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Thrivetime Show | Business School without the BS

The Harley-Davidson Turn-Around Story | Why You Must Differentiate Your Product and Create an Experience That Wows

Thrivetime Show | Business School without the BS

Clay Clark

Business, Entrepreneurship

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2021

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The former Director of Communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company shares how he was able to save the company by listening to what his ideal and likely buyers wanted, why he believes meeting people’s expectations is the path the extension, why social media is not an effective form of marketing for most businesses and more.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

On today's show, we interview Ken Schmidt, the man responsible for helping to turn around

0:07.1

Harley Davidson.

0:08.1

How in the world did he fix a company stereotype as being the product of choice for thugs

0:13.0

and criminals?

0:14.5

How did he change people's perception about Harley Davidson, only building junk bikes?

0:19.5

How did he convince the dealerships to take their quality to the next level?

0:23.2

On today's show, Ken Schmidt explains why businesses that live by products will die by

0:28.6

their products.

0:29.6

He explains why most people don't fill out surveys, but we'll tell you how to improve

0:33.3

your product or service if you are physically standing next to them and asking them some

0:37.4

serious questions.

0:38.4

He explains why the vast majority of social media marketing is a complete and utter waste

0:43.4

of time.

0:44.4

He explains why meeting people's expectations is a direct path to extinction.

0:49.2

He explains why people are not loyal to products, people are loyal to people.

0:53.6

He explains why Harley Davidson does almost everything differently than everybody else,

0:58.8

all of this and much, much more during this one hour of power interview with Ken Schmidt,

1:04.8

the man who successfully turned around the Harley Davidson Motor Company.

1:10.9

Some shows don't need a celebrity narrator to introduce the show, but this show dies.

1:17.2

Two men, eight kids co-created by two different women, 13 multi-million dollar businesses, ladies

1:25.6

and gentlemen.

1:26.6

Welcome to The Thrive Time Show.

...

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