1to1 Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 45) EXPERT INSIGHT customer advocate Erik Buell, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Buell Motorcycles Passion and Data Fuel Buell Motorcycles Erik Buell discusses how his company stays in touch with a devoted collection of motorcycle enthusiasts. t wenty-five years ago Buell Motorcycles manufactured 25 bikes in a year. Last year we produced 12,000 motorcycles for customers in North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite that growth, we inject the same level of passion and customer feedback into each model we make today as we did when we all worked in my garage. The only thing that’s changed is how we collect and respond to customer feedback. We make our bikes for motorcycle enthusiasts: Purists, like ourselves, who love the sound, feel, and experience of riding. In our early days we quickly learned that our network of 20-plus dealers was absolutely crucial to collecting customer feedback. After we made our first 50 bikes, our dealers told us that many of our customers loved the bikes, especially the parts we used on the chassis— and they wanted to see more of our handy work. In response, we stripped off the fairing, the outer shell that covers the engine components on many sport motorcycles, and created our “naked” bike, which was a huge hit with our customers. Our dealers weren’t telling us what they wanted in a product; they were relaying to us our customers’ feelings and desires. It was up to us to translate those desires into satisfaction and loyalty through product design. Dealer input became the lifeblood of the business. I knew it was important to listen to them because I was not going to get another order if I didn’t. That realization established a style and approach that we maintain today, as a wholly owned business of Harley-Davidson. Harley, where I started my career as an engineer, bought a minority stake in our company in 1993, in part based on the positive comments from the dealer network that we shared. In 2003 we became 100 percent owned by Harley-Davidson. Maintaining a customer connection Our ability to remain connected to our customers starts with our people and extends to our data-collection and design capabilities. First, we hire people who are passionate about the product. Despite our production growth, we remain extremely lean with 190 employees. People really have to perform and love what they’re doing to thrive, otherwise, the peer pressure can drive people to a more leisurely occupation. Our people share a passion with our customers for riding, so they frequently interact with customers at Buell events and owner-organized events. Second, we fuel our information system with tons of data. The information includes customer feedback collected by our marketing people and dealers, feedback gathered at demo rides, data from third-party firms like J.D. Powers, and journalist reviews in motorcycle magazines. Third, we organize and prioritize this data into a matrix so it is easily accessible via a Web-based interface to the people who are purchasing parts and designing bikes. These people and the engineers can look back and see why they’re doing what they’re doing by seeing what the customer asked for. That’s important, because we want our designers to do what they do best while keeping our customers’ desires in mind at all times. For this reason, a part never becomes an impersonal object; each part is an extension of a customer preference or need. When engineers are designing a foot peg, for example, they can go back to the customer features and specs and see that our customers want a more comfortable foot peg with a soft cushion. All of a sudden, it comes to life that you’re not just manufacturing a part; you’re designing a specific experience for somebody. Remaining connected to our customers’ experiences and preferences was easier to do when there were only 15 of us in the same shop talking to each other all the time. As we grew, these sorts of connections began to get away from us. We realized that the only way we could bring the connections back to life was by shrinking our world back down. We accomplished that by applying our engineering and design talents to software that produces the information we need to remain intimately connected with our riders. > As told to Eric Krell Keys to Success Buell Motorcycles remains connected to customer desires by: Hiring passionate employees: Just like their customers, most Buell employees are hardcore motorcycle enthusiasts who enjoy interacting with other bikers. Keeping designers connected: Buell’s procurement people and engineers have constant access to customer desires and preferences. Letting designers design: Rather than have marketing experts transform customer data into engineering specifications, marketing gathers detailed information letting engineers translate customer preferences into the final product. ONLINE EXTRA: Erik Buell reveals how the company maneuvered around a potential marketing pitfall in “Marketing and Manufacturing Fire on all Cylinders” www.1to1media.com/links/cylinders.html, and in the podcast “Revving Up Customer Experience” www.1to1media.com/links/revup.html. www.1to1media.com 1to1 magazine 45 http://www.1to1media.com/links/revup.html http://www.1to1media.com/links/cylinders.html http://www.1to1media.com/links/revup.html http://www.1to1media.com
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