Ken Schmidt
Customer Loyalty Expert, Legendary Former Director of Communications at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Author of 'Make Some Noise,' and Co-Creator of Torque Sessions
Ken Schmidt : Biography highlights
Ken Schmidt is a top customer loyalty speaker, author, and former Director of Communications at Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Ken shares stories and insights on the road to building a fanatically vocal customer base, creating a passionately loyal corporate culture, and developing leaders who inspire and motivate.
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Full biography of Ken Schmidt
About Ken Schmidt
One of the most in-demand speakers and communications consultants in America, Ken Schmidt has lived a life that most can only dream about. He has toured the world on two wheels, met with presidents and royalty, partied with movie and music legends, and appeared numerous times on network news.
As the former director of communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company, he played an active role in one of the most celebrated turnarounds in corporate history – and got paid to ride motorcycles. He is widely known as one of the business world’s most outspoken and provocative thought leaders and has partnered with many of the world’s most successful brands.
Harley-Davidson. The longtime motorcycle enthusiast’s formal association with Harley-Davidson began in 1985. As a specialist in corporate positioning and media relations, Schmidt was asked to work with the then-struggling Harley-Davidson to help restore the company’s image and create demand for its motorcycles. Within a few short years, Harley-Davidson became one of the most visible and frequently reported-on companies in the world, while sales of its motorcycles rocketed upward. Schmidt became director of Harley-Davidson’s corporate and financial communications and served as its primary spokesperson to the media and the financial communities. He appeared numerous times on network news programs and was frequently called upon by business media to share his insights on non-traditional communications, customer attraction, and brand-building.
Life After Harley. Now, Schmidt is a frequent speaker to business groups and academic communities throughout the world. Few speakers generate more positive word-of-mouth and referrals. “I love to startle people by exposing them to proven ideas and concepts they’ve never imagined,” he said.
Whether he’s talking about how to leverage basic needs to improve competitiveness, build an entirely new corporate culture, or reach out to new customers in completely untraditional ways, Schmidt never follows a predictable course. “Whether I’m talking about how perfectly average people can do extraordinary things or how to build an entirely new corporate culture, rekindle relationships with customers, or reach out to new ones in completely untraditional ways, I’m teaching people to throw conventional approaches out the window. I see opening hearts and minds as my life’s work.”
Today, Schmidt shares his expertise with many of America’s leading brands but happily states that he is “semi-retired,” which allows him to pursue his other passions. He calls working with the grandson of one of Harley-Davidson’s founders to create 100 Years of Harley-Davidson, the best-selling motor sports book of all time, one of the greatest highs in his life. After all he has accomplished his philosophy of life and business hasn’t changed: “Never do what’s expected, make yourself as noticeably different as possible, and have a lot more fun than you’re supposed to.”
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Watch Ken in action
Bombadier Commercial Aircraft
The Center for Health Design
Your message, tone, and energy were just the ticket. Great comments. We are just thrilled.
Retail Solutions Providers Association
Absolutely LOVED your presentation! Reviews from the audience were wonderful.
Keystone Insurance Group
Stellar! It was said multiple times by staff and attendees that you were the best speaker they had heard EVER!
Intel
HUGE thanks for an outstanding talk – off the charts. There was enormous buzz around your key messages and, of course, we really enjoyed the delivery.
PTC Sales & Distribution
You were a huge hit and the overwhelmingly positive comments focused on the relevance of your content and the energy/passion/humor of your delivery. You carried the show.
Wells Fargo
Our leaders really enjoyed your talk. I love the way you were able to use your humor and style to convey the message of reaching customers where it really matters.
Crestline Hotels and Resorts
Nothing but fabulous feedback from the entire group. And they aren’t easy to impress. A huge home run.
Ken's speaking topics
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.
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Your keynote was very well received. Lots of enthusiasm and discussion generated – exactly what we wanted.