‘Working hard … is not going to get you to the next level’

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Despite self-inflicted wounds earlier in his career, Greg Heichelbech is living his dream.

Heichelbech, who raced motorcycles as a teenager, is CEO of Atlanta-based Triumph Motorcycles America. After two decades as a Harley-Davidson sales executive where he admittedly stumbled as he tried to rise up the ranks, Heichelbech is turning around Triumph in the U.S.

The British manufacturer was struggling here before Heichelbach, 48, took the reins in 2010. Now, the dealer network is stronger and sales grew to $154 million last year. Harley-Davidson, by far, is the dominant player in the U.S. market, but Triumph has been able to grow profit margins and market share under Heichelbech. He talks about his career and how the mistakes helped to prepare him for leading Triumph here.

Q: What early experience affected you?

A: I was born in Indiana, but we moved a lot. My dad only had a high school education, but he worked very hard. He was taking risks by changing jobs to constantly elevate himself. He was an assistant grocery store manager who eventually became a vice president of sales for a big insurance company.

Moving a lot meant I only went to a particular school for two years. All that moving gives you a lot of comfort with dealing with change. You learn that you have to be very independent. I never had a bunch of friends until I got to college. It was difficult at times.

But I’m fine thinking independently. I am who I am. If they don’t like me, too bad. That attitude lasted quite a while into my career — but eventually it had to change.

Q: Why?

A: As you go up (management) levels, you have to think about how you're presenting yourself and interacting with people.

Being aggressive and gung ho as a younger manager doesn’t necessarily work in the boardroom. At a lower level, charging the hill is fine. But when you go up levels, you sometimes have to tone things down and still make your point.

Q: With respect to charging the hill, you raced dirt bikes when you were a teenager. How did that happen?

A: I just loved motorcycles. One Christmas when I was 14 I got one from my parents.

I joined the local track club and I started racing Motocross. I raced for six or seven years all over Wisconsin and Illinois.

Q: That can be expensive. How did you pay for it?

A: I got a menial job when I was 16. I was a lot boy at a used-car business. I moved cars around.

I heard how the sales guys interacted with people, how deals got done and what they meant to the customer and the independent business owner. That really left a big impression on me.

Q: After you graduated from college with a marketing degree, you got a job with Harley-Davidson. Early in your career there, you were responsible for recruiting new dealers. What did you learn?

A: The guys with the most money (to invest in franchises) don't make the best dealers because maybe they won't run it day-to-day.

I have found that the guy with less money who’s invested in it full-time and has to worry about whether or not he is able to eat and pay his mortgage, that’s the guy that’s willing to fight to the death to figure out how to make it work. He’s the street fighter. That’s what I’m looking for because I can’t implant desire and motivation.

Bonus questions

Q: Your career changed direction after Harley bought a motorhome company. You became a regional sales manager for its RV operation. What did you learn from selling this very different type of vehicle?

A: I had no clue. You're selling a home on wheels for $100,000 or $200,000.

The RV business is a knife fight every day. There aren’t thousands of people lining up for your product. There’s a limited supply and a much smaller pool of customers.

You are much more aggressive in how you operate. You don’t want the customer to leave the lot.

After several years, I went back to motorcycle sales with Harley. People lined up for Harleys. My urgency and aggressiveness didn’t need to be there, but I didn’t recognize that at the time. My passion and aggression scared some people who I managed inside the organization.

Q: What did you do?

A: I had to change, slow down and think differently.

That’s hard. It’s hard for a lot of people who were fighting in the field and then have to come into the office. That’s why a number of sales guys don’t make good sales managers. It’s a different skill set.

You have to step back, survey the environment and ask, “What am I really doing here?” You’re working more in a team situation with a lot more decision makers.

I think I would have gotten further at Harley if I had changed more quickly. It took me several years.

I always hit my numbers and got good reviews. I thought that would always give me opportunities. But I think I hit a (management) ceiling because I didn’t change my style soon enough.

Q: What did that teach you?

A: Working hard and doing good is not going to get you to the next level. It's important but it's not enough.

It’s managing relationships with people at all levels — up and down — and knowing when to say things and when not to say things.

Treat everybody inside your organization like a customer every single day. When you’re doing business, that should be your mindset.

Q: You never reached the VP level at Harley, which was your goal. But then a headhunter contacted you in 2010 about the top job at Triumph Motorcycles in North America, which was struggling. What did you do to turn it around?

A: We were dead last among the European brands and had a lot of fundamental business flaws. Our dealer network was underfunded and too small. We had poorly executed branding.

I looked at what I could fix through the “4 Ps” — product, price, promotion and people.

The product was high quality, which was good because it would have been the hardest thing to change.

The price needed changing. It was haphazard. Also, we needed to improve the dealers’ profit margin. We simplified our business and made it more seamless, which increased productivity and reduced dealer costs. We improved our website, data base and customer service responses.

When I came, 22 percent of the phone calls were being answered and the rest went to voicemail. There is no voicemail any more. You get a live person 24/7/365.

On branding, we repositioned Triumph as the maker of high-performance motorcycles since 1902 and spent our advertising dollars more wisely.

Also, we got rid of our warehouse. It was a mess and we had a ton of unfilled orders. I’m not a logistics expert. So I closed the warehouse and subcontracted the work.

Q: You’ve been a CEO for nearly four years. What’s your best advice for other top leaders?

A: What I had to learn is that the title makes everyone afraid, regardless of how you act. That means I have to ask five questions all the time to know one thing.

For example, early on when we still had the warehouse I asked, “How is shipping going?”

The employee replied, “We’re all caught up.”

Then I asked, “Is that for today’s invoices?”

“Yes,” he said.

“How about yesterday’s?”

“Oh,” he said, “we’re behind.”

Q: What’s your best advice for middle managers? For younger workers?

A: For mid-level managers, talk to people who you trust. Get them to tell you the truth about your work, your personality, how you handle yourself and how people view you.

For younger workers, you don’t have to get your dream job the first time out. Experiment, experiment, experiment until you find something you love because then it’s not work.

I got lucky. I fell in love with motorcycles at a young age.