Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/316641
8 • May 26, 2014 • Powersports Business NEWS www.PowersportsBusiness.com "I've made the statement very, very clear, and John Bloor and [Triumph Motorcycles Ltd CEO] Nick Bloor have made the statement very, very clear that the dealer is the center of our business and will always be the center of our business. Period. It's only through them that we are successful. We're just a customer service provider is the way I'm looking at it," Heichelbech said. DEALER-CENTERED Throughout Heichelbech's first few years as the leader of Triumph North America, he has had a keen focus on helping dealers succeed. Since the he started at Triumph, he has pushed value over discounts and sought many ways to help dealers make more money. At the most recent dealer meeting at Barber Motors- ports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, Heichel- bech announced a 1 percent margin increase, bringing margin to about 23.5 percent on motorcycles, second only to Harley-Davidson. Triumph's goal with that move is for deal- ers to be able to afford more staff, so they can better serve each customer. Triumph has also encouraged its dealers to share stories about the brand, their own dealerships and Triumph riders, to draw customers in on an emotional basis, rather than spouting specs and features, which a customer can get anywhere. "Of course, the performance of the motor- cycle and the right motorcycle for the con- sumer is all important, but this is a product that people are buying on emotion, and they're buying it to say something about who they are or what they stand for or to stand out from the crowd, So they're not buying it because I've got 2 more horsepower than the guy down the road necessarily," Heichelbech said. In addition to increasing the margin and shar- ing Triumph stories with its dealers, the OEM is also offering training online, with regional man- agers and at the annual dealer conference. Triumph also has launched monthly mys- tery shopping at each store, so dealers can benchmark themselves against the national average and even their competitors, which Triumph also secret shops at. Through this system, dealers are paid for performance, as Heichelbech says that's the best way to get the principal involved. "What we really want to know, and what the dealer really wants to know is every time a guy walks into my dealership, are my sales guys doing what they're supposed to be doing, and are they doing it well? And well is talking to every customer, talking to them right away, giving them the story of not only the dealership but of the brand and putting them on the right bike and asking them to be a customer," Heichelbech said. CULTURAL SHIFT With all the changes that Triumph North America has undergone under Heichelbech's leadership, one of the biggest things he believes he is delivering is a cultural change from the OEM staff down to the dealers. "I want all of my employees, I want all of my dealers to dream big, and what I mean by that is don't think about incremental progress. Incre- mental progress will not get us where we want to be as a brand, as a profitable business, and so many times we get stuck in the idea of, 'Boy, if we improve 10 percent, we're really doing good compared to everybody else.' I don't care about everybody else; I care about us. And I don't want 10 percent; I want 100 percent; I want 1,000 percent, and when we think that way, or when we dream like that, we think completely different, and that's the sauce that you want, the secret sauce," he said. "But it's really hard to get them to dream. ... "So then there's the belief, and the belief is, 'OK, if I do this big dream, do I believe I can accomplish it, or is it just a bunch of fluff?' But belief is hope, and everybody needs to have hope, otherwise life sucks if you don't have hope. And that's where they known comes in, and known means you've got to give them little events, little wins along the way. And so when you do that, then the three start to work together in a circular formation, or a circular equation, and they start believing it and dreaming bigger because the known or event just happened." When Heichelbech joined Triumph, he noticed a lack of positivity and a lack of dream- ing, so one of his goals has been to create actions that lead to a cultural shift. "That was the biggest challenge for me because there wasn't a lot of dreaming big and belief, and there weren't really any knowns coming in besides, 'Man, our business is in the tank, and we're losing money, and we're dis- counting constantly.' So that was a very demor- alizing business model at the time," he said. Heichelech's team has grasped on to his new philosophy, and he says it's the people he works with every day who have really helped lead the OEM to where it is today. "The thing that I guess I'm the most proud of is the staff that we have and how the staff cares so much about the Triumph brand and so much about the customers, and I mean both the dealer and the retail customer. Without them and what they've been doing the last three years, we wouldn't be where we're at, and so I think that transformation in the staff is prob- ably my proudest accomplishment," he said. "It wasn't just me. I've got others, the management team, Don Carleo, my CFO, and Matt Sheahan, my COO, I mean all these guys have helped me with this; it's not a one-man band." PSB HEICHELBECH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 "The dealer is the center of our business and will always be the center of our business. Period. It's only through them that we are successful." Greg Heichelbech, CEO, Triumph North America P01x08-PSB7-News.indd 8 5/14/14 2:01 PM