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Mikej
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 03:04 pm: | 
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"Buell is, in a couple weeks, going to be making a debut appearance in an incredible new market. . ."
"Market": is this a geographic market or a product line market?
edit to add:
Your talk of the headlight brings back a memory of speedo sensors. It was noted once that if we replace them ourselves then the metrics won't get into the data review stream as a line item that needs review by the factory (or words to that effect). My response, which was along the lines of that it was easier for me to pay the $50 and do it myself even though it was a warranty covered item than it was for me to make two or more trips to the dealership (schedule appointment, drop off bike, have them do the check and clean, pick up bike, reschedule a second appointment, drop off bike, have them replace the sensor as step #2 in their process, pick up bike)} to get the issue resolved. Stop in and wait was a rare option. I'm on my third one, all replaced myself, less hassle and less time/dollar cost than getting it warrantied. Out of warranty now, so moot point, but still a point.
Another memory: Ducati dealership, Sunday open house, free food, a local rider who lives 5 miles from the dealership got a slow leak in a tire and just needed a little air to make it home, nobody at the shop knew how to or didn't want to fire up the air compressor in the shop to help him get home. Just a little air and they would have had a customer, as it was though I suspect he went elsewhere for his next purchase, all for want of a little air.
I enjoy your Customer Service stories.
(Message edited by mikej on March 12, 2008) |
Court
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 03:28 pm: |
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>>>>"Market": is this a geographic market or a product line market?
The first display of Buells in Russia is coming up. I've got all the information and am eager to see how it goes.
The thing in Italy had to have been a mistake. In the past Buell Italy has done a marvelous job and this year, according the reports I got from various Italian riders who were excited about seeing the 1125R, what that the display was very lacking and there was no one present who could answer questions. That is a very good market for Buell and it, in my opinion, would have warranted engaging a local, Italian fluent, owner and teaming them up with a factory person and a Buell Europe rep.
I could be wrong. |
Mikej
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 03:38 pm: |
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I thought there already was a Buell dealership in Russia, or maybe it was a Buell owner who posted here once.  |
Mikej
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 03:43 pm: |
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This thread maybe?
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=32777&post=791339#POST791339
http://www.moto-center.ru/
( was at http://www.harley.ru/ )
I thought someone had posted pics of the Russian dealership, maybe a year or three ago. |
Road_thing
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 07:30 pm: |
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Remind me to tell you about the time the spousal control unit's week-old Lexus woke up one morning with a shattered rear window.
I didn't think glass would be a warranty item, either. I was wrong, and the rather obvious conchoidal fracture caused by impact of (I suspect) a .177 cal. spheroid didn't seem to matter to the folks at the dealership.
No jelly donuts, though...
rt |
Court
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 08:22 pm: |
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The Buell OWNER who posts here fairly often is Olga who is in Moscow and rides a Blast.
She's a fascinating gal, true to Buell form, and jumped through many hoops to get her Buell into Russia.
There is a very active motorcycle community in Moscow and a couple other Buells. There is interest in Buells and I can't wait to see the response at the show.
RT: Funny that we both have SCU's that can scarcely see over the steering wheel and are tougher than both of us!
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Naustin
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 08:42 pm: |
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We all know what great customer service is. Defining it is easy. Delivering it is hard. Neither Mercedes or Porsche had anything to do with that service either, I would say the owner of that one particular dealership was solely responsible. Its probably the fact that that dealership "gets it" that gave him the opportunity to sell Bentley and Maybach.
Dealership owners need to perceive their Buell line as a privilege and their Buell customers as valuable. Buell can not force dealerships to deliver service, the dealerships have to figure that out for themselves. Buell only has the choice to associate itself with a particular dealership or not. That's why I advocate the factory "secret shopper" auditing. Lets grade them on something other than just sales.
(Message edited by naustin on March 12, 2008) |
Court
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 10:55 pm: |
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>>>We all know what great customer service is. Defining it is easy.
I'd disagree with that. Part of the huge challenge, for an organization seeking to provide "great customer service" is determine what the CUSTOMER perceives as great.
Part of the problem with the instant process is that it applies a known solution that has worked perfectly in the Harley-Davidson environment.
The service coming from the company can be extraordinary but they may be delivering coals to New Castle.
How about the certificate for a years worth of FREE GASOLINE . . . the owner of a diesel automobile?
You must first determine what the customer perceives as "great service".
Then you hire and empower staff. You provide them with a clear set of values. You cannot have strict rules, you have to have values and smart people and encourage folks to think of innovative and creative solutions and how to deliver them.
Case in point . . . .
1998. . . . dealer in the Carolinas had paid mucho dinero for ads in the paper, radio and hot air balloons . . .for a "COME OUT TO SEE THE BUELL WHITE LIGHTNING".
Problem: It was Thursday. The event was Saturday and there was no White Lighting.
More Problem: I contacted SPOC at HD to start checking on the bike that was to be shipped. The confirmed that it had been shipped and closed the case.
ROOT PROBLEM To them the problem was me inferring that because the bike wasn't there, they'd not shipped it. They took my question as a challenge, no one took ownership. To them the "solution" was proving the bike had been shipped. They provided a perfect answer to an unasked question.
When I hired Jennifer Morrison and Joni Kells at Buell I gave both of them some simple homework, some take home reading to shape their mindset on problem solving. The two of them were quick studies and much better than I in terms of delivering effective solutions.
It was Joni and Jennifer who developed the Buell Dealer Hotline (ever wished customer service had an "800 number?) that a dealer could call . . . place ONE CALL and have a commitment that WE WOULD find the answer, do the leg work and deliver a solution, generally within 2 hours. The gals made stickers, laminated tool box cards for techs and so forth.
They got the call late on a Thursday afternoon and went to work. The problem was "no White Lightning" and while others were deflecting blame and pointing fingers. . . the gals were looking for two things . . a WHITE LIGHTNING and a way to get it there. They found one at another dealer, found a guy with a pickup truck and DELIVERED A REAL SOLUTION. . . . the flowers that arrived at Buell on Monday memorialized their success and one of the things I always encouraged them to do was to celebrate successes of the team.
The other one that comes to mind was when the recall occurred with rotor/carrier bolts that replaced the E-clips. Matt Levetich, now a Vice President at HD and one of my most admired folks, had a problem. There was a huge Buell event coming up and he had a ton of bikes that could not be used for demos, could not be sold and so forth all over Europe. We went to work and I found a supply and an innovative way to deliver them. We went one step further and worked with Matt to put on a Buell lunch during which a team of techs updated all the Buell owners bikes while they were in the parking lot. I keep the letter I got from Matt for "coming through when normal systems failed" framed above my desk.
The key is you have to understand the problem not just the visible symptoms, and insure you are delivering a solution that the customer sees as service.
Any questions as to why the good folks at HD would like to put a contract out on me?
One thing that continues to fascinate and enthrall me about Buell folks is that people do not blame people, they respect each other.
There are times that Erik has vehemently disagreed with something I have done. There have been times he's called me on the carpet afterward to suggest I give more thought to something prior to inserting myself but he's never accused me of not acting in the best interest of Buell. Classic was less than a year ago when a Buell owner in another country was stranded and all the dealers in the country were closed. I shot my big mouth off and made a commitment I should not have. One of the top execs at HD, the only person I could get ahold of, actually responded to my e-mail, put the wheels in motion, delivered the solution to the customer and THEN chewed my ass out. His deal was FIRST we'll take care of the customer, then we'll deal with you. I was wrong but his deal was that the solution to the customer, no matter how clumsy the delivery, needed to be quick and transparent. I was both very wrong and very impressed.
It's very easy for a team of people to become greater than the sum of their parts when trust and respect is the order of the day. Buell is guided by THE BUELL VALUES, not by rules. No one ever says . . "that's not my job" . . each person sees their job as advancing the common interest and success of the entire team. I've been witness to some amazing feats of dedication from Buell folks and it's nothing short of amazing that this thinking lives in Jon and Erik and in the gal who answers the phone and the folks who sweep the floors. It makes business fun.
But . . .the bottom line is that an essential element of GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE is carefully understanding the customer and what they perceive as service. More often than not it's not WHAT you do, it's how you do it.
Of course. . . what do I know . . . I am the guy who called a Buell owner who called the factory in 1997 an "idiot". Now there's a story you'll need to ask me about at Homecoming . . .it's still a legend amongst the old Buell folks.
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Naustin
| | Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 09:24 pm: |
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I guess what I meant in my inital statement was that "we all know great customer service - when we receive it. Figuring out how to deliver it to every individual customer (each with differing expectations) is the hard part.
I absolutly agree with you.
As for the rest of your post - a window to the inner workings of Buell! I still haven't got you nailed down Court, I probably never will, but I'm glad you are here and I'm glad you do what you do.
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Court
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 04:33 pm: |
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3G CUSTOMER SERVICE - The New World Order
For those interested I'm going to begin sharing some thoughts, some old, some new, on "The Art or Customer Service". Any and all who are interested are welcome to tune in, listen, discuss and lend thoughts and experience. Some of you have noticed some changes lately and we're on the cusp of exciting times. I see the news today is about Santa Cruz Harley-Davidson shutting their doors. the business is changing and, loosely quoting Warren Buffet, I believe there have never been greater opportunities for Buell.
I'm not wanting this to become a forum so much for discussion of current cases, although I may from time to time cite cases I am personally familiar with, in the world of Buell, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. You'll likely hear Gibson Guitar cited from time to time as well.
My goal is to:
- Investigate customer service.
- Where have we been?
- Where are we now?
- How do we do it?
- What is the objective of customer service?
- Are there unexplored opportunities?
- Can a company, Buell in this case, truly see an objective view of it's service team?
- Should customers be integrated into the process somehow?
- Can customers be integrated into the process?
- Is our goal really customer service of customer loyalty?
- . . . . and about 12 other topics I'm been amassing information on
Some of you will feel the need to give me the "you're drinking the Kool-aid®" or question my motives. I'll share a couple up front thoughts with you.
I am a huge Buell fan and supported. I've never, when I felt it was necessary, paled from taking Erik Buell to task or challenging him to step back and take a second look at things. He's never paled from telling me when I have my noses in the wrong places. We compliment one another and there is a mutual respect. There'll be places in the thread that may cast Buell in a less than shining light. If you don't know where Buell has been it's almost impossible to play a role in setting the course as the company steers for the future.
About a year ago I pretty much resigned myself to get the hell out of Erik business, let the chips fall where they may and come to terms that their are folks whose job it is to do the things I interfere in about 5 times a week.
Like a junkie, I tried to quit. It's a lot like trying to quit parenting my 27 and 29 year old sons . . . it's a great theory but in practice it just doesn't happen.
I've also gotten more support and encouragement from not only Buell owners but Buell company folks. To the extent I am strictly adhering to the Buell Values I've found nothing but support for what Scott Miller once called "Court's Guerrilla Marketing" effort. I have a genuine care and concern for Buell, the person, the company and the folks who bought Buells and placed their faith, trust and confidence in my friends at Buell. There's half a chance you'll get a couple personal inside glimpses and photos of the folks who design and build your motorcycles.
More Housekeeping . . .
I am NOT subjective. I understand that and if you do it'll help you read some of my ideas. Don't hesitate to challenge me. At my age, I've little to loose and the years have proven my ego, huge as it is, heals quickly. I historically maintain about a 70%:30% ratio of being right:wrong. I have a 0% track record for seeing something I think needs to be done and walking away from it. I coined the "mobile, agile and hostile" mantra and am confident that Buell can do things and deliver solutions that no other company in the world can. This has gotten my ass chewed good a couple times over the years. I've always survived and learned. I've no hesitation in saying I screwed up. Remind me to tell you a funny Story about Jon Flickinger and Italy . . . . . a pure case of where I got all excited, went off half cocked and scrambled the jets. In retrospect I stuck my nose in others business and too darn quick. The very cool part is that once I'd written checks for outrageous commitments, Flick cashed them, made good on my "fix" and a customer stranded on the roadside in Italy was surprised when a dealer from Barcelona arrived "we were sent by Buell to help". I'm sure we got a customer for life out of that deal and I learned a lesson to let folks do their jobs first.
The first thing I'll be doing, in the next week or so, is revisiting my old "How To Deal With Customer Service" thread and introducing you to some of the Customer Service folks and how they do business.
From there we'll be taking a look at the future. I've given a lot of thought about the future of Buell Customer Service. I abhor the idea of "doing as good as" . . or being "among the best". Buell has the talent and the intellectual firepower to do things that have never been done. I want customer service that amazes as much as fuel in the frame or ZTL braking. The people are largely in place and, a fan of Aubrey Daniels, I truly believe that no one likes "just doing their job" . . . folks LOVE a job where they can excel and do better than anyone. Over the years I've been a competitive gymnast, in the military and am currently in school. I LUST over doing the best and being #1. I submit that folks, with that sort of goal, enjoy their work more. No one does a better job than when they are having fun.
Last housekeeping tidbit . . . . I DO NOT work for Buell. I have NO AUTHORITY to act, speak, commit or even order a happy meal on their behalf. If you have a current Buell problem, I'll say again, your course of action should be to start with your Buell dealer. The ideas I'll be discussing here are STRICTLY MY OWN. Please read that twice.
If any of you are wanting to follow along or want to do outside research I've a comprehensive library of Customer Service science, applications, and theory. If you'd like I'll post recommended reading lists. In addition, I'll often be citing sources (I spend a lot of time with the Harvard Business Review) and posting links. My thinking is the aggregate of a LOT of reading and study. I'm eager to see where this goes and hope some of the folks at Buell tune in from time to time. Buell has recently done some absolutely (can you say flew a part from Austria at the snap of a finger when a customer had a problem?) amazing things and I'm hoping that perhaps this discussion can help form the framework of what I'd think of at 3G Customer Service.
Here we go . . .
Court
P.S. - can one of the custodians see if they can find and dust off my old thread on how to deal with Customer Service, we'll be needing that in the coming weeks. |
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