3-Cs.
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Go fast, take chances.

This is a saying that a close friend of mine has been quoting for years. Bianchi's National Sales and Product Manager, Jim Stevenson is subscribing to that philosophy with his 2010 D2 Pico Chrono.

Best of legs against the clock in 2010, Jim!

The Pico Crono is a monocoque constructed frame utilizing Toho IM600 carbon which is also found in the Mono-Q frame set as well as 1 of 3 carbon materials utilized in the B4P T-Cube frames of years past. This grade of carbon fiber has a very high level of strength combined with an optimal amount of shock absorption. Smooth, slippery and fast.

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Will Mahler