Now that the sun has faded on motorcycle short courses and Stage 2 of the M-GLS quietly commences (yes, quietly because every man and his dog got their learners or licence pre-March 19 and now there is comparatively little demand for motorcycle training and assessment), what does the new motorcycle training and assessment landscape look like?
Firstly, the market place pretty much got what it wanted as far as the cost of getting a learners permit is concerned. So in that sense, we have gone from cheap short courses to cheap (comparatively) long courses. Good for the consumer but bad for motorcycle training providers. Let us be clear on that point – bad for OTHER motorcycle training providers.
How so you ask? Well, it appears that a lot of providers out there must feel as though they are at the mercy of weekend dirt bike riders and farmer’s sons, because now that they can’t offer them super short courses (which is how motorcycle training providers traditionally attract this type of rider to their training organisation instead of say…Armstrongs), most providers have now decided to offer them super cheap prices as compensation instead. Heads up, unless the training provider you have selected has the backing of a big parent company or is running its operation out of their lounge room, super cheap prices – far below what it could conceivably cost to actually deliver two whole days of training – are not sustainable.
Prediction – expect a couple of motorcycle training providers to quietly disappear. Super cheap learners permit course costs don’t actually encourage competition and customer service, they destroy it, by slowly letting ‘economic attrition’ take its course. But for now, all motorcycle training providers are riding high on the thousands of extra people who decided to get their learners permit before Stage 2 of the M-GLS commenced on March 19, 2016. But wait ‘till pain kicks in. There’s a fair chance providers will go broke being busy – less students per course, longer courses, more running costs and super-slim margins. This is not what you would ordinarily call a recipe for commercial viability – but hey, the motorcycle training industry brought that one upon itself.
Seriously, you got to ask (and we did!) “What’s wrong with giving new riders at the learners permit stage a really great training experience, the best it could possibly be?” Silence. Someone coughing in the background. Quite clearly the answer to that question is “We’re worried about charging the riding public more.” What are you worried about? That they won’t like you anymore? Motorcycle training providers aren’t here to make friends per sae or concern themselves with how many Facebook likes they have, we’re here to make sure that our clients are prepared the first time they go out there by themselves and to make sure they get back home to the families safe. From having the client’s best interests in mind always comes respect. A client can even fail their assessment and still respect your organisation.
Anyway, this provides us with a nice little segue. You should only ever be worried about charging more for your service if you intend to deliver less.
Rhetorical question to the masses out there – What standard of training and equipment do you think you’re going to get from a motorcycle training provider who isn’t making enough to put back into their business? if you’re thinking little to none then you’re on the right track.
Enough about others though. What about Armstrongs? We, as usual, will be taking the ‘best value’ approach. Sure, we won’t be cheapest out there (we never are!) but we are easily the BEST VALUE. Brand new bikes (Z300s – safest fleet out there), brand new protective DriRider jackets (others will let you do you’re on-road training and assessment in a long sleeve T-Shirt! That’s really going to hurt if you come off), brand new helmets, brand new gloves, excellent trainers, excellent customer support from start to finish…you get the picture. But hey, that’s always been the Armstrongs way.
So if ‘value’ is what you’re after, then Armstrongs is the motorcycle training provider for you. Don’t forget to take advantage of our introductory offer for the 2 day learners permit course – it is unbelievably good “value”.