Furloughed Fox Reps & Future of retail sales

Premix
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Premix
Saw quite a few of the Fox Racing Reps got furloughed last week via LinkedIn and other social media.

Going forward, have to wonder how this downturn will impact sales positions like these and dealer sales/dealerships in general for powersports.
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FWYT
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FWYT 4/1/2020 12:22pm
4/1/2020 12:22pm
Oh man . . . rough times, for sure!
(outta work myself)
BobbyM
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BobbyM 4/1/2020 12:26pm
4/1/2020 12:26pm
Like a miracle this virus will be gone.
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Spooner
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Spooner 4/1/2020 12:34pm
4/1/2020 12:34pm
I think they all got furloughed for 60 days which really sucks for those guys. I know a bunch of employees at a distributor were as well, not just sales guys. Its interesting times for sure and I feel for everyone affected. For my company we are selling from home which is..challenging when you are used to doing sales at the shops. My area isn't as badly affected though luckily so the dealers are doing pretty decent still.
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endurox
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endurox 4/1/2020 12:51pm
4/1/2020 12:51pm
Hope they got a few weeks severance pay to hold them over before the unemployment checks start showing up.
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Stuntman949
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Stuntman949 4/1/2020 1:52pm
4/1/2020 1:52pm
Just happened to my friend over there and she's a stress case to begin with. Such a bummer
soggy
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soggy 4/1/2020 3:38pm
4/1/2020 3:38pm
endurox wrote:
Hope they got a few weeks severance pay to hold them over before the unemployment checks start showing up.
not usually how rep positions are compensated in my experience.
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Premix
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Premix 4/2/2020 4:14am
4/2/2020 4:14am
soggy wrote:
not usually how rep positions are compensated in my experience.
Yea those sales reps are tough gigs. Low salary around 30k and all commission based.
soggy
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soggy 4/2/2020 6:39am
4/2/2020 6:39am
soggy wrote:
not usually how rep positions are compensated in my experience.
Premix wrote:
Yea those sales reps are tough gigs. Low salary around 30k and all commission based.
yep, I don't have experience in the rep world of moto but I do in the ski industry and reps for ski manufacturers typically had to buy(take a loan out) for there demo equipment for the year 30-50 pairs of skis and bindings, wasn't uncommon for them to spend 25k+ on the gear.
Spooner
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Spooner 4/2/2020 8:22am
4/2/2020 8:22am Edited Date/Time 4/2/2020 8:23am
soggy wrote:
not usually how rep positions are compensated in my experience.
Premix wrote:
Yea those sales reps are tough gigs. Low salary around 30k and all commission based.
soggy wrote:
yep, I don't have experience in the rep world of moto but I do in the ski industry and reps for ski manufacturers typically had to...
yep, I don't have experience in the rep world of moto but I do in the ski industry and reps for ski manufacturers typically had to buy(take a loan out) for there demo equipment for the year 30-50 pairs of skis and bindings, wasn't uncommon for them to spend 25k+ on the gear.
First off we do better than $30k at least for any main line distributor or brand rep. But most of the companies its all commission but with some draw against commission to keep a regular paycheck coming in. Some do a once a month check instead. Pretty much everyone buys their own samples. The way the company handles them does vary. Sometimes you can send some or all of the samples back that you don't end up selling. I get people at shops every day shocked that we have to buy it all but its just the way the industry works. Its not an easy job but I like that every day is a little different and you end up becoming good friends with just about every shop. So you're going around seeing your buddies and showing them cool stuff and helping them out. Not a bad way to make a living. I'm pretty good buddies with my local fox rep too, I'm super bummed for him and hate that they did that to him. It doesn't make sense to me as all the other reps are just working from home and some are even still traveling but I don't think that's the best idea either.
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Huckster
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Huckster 4/3/2020 12:56am
4/3/2020 12:56am
soggy wrote:
yep, I don't have experience in the rep world of moto but I do in the ski industry and reps for ski manufacturers typically had to...
yep, I don't have experience in the rep world of moto but I do in the ski industry and reps for ski manufacturers typically had to buy(take a loan out) for there demo equipment for the year 30-50 pairs of skis and bindings, wasn't uncommon for them to spend 25k+ on the gear.
I spent 15+ yrs making a living as a rep in both the Ski and moto industry. Never once did I have to take out a loan to buy samples or demo skis. We were billed for our demo skis but i had a dealer who bought every pr every yr and I was actually able to make a few bucks off of it. Every one of the moto brands I worked for gave us samples except a few goggle companies. Most of the gear had “sample” printed across the lower back. It had something to do with the import taxing. It may have changed since I left a decade ago. Now I work for the largest sporting goods distributor in the US and we don’t get billed for our Samples either.
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TheRookie
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TheRookie 4/3/2020 4:47am
4/3/2020 4:47am Edited Date/Time 4/3/2020 4:48am
I was thinking about this as I drove to work the other morning, it has to be rough being any sort of sales rep right now. As many times as I kick myself for not taking the job with Leatt a few years back, I wouldn't be working like I am right now. I hope both the companies and the reps can pull through.
Spooner
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Spooner 4/3/2020 5:44am
4/3/2020 5:44am
Yeah I don’t think any of the reps I know have to take out loans, you’re just billed for them at a later time. But like Huckster I always sell mine. Most of the apparel only reps do get free samples but like he said they are actual samples where I only show the final products. In my area we don’t get many single brand reps anymore, it’s just distributors, Fox, and a couple guys that do a bunch of single lines as an independent rep. I’m lucky that being with a big distributor I’m ‘diversified’ so while apparel is hard right now because of coronavirus I can sell hard parts, accessories, tires, etc and honestly business is still quite good. People have more time at home to wrench and they seem to be taking advantage of it.
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