This guide is for you if you want to explore the motorcycle coaching market at a low cost, before making the final decision to go ahead and invest. It will provide you a few important aspects you need to know to start your own motorcycle coaching business.
The Basics
To start your motorcycle coaching business, you would need the following:
- WhatsApp Business Account (ideally with a different contact number, not your personal number) so that your customers can chat with your business and ask any queries about your motorcycle coaching services.
Cost: Free - Website where your customers can visit and get all the details they want, such as contact information, course details, pricing, service hours, services offered, images, etc. It is very important for your business to have a website as it helps build trust and credibility. You do not need a paid plan initially. You can easily get started with the free website plan offered by WordPress.
Cost: Free, if using the WordPress Free plan - Social Media Page – Create a business page on Facebook and Instagram. Social media presence is immensely important as most of the customers would check out your social media profile at some stage of their buying journey.
Cost: Free - Google My Business Profile, so that your customers can directly contact you via Google search. You can create your Google My Business Profile here.
Cost: Free - Payment Link – Once your customers contact you, they would need a trusted online mechanism to pay for your services. This could be an independent payment link or embedded in your website. Razorpay offers easy payment links that you can use instantly.
Cost: Razorpay charges a small percentage per transaction
All of the above requirements are essential to convey professionalism and instill confidence in the customer, which is very important for any business. None of the above requirements cost anything.
How to Get Your First Customers
Audience building is a continuous activity and must be done before you actually start your business. Your customers are all over the internet but you need to find them and connect with them. The following are some of the proven ways to connect with your customers:
- Your Network – Your first customers would come from your immediate circle – friends, family, relatives and colleagues. Because these people already know and trust you, it would be easiy to convince them of the value you provide. Promote your business and show them how you can help them become a safer bike rider.
- Google My Business Listing – Google offers local businesses an easy way to get in front of potential customers in their local area. All you need to do is build your Google My Business profile. Once you have built the profile, you need to claim and update your listing with the business details.
Cost: Free - Social Media
a.) Start posting relevant, valuable content from your company’s social media page.
b.) Search for Facebook groups about motorcycles, automobiles, education, etc, join them and start posting valuable content. Participate in relevant discussions, offer your opinion, advice and insights and build trust among the community. Once you establish trust, you can use this post to get interested leads for your motorcycle coaching program.
c.) Start posting high quality images and videos on Instagram and Facebook.
Cost: Free - YouTube video marketing – YouTube is a goldmine for anyone searching for videos about topics of their interest. Create high quality, informative videos about various topics related to beginner motorcycling for your end users and convert them into customers.
Cost: Free - Question and Answer sites
a.) Leverage question and answer sites such as Quora and Reddit to find motorcycling related questions and answer them. One of the major benefits of these websites is that most often these pop up on the top of Google results, without you spending a single penny. This is a proven way to find and connect with your audience.
b.) Write “How to” articles for websites such as Wikihow.com. It will help you get discovered online faster.
Cost: Free - Listing websites – List your business on local listing websites such as Justdial.com and Sulekha.com. This is where a large chunk of your customers would come from. Justdial.com also offers a free listing. You can search for more such listing websites.
Cost: No cost for free listing. For paid listing, it depends on your city, business category (driving schools), type of listing, etc. - Local area marketing – Advertise your business in your local area using the following methods:
a.) Print eye-catching brochures and distribute them in your local area. Here is a ready-to-use brochure design template which you can instantly customize and download for printing.
Cost: Depends on the number of brochures being printed
b.) Set up a kiosk/stall in a local commercial area such as a mall, shopping center or a residential compound and promote your business by offering free trials on the coaching motorcycle. If you want to setup a kiosk, the cost for it would differ in each area – a district shopping complex would be more affordable compared to a mall.
Cost: Usually varies between Rs. 2,000-5,000 per day, depending on the location
c.) Advertise in your local area newspaper to grab eyeballs.
Local newspaper advertising can be very effective for the initial launch of your business, as it helps in spreading awareness in your local area. If you plan to advertise locally, the cost for that would be subjective. It is usually affordable.
Cost: Depends on the number of readers and type of ad for that newspaper
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.
Ralph Waldo emerson
Minimum Requirements To Start Motorcycle Training
In order to start training your first customers, you would require the following:
- Riding gear – Helmet, gloves, knee guards and elbow guards are a must.
Cost: Riding gear and helmets can be availed for approximately Rs. 5,000. - Safe place to provide training – Since it would be your first time as a coach, we would highly recommend you to find an enclosed public ground to train. If that is not available, then the next best place to start training would be a service lane/by-lane where there is no traffic. Avoid going on main roads at all costs.
Cost: Free, since all training would be in public places - Training Course Module – Once you get your first customer, you would need to follow a step by step course to train them successfully. Since we are providing you a tried-and-tested course with a high success ratio, you don’t have to spend a single penny on buying a new course.
Cost: Free - Motorcycle on rent (or borrowed motorcycle) – Find a good motorcycle rental agency near your local area and rent a regular 100-150 CC motorcycle for the duration you want to train your students. Depending on the model and duration of rental, the price varies. There are various motorcycle rental services in each city, which can be availed.
Cost: Depends on the duration of rental and model chosen
Caution: A new rider may make mistakes which could lead to minor crashes/injuries. As a coach, it is your job to prevent them and try to avoid any damages to the motorcycle and to the student. You would be liable to pay the rental agency for any damages caused to the motorcycle.
I hope you gained some knowledge to start your motorcycle coaching business at a low cost. Feel free to comment your valuable suggestions below.
If you are still wondering if a motorcycle coaching business is right for you, check out this article.
