“ the three-business model has brought clarity”
“ Things tend to happen once a year, in a sequence, so the merged business has now been through that cycle twice and is now beginning its third season. It is interesting to think about what we have learned and what we have achieved.“ The big thing, and it’ s not really
“ We are focused on three key aspects of strategy just now- making sure our brands are doing the best they can to create demand, making sure our segment and sales teams are able to provide the link from the brands to the dealers, and making sure we are offering the best possible on time delivery and optimized shipment service”
Charlie Hadayia, Sr. Director of Merchandising
surprising, was that cultural changes were needed. When you bring those kinds of leading companies together, there is always going to be a need for change in each of them and inevitably that creates concerns. Even though most of the issues we addressed were quite positive for the businesses, nonetheless a lot of people
found that their world changed a bit.“ The merger brought a lot of benefits for a lot of people, but we had to work through their concerns, we had to help people understand“ what does this mean for me, what does this mean for the company I work for.” While that can take time, if the right decisions are taken, and implemented quickly, then the benefits can also become apparent equally as quickly. The threebusiness model has certainly brought clarity and focus in that respect.“ The focus was on helping people get comfortable with the changes, but I think that now, having exited 2016 and with the peak of the 2017 season on us, we have gotten past that. We feel that there is a good platform being built. The alignment of our brands and the alignment of the Tucker Rocky and Biker’ s Choice sales forces all feel right. We have a lot of really good and talented people who are now able to pick their heads up and look forward and outside at their marketplace, rather than looking more internally and trying to respond to the merged environment.“ It has been interesting as a cultural challenge, but I definitely sense that we have worked through that now and that stage of the process is behind us.” One set of the many external market concerns I discussed with Graves revolved around the potential for negative strategic market impact from the merger. Whether or not some of the signals that appeared to be coming out of the protogroup were near the market or not, one was that Tucker Rocky and Biker’ s Choice might be heading out of third party distribution altogether; another that we might start seeing dumping and price
Burly Brand: Originally conceived as a specialty handlebar program, Burly Brand, part of Progressive Suspension, has expanded in recent years to include Dyna‘ Stiletto’ shock absorbers, Voyager branded luggage, sissy bars, cable kits, MX style pegs, 39mm fork preload adjusters, LED turn signals, Brat Seats, slammer kits, MX style floorboards and more – all aimed at the“ New Gen” Scrambler, Sportster and Dyna / FXR style riding audience. Seen here is Progressive Suspension and Burly Brand Marketing Manager Sean Delshadi; www. burlybrand. com
Kuryakyn: The Tucker Rocky / Biker’ s Choice Dealer and Brand Expo is all about education and information- sales development coordinator Chris Law( left) has the attention of Kent Whitaker, Parts Manager at Paris( Texas) Harley-Davidson; www. kuryakyn. com
Vance & Hines: The Santa Fe Springs, California based exhaust and performance component manufacturer remains one of the primary jewels in the MAG crown, and when it comes down to having had an impact on the shape of the industry as we move forward, they don’ t come much more influential than Sales & Marketing VP John Potts, left; the man whose inspiration created MAG and current Chairman Emeritus Arnie Ackerman, center; founder and legendary petrol head Terry Vance; www. vanceandhines. com
www. AMDchampionship. com
Roland Sands Design: Another product of the Sands family dynasty( see Performance Machine) and an influential part of the MAG brands stable, former racer Roland Sands has tracked the market’ s design‘ zeitgeist’, and his bikes-to-parts-to-apparel RSD set-up is now one of the handful of businesses that have been architects of the“ New Gen” market that is following in the tracks of the boomers. RSD is that rare breed of aftermarket businesses that can legitimately claim to have the ear of the OE sector. RSD has become a“ go to” consultancy as mainstream motorcycle manufacturers scrabble to claim a stake of a market with entirely changed attitudes to and expectations from the motorcycle ownership and riding experience; www. rolandsands. com
Black Brand: The new MAG apparel program( launched at the V-Twin Expo in 2016) describes itself as“ not for everyone. Our gear is not what you buy when you want what everyone else has— you need to be the wolf, not the sheep to ride in Black Brand.” Former Advanstar Dealer Expo and IMS series Account Executive turned Biker’ s Choice Sales Representative Rebecca Mitchell told AMD that“ dealers are finding that‘ Black Brand’ apparel is selling really well for them – it has definitely been a successful introduction. There’ s no question that we are making our mark on the cruiser apparel industry”; www. blackbrandmc. com
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER- APRIL 2017 21