AFTER Ken Schmidt was introduced and National Truck Equipment Association first vice-president Dennis Jones left the stage, an awkward silence enveloped Room 107 at the Indiana Convention Center.
The podium had been made available for the speaker who would present the Business Forum to wrap up The Work Truck Show 2007 in Indianapolis. OK, so where was he?
And then, from the back of the room, a thunderous roar erupted. In rode a black-clad figure on a glistening, black-and-gold Harley-Davidson 100th anniversary Screaming Eagle Deuce motorcycle. He headed up the right aisle and came to a halt in front of the stage.
Ripping off his black helmet and leather jacket, he said, “I was thinking about doing a burnout right here. Should I?”
Schmidt, an in-demand speaker and communications consultant who was credited with helping resuscitate Harley-Davidson while in the position of director of communication, said he had come to talk about something that doesn't get talked about in business but should be atop every business agenda — basic human behavior, what makes us tick, what motivates us and what de-motivates us, emotion, passion, individuality, our own self-worth, and how channeling this can make us more competitive and the brands we represent more competitive.
He said when somebody surprises and delights you — doing something you didn't expect — there is a 100% chance you will tell somebody else. He said Harley-Davidson will sell 400,000 motorcycles this year, largely because of happy customers going to work on Monday morning and telling their co-workers that they need to go out and spend over $20,000 on a Harley-Davidson — a decision that is “not rational or logical,” but emotional.
“Your customers are at a convention right now,” he said. “What are they talking about? The people they're doing business with. What are they saying about you? What kind of language are they using to describe your business? Because that's who you are. I like to call it noise. What kind of noise is your business generating? When the people who can put you out of business tomorrow are talking about you by name, what are they saying? Do they talk solely about what you do? ‘Well, they're an upfitter.’ Or, ‘They build tool boxes.’“
Success a different way
He said Harley-Davidson is the most successful company serving any industry on the planet because it made a conscious decision to stop doing business the way everybody else was doing it and the way it was expected to.
Harley-Davidson was dying in the mid-1980s. The company, damaged by a reputation for mechanical breakdowns and an influx of imports, lost $50 million in 1981 and 1982, and narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 1983 and again in 1985.
But it stopped the downfall by sending its president out on a tour of motorcycle events to listen to customers' complaints and actually write them down in their presence. It spruced up its local dealerships to make them inviting. It established the Harley Owners Group (HOG) in response to a growing desire by Harley riders for an organized way to share their passion.
For a 12-year period, there was more demand for the product than there was available supply. A $10,000 investment in 1987 is now worth over $4 million.
“Is it because people are buying product?” Schmidt said. “No, it's because customers are feeling good and telling their friends, driving the business forward. Dreams, passion, freedom, and individuality are the top four drivers. Harley people say, ‘I just love the way it makes me feel.'“
Schmidt says he goes to many trade shows and can tell within three minutes which companies have good working cultures and which do not. He said he sees people in booths who look like they'd rather be “machine-gunned to death” than spend another five minutes there. Or there are two workers talking to each other. Or there's one worker — with his back to you.
“These are people who don't like what they're doing,” he said. “For whatever reason, they've made themselves unlikable. Do they look like they're enthusiastic and passionate about what they're doing? No, they look like they're dying. Businesses that allow that to happen slowly kill themselves.
“If I don't like you, I'm not doing business with you. I don't care what you're selling.”
So make some noise.