Ken Schmidt
Authentic Leadership and Customer Loyalty Expert; Senior Role in Harley-Davidson Turnaround; and Author, Make Some Noise: The Unconventional Road to Dominance
It’s an impersonal world, where so many products and services are seen as easily-replaced, indistinct commodities. Standing out is a choice fueled by the right mindset and a compelling story. Ken Schmidt knows these challenges firsthand and gained acclaim for his role in the extraordinary turnaround of the legendary Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Ken transformed the company’s market position by answering three key strategic questions and shifting the narrative to distinguish their brand. While times have changed, what humans want and need from the businesses they buy from and work for hasn’t. In his high-energy speeches, Ken inspires companies and individuals to shift their thinking and ride a path to success by becoming memorable – not for what they do or what they make, but for the powerful stories they tell and the authentic connections they forge. Ken is author of Make Some Noise: The Unconventional Road to Dominance. He’s also host of the Tailgating with Geniuses podcast and co-founder of Torque Sessions Leadership Training. In all of his endeavors, Ken brings an unconventional perspective that helps organizations and individuals reframe how they engage with their marketplace.
MAKE SOME NOISE: OPEN THE THROTTLE AND DOMINATE YOUR MARKETPLACE
The road to creating a passionately vocal, fanatically loyal customer base starts here. Ken Schmidt's most-requested business keynote speech is a fascinating story of how businesses of any size and scope can position themselves to ignite customer demand, maximize sales growth, and dominate their marketplace, even in the most commoditized environments. His signature ingredients: Harnessing basic drivers of human behavior for competitive advantage and bulletproof reputation building. Schmidt leaves audiences knowing their businesses can't become dominant until they can answer three vital questions: What do your customers – and other important publics – say about you? What do you want them to say? And, what are you doing to make them say it?
BUILDING TATTOO-WORTHY CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
We're not wired to be loyal to products or services, no matter how well they perform. We're only capable of being loyal to people and to well-managed businesses that successfully humanize their presence by creating emotional resonance with us. It's time for your customers to evolve from "folks who buy from us," into "loyal friends who recommend us without being asked," which means your relationships with them have to evolve from superficial to meaningfully permanent. Customers come and go. But loyalists, like Harley-Davidson tattoos, become part of you and never leave. Building tattoo-worthy customer relationships isn't the marketing department's job; it's yours. This is how it's done.
THRIVE AMONG THORNS: UNTAPPED GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES
A startling presentation designed specifically for banks, investment firms, credit unions and insurance companies that is now Ken Schmidt’s second-most requested topic. With little differentiation among competitors and media-fueled erosion of trust in financial services providers, it’s no wonder potential clients opt to work with "whoever’s closest to my house," instead of "whoever can best serve my needs." Or stay away altogether. Where others see futility, Schmidt sees unprecedented opportunities for growth. He’ll show you how to change the culture of your financial services business to stand out, create demand in your local markets, fuel client referrals and take advantage of the look-alike/act-alike competitive environment.
POSITIONING YOUR BUSINESS TO DOMINATE IN A COMMODITIZED MARKET
When customers care more about what they're paying than who they're buying from, businesses lower prices to stay in the mix, which breeds commoditization and kills loyalty. While leaders in every industry are focusing inward to improve efficiencies – when they should be focusing outward to improve their competitiveness – the passing lane's wide open for small players to make a run to the front of the pack. Ken Schmidt can show you how to do that. As a major player in one of the world's most celebrated turnarounds, he helped transform Harley-Davidson from a laggard in a me-too market into one of the world's most beloved and dominant competitors. In this hands-on, how-to session, he teaches how to position your business to ensure that it's memorably different than competitors and how to strengthen your reputation, so your customers stay fiercely loyal and refer you to others, even when your prices are higher. This is a natural follow-up to any of Ken's presentations.
Thank you for your energy, message and participation in our National Business meeting. You set the tone for our meeting and delivered an outstanding call to action that resonated with the audience. A lot of what you provided became part of our language
WestRock
I want to tell you how much people enjoyed your keynote. The LeadsCon/Access Intelligence staff and the other speakers I connected with specifically mentioned your talk as the highlight of the program. People loved it, and it was clear to see why. Your delivery was energetic and inspiring – the content was top-notch and thought-provoking.
Access Intelligence
We very much appreciated the opportunity to include Ken as a key part in our rebrand. We were highly satisfied with how he was able to make everything tie together!
MassMutual
Ken Schmidt was wonderful. We have heard so many positive comments from our attendees. I thoroughly enjoyed his insight and common sense approach to business. It really resonated when he mentioned that consumers are loyal to the people behind the business. His humanistic, common sense approach to business relates to all types of businesses.
CIBC Bank
Absolutely phenomenal! Your session really got our members pumped up. You’re a true professional to work with.
REALTORS® Association of Edmonton (RAE)
Ken was amazing and our participants were extremely inspired and motivated by his keynote.
Intel
Your message content and delivery was fantastic! Spot on for our positioning today in the marketplace!
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
Make Some Noise
