I wonder how many of you are thinking what the “hell” does a motorcycle usually connected with gangs have to do with my business?  A lot, actually, so stay with me and keep reading.

First of all, Harley is no longer just associated with biker gangs like it once was.  Traditionally, Harley-Davidson bike owners came from the working and middle classes.  The company soon attracted a different class of buyers – currently one third of Harley buyers are professionals or managers, and 60% are college graduates. The new customer segments of Harley are the Rolex Riders or the Rich Urban Bikers.

You should also be interested in a more affluent clientele and if you don’t have any, or not as many as you would like, work towards getting more of them. Harley transitioned their business a number of years ago.

Harley has also figured out how to compete with the ‘big boys’ and win. Harley is not able to compete with Honda on price and were being outspent by them by as much as 40 to 1. Yet they dominate their market in the U.S.

Here’s the really big one that every business should strive for… Harley-Davidson Motorcycles has raging fans!Harley fan

There are few companies that have such a loyal following.

What can you learn from Harley-Davidson?

Do your clients LOVE you/your company? How many of them Do?  We all have a few that love us but do we have clients, patients, customers or raging fans as Harley does?

Here’s a few reasons why Harley has raging fans… Their main focus is on:

Awesome Customer Service and, even more importantly, to cultivating raging fans…

The Customer EXPERIENCE!

The Customer RELATIONSHIP!

Here’s a quote from an outside marketing analyst about Harley — INVISIBLE_TEXT

“Is there another company in the world that works harder to build genuine relationships with their customers than the Harley-Davidson Motor Company? Harley-Davidson is an outstanding example of a company that has created loyalty through a pattern of steadfast interactions with its customers.”

INVISIBLE_TEXT

Consumers today are looking for new experiences not just a transaction. In today’s turbulent world, people are hungry for a sense of connection; Harley gives that to them.

In my next article, we’ll talk more about how this relates to your business.