International Dealer News IDN 148 April/May 2019 | Page 33
THE AMERICAN REPORT
New MAG CEO Hugh Charvat: "What
they didn't appreciate were the
nuances of the distribution
industry"
market, and what their appeal is to the
various corners of the market, was
completely missed. Today, the
opportunity that we now have is look
very carefully and selectively at what
we can do to unwind some of the
decisions that were made in a way that
allows us to restore some of the
relationships, maybe outside of Tucker,
with other customers.
"Key to this will be building up the
team, adding established market
knowledge and understanding. In the
past 90 days we've already brought in
the likes of Greg Blackwell, a well
known and respected industry
veteran, and we've brought back John
Potts, who was very well known on the
Vance & Hines and Performance
Machine side of the business. We've
also just announced well received
further appointments at Tucker, and
taken with other hires such as Greg
Heichelbech at Kuryakyn and
Mustang, the team already looks very
different to the one the business had
a year ago. I think this speaks well to
the start we have made, to our
preparedness to make the necessary
changes and our determination to
meet the challenges."
"We will need to approach each of the
issues we are faced with, each of the
challenges and each of the prior
decisions on an individual basis, on
their specific merits. Since those
decisions were made, the market itself,
the retail environment, has continued
to evolve, and we have to be realistic
and cognisant of that, as all
distributors and businesses have to be.
But for sure there can and will be
www.idnmag.com
changes and better ways of building
better relationships. Where that
involves unwinding prior decisions,
we'll do that if there is a better
outcome available.
"Our path to market, our channel
strategies, need to be based on what
is best for all concerned, including the
end consumer. But Tucker is not going
to be selling on Amazon, for example,
and we are going to be as rigorous as
possible in enforcing a MAP policy. If a
dealer insists on buying brand direct
and wants to have an online business
of their own, then fine, but they are
going to have to play by the same rules
that the big boys do.
"Above all, Tucker has to focus on
doing what is essentially a simple task,
and doing it well. Tucker is in the box
moving business. While there is
subtlety and nuance surrounding
doing that well, we have to recognise
the reality that dealers no longer run
"they've had a
blurry windshield
for too long"
deep inventory and look to their
distributor of choice to absolve them
from the need to do so.
"The secret sauce, if there is one, is
how do you help your dealers to be as
successful as they can be in an
evolving marketplace. If we can figure
out that recipe, if we can help them to
want to do business with us, and to be
able to do business with us, then that
is how we earn their business, respect
and loyalty. Our job is to make sure our
dealers want to buy from us rather
than another guy by simply being a
better partner. That is the secret
ingredient, but the objective itself is
actually pretty simple.
Charvat's focus on team rebuilding
found dramatic expression when it
was announced that industry veteran
Greg Blackwell had joined Tucker as
the new Senior VP of Sales and
Marketing. The general industry
reaction was that this was a powerful
signal of intent.
Blackwell's first significant role in the
powersports industry was as President
of Metzeler Pirelli in North America, a
role he held for nine years. He then
spent 14 years at LeMans (Parts
Unlimited and Drag Specialties,
Moose, Thor MX and ICON), initially as
a pioneer of the Brand Manager role,
and then for many years as VP Sales
and Marketing.
Blackwell's twin passions are
motorcycles and bicycles, and after
LeMans he managed to scratch an itch
to return to his native California
working for the Dutch Accell Group,
one of the world's leading bicycle,
parts and accessories distributors.
He followed that by running PG&A for
KTM North America, then got a call
from Motovan, Canada, owners Mike
and James Paladino. They had
completed buying MTA Distributing
from Larry Popp and wanted Blackwell
to head up the headquarters
operations they were transferring from
Louisiana to California.
After three years as President at MTA
there was another call, and that one
has seen him now faced with what will
be one of the biggest challenges of his
life - to make Tucker an effective
competitor for the market leading
distributor he did so much to build into
the powerhouse it became on his
watch.
"From a personal point of view, my
own dealings with Tucker Rocky, as it
was, go way back to the days when I
was the 'Metzeler' guy in the industry,
to the days of Joe Piazza and Bob
Nickel. TR was one of 15 distributors
we had as Metzeler Pirelli, and I still
have a lot of friends here from those
days, people I used to go out on the
road with and who are still here at
Tucker, who bleed Tucker.
"I look at what they've been through,
and I think that their still being here
represents a true passion for and
commitment to their company. For
Blackwell too it is all about
relationships. "We have to rekindle
our relationships with our vendors, our
dealers and our sales teams. We have
a lot of really smart people who are
passionate and who want to be able
"make Tucker
the 'good guys'
again"
to love their company again.
"I believe they have been in a state of
turmoil with the changes that have
gone on for the past few years. We just
need to help them to do their jobs and
use the experience they have.
"The people here at Tucker have had a
blurry windshield for the past few
years. Coming into the company, the
one thing that has been clear is that
Greg Blackwell, Senior VP Sales &
Marketing at Tucker Powersports:
"We need to make Tucker the 'good
guys' again"
something needs to change - the
company failed after all. Part of that
change is bringing in new people -
people with the knowledge and
experience needed for this
marketplace; people who can make
the changes and reorganise the
company for the future, and do so in
the ways needed to get it back to be a
sales organisation.
"We have to recognise and
understand what has gone on before,
but we also need to move on. We are
a new company now, and we are
already in a better position than we
were a year ago, especially in terms of
inventory, and the new ownership
understands just how important that
is.
"We need to look at everything we are
doing, and how we do it, and change
the way we are doing business. We
need to identify what's good and
improve it still further, but we also
need to see the mistakes that were
made for what they were and change
direction.
"We are in a difficult market and have
very good competitors. If we are going
to achieve the growth we think we can
create, we have to realise that there's
only one place that growth can come
from at this time, and that is from our
competitors. We simply have to be
better than them.
"Tucker used to be a worthy
competitor, I know this, as it was my
competitor. So, my goal here? To make
Tucker a worthy competitor again - we
need to make Tucker the 'good guys'
again".
INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - APRIL/MAY 2019
33