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Originally Posted by falerna
I am contemplating becoming a Segway dealer and tour operator, in a major US metropolitan area that presently has no dealer and only one tour in the city. Can anyone give me a brief rundown on the business perspective of starting and operating such a venture? I am no stranger to business operations and marketing, and I believe that many opportunities exist for sales, service, and tours, for both individuals and businesses. Are there any rules-of-thumb for percentages of sales vs service vs tour revenue? Can revenue be predicted based on the number of machines being operated, the size of the local population, or the number of tourists? I am prepared to make this a full time job, if I can get the numbers to work.
I have owned an i2 for almost a year after becoming disabled, and it is one of the most amazing machines I've ever encountered. To make a living from this would be a dream come true. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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Getting into the Segway tour arena can be very rewarding financially and personally. I love running my company and we are growing very quickly.
The first thing you should do is contact Segway Inc about starting a dealership in your area. I would recommend starting with a reasonable number of Segways (6-10) and focus on marketing to hotels and visitor centers. I personally know several dealers, and you will have to sell quite a few units before turning a profit, so be aware of that and focus much of your marketing efforts on building your tour business.
Create a business plan and keep a close eye on your competition. Take several tours with your direct competition and a few more tours with companies in other cities. I have found it very useful to create a partnership relationship with a couple competitors and my dealer, and this helps me to book larger parties (sharing Segways) and prevents us from undercutting each others pricing too much.
I see that you plan on making this a full-time job. Excellent decision!!! It will be very tough the first 6 months, so plan on being in the red financially for at least that long. Once you start to grow a customer base, sales will start to flow in from repeat customers, hotels, conventions and corporate events and team-buildings.
Best of luck!
Christopher L Clary
Segway Nation
www.SegwayNationInc.com