A guarantee for success
If I take in all the news that surrounds us on a daily basis, from the Internet, television, magazines, etc., the last word that comes to my mind is confidence. Oddly, this is one of the most important words that we should be focused on. Our industry is built on enjoyment. It’s even in our industry name, powersports. It is hard to imagine customer enjoyment with industry faces filled with doubt and questioning. As business leaders, general managers, owners and more, we are challenged to take out the fear, doubt and worry from our teams and provide a sense of confidence necessary to ensure enjoyment for the powersports customer.
Growing up in a family engulfed in racing, I was taught an important connection between confidence and success: If you want to win, you have to believe you can. In business it is the same, and our business decisions are filled with just as much uncertainty as changing track conditions, bike set-up and the ultimate question: “What is the competition going to do?” Employees and customers want and need to see leadership confidence in their business. They want to feel as though they are on the right team for success and buying from a brand and company that will be successful.
In the daily business world I see the following common threads;
- I will buy from a business that has confidence in their positioning for the future (no matter how tough we all know current times are) and could even see their success ultimately leading to mine.
- I will be convinced to buy from a salesperson that is optimistic, sees the upside (no matter how far out) and ultimately has confidence I will be glad for the purchase I have made.
I believe success as we will measure it 5 or 10 years from now will ultimately come down to the strategic decisions we are making today and how well we stay committed to them in the long term. Those that can do this with a confidence that inspires their team, their employees, their customers and finally themselves have much more than a chance, but a guarantee for success.
Jon-Erik – I agree that confidence is king. In traveling around the country (and helping on the phone) and working with dealers, I am seeing a huge hole in the confidence level. Most dealers and staff aren’t recognizing that training for all departments is what will build that confidence. We have all used and heard the phrase “knowledge is power” and todays challenges bring that to the forefront of this debate. Of course, the second part of the training issue is whether the management can REALLY train corectly. My hope is that Dealers and Managers will get the training done to assure their growth and presence in the community. Everything will begin to fall into place from there.