Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/499779
www.PowersportsBusiness.com Powersports Business • May 4, 2015 • 33 As I watched the min- utes tick by at the DMV, I anxiously awaited my turn in the line. It was most definitely at the back of a very long line, forget the fact that I called ahead to find out what time of the day they were the slowest. "Ticket P628, Desk, Number 3." I was up. It's as if I could feel the level of "pissed off" exuding from the clerk at 20 feet. Then I found out I didn't have the VIN Verification form filled out properly (mainly because I forged it, but I digress). How can anyone be that angry at 8:05 in the morning? How bad must the clerk's life be? Why do employers allow employees to come to work like this? I came back the next day (with the right form) to Margie, the sweetest woman I've ever met at the DMV, and I go there a LOT. She proceeded to walk me through every form with a smile on her face, asking me how my morning was, how my coffee was, and if I had any plans for the weekend. She wasn't hitting on me. She was just nice. Plain and simple, she actually showed "care" for another human being. It was a very nice change of pace in this "Gimme my stuff now" world. Keep in mind that Margie doesn't work in a want-based envi- ronment, so I don't have too many plans to buy from her in the future. But you can bet I'll ask for her the next time I'm at the DMV. I don't know where we lost the notion of actually communicating with people prior to selling them anything. When did that go away? When did, "Can I help you find some- thing?" become the norm in parts depart- ments? It's clearly replaced, "Hey man … how's your day going?" You see, task-oriented people + product knowledge = simply the bare minimum for entry. There are a million places I can get product knowledge and someone to sell me something. If I want a new helmet, nobody can compete with Amazon for ease of transac- tion. Nobody can compete with RevZilla for product knowledge and third party credibility (reviews). If you think that having the product knowledge and being ready to explain it to the customer is enough, you're about to learn a very difficult lesson. Not only will the online stores start taking away your business, they will CRUSH you mov- ing forward. Please hear that. You are going to be CRUSHED if you think it's only about ease of transaction and reacting to customer questions. You simply cannot compete on product pricing with drop shipping and bulk buys, nor can you compete on ease of transaction with "one-click" shopping. You have to give them the thing they cannot get anywhere else — you. And you have to mean it. I preach from the pulpit the notion that, "You change peoples' lives." I had a sales man- ager in Texas change his job description from sales manager to dream maker one year. You can imagine the crap his buddies (non-riders) gave him when they all got together. "Look out everyone, the Dream Maker is here. Careful ladies, they call him the Dream Maker." The statements are clearly dripping in condescen- sion, and they go on and on. But when you see a 55-year-old guy crying as he buys his first Harley-Davidson, you real- ize what you do changes lives. When the guy is carving turns on his sport bike on his lunch hour just to "get away" from life for a bit, you realize you change lives. You see, the average commute in America is 26 minutes, and 80 per- cent of people don't like their jobs (Deloite Shift Index data). Couple that with an ailing family member, or a kid with autism, and you see very quickly the need for escape in our world. You (employee) get to be the person that makes me (consumer) feel better. You provide the escape … you have the blue pill! Now that's a big damn responsibility, and you'd better not come across as a robot when it's time to deliver. Disney is famous for having "cast mem- bers" instead of "employees," and it goes WAY beyond a thesaurus and catchy titles. Plenty of stories tell how Walt Disney used to jump on rides to mystery shop the cast members. One particular story talks of how the Jungle Tour guide delivered the script word for word, but it was obvious he didn't "mean it." He was sim- ply going through the motions, and that was his last day of employment at Disney. Yes, the retail landscape has certainly changed over the last few years, but nothing will ever trump a live human being who is genuinely interested in another person. We have come full circle from my grandparents' time of the roaring '20s, which were all about people. Fast forward into the '80s, which was all about stuff and keeping up with the Jone- ses. And now we're right back to using social media to stay connected with people again. Yes, we all want stuff, but we want people just as much. When you combine the experience of buy- ing my stuff locally from a person who cares, it makes me want to come back. Let's not kid ourselves; from time to time, we all need the blue pill. PSB Sam Dantzler is the founder of Sam's Powers- ports Garage, a membership website dedicated to best practices and all-staff training. He can be reached at sam@samspowersportsgarage.com. Give them what they can't get somewhere else — you SAM DANTZLER HEADROOM "When the guy is carving turns on his sport bike on his lunch hour just to 'get away' from life for a bit, you realize you change lives."