BB Direct Sales info

[Tom Warner]

Ron I have two suggestions that Bluebird management might want to consider.

1. It is extremely important when building a cohesive management
team, to have everyone realize and support the same corporate vision.
If even one member outwardly supports the vision but covertly
attempts to undermine it, thru his/her misunderstanding of that
vision, or due to some misunderstanding or past problme, then over
time its possible for failure to become the predominent force. There
is a way for management to ensure that each and every member
understands where all others are coming from and how their individual
personalities can influence their ability to support management 100%
of the time. This is the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator. Get a
professional to come and run the classes and find out each and every
managers personality profile. To put it simply not everyone either
receives or gives information in the same way. Some are only able to
understand if they hear it verbally, while others have to read it
sometimes many times before they understand. Still others must touch
and feel it in order to fully understand even simple concepts or in
some cases even mull it over in their heads over some longer period
of time. This is not to condemn any one particular way but only to
recognize the differences. This is very important for there are times
during a management meeting when the same person again and again
voices the opinion that some certain thing can't succeed. What he/she
might in fact be saying is that they haven't fully understood it yet.
They are in essence afraid to support something they dont understand
or has a better way of doing it.

You want to find out just how good your management team is, Tell them
to go off site to a private place for a few days, no family, no
phones, no TV, just association with the other members of management.
Have them take a big pad of butcher paper and inform every member of
management that the top guy (hes the one that will announce it) wants
to know the good and bad points of the company, things that may be
hurting us in todays market. Divide the paper into negative and
positive sides so that each member can voice their opinions. Have
the moderator write them down (the CEO isnt there), and make each
input without connecting names to it. If you have a good management
team that does not feel threatened, they will speak freely about the
company (thats what they are getting paid for), the observations will
start to haltingly come. Take each and every one seriously and
complement the person for being brave enough to voice his/her true
feelings. Be ready for some big surprises. Then let the CEO have the
pad and review it with the moderator.

2. Top management has to manage by walking around, and give everyone
the impression in both words and body language that he/she is
comfortable doing it. The CEO must establish early on that he will be
walking around and talking to individuals at every level, even the
assembly line, the dining room and paint booth. The CEOs first rule
should be that he better have every level of management reporting
problems and recommendations to him FIRST before he hears about it
when he is walking around. Every single day I walked thru every
section and sat down with different people to talk. At first they
were apprehensive but after a while they just accepted it as the way
things were and started to talk to me about everything. Middle
managers were a little shakey at first but it wasnt long before
everyone understood and upper management felt the pulse of the
organization. Members at every level quickly knew that each and every
one of them were important to the companies success. Bad performance
was not tolerated and good performance was recognized by top
management right on the spot. The CEO found out who the top
performers were due to his walking around experience and could give a
cash award for that performance when he was walking around and right
before the workers peers. Thats a tremendous incentive in any company
and a strong enforcement that management is serious about producing a
superior product .


3. Compile a list of present Bluebird owners that are willing to
work with owners of new Bluebirds to help them get up to speed in
learning the many systems in their new coaches, so they can gain
confidence in it quickly. When a new Bluebird owner picks up his
coach he would receive the name of a person near him that is
knowledgeable about Bluebirds that he could call or visit for
help. For first time owners of a Bluebird the Dash alone can be very
intimidating and I have seen owners that have owned their coach for
a year that still dont know the function of all of the switches and
gauges. Does Bluebird make a DVD to go along with the coach that
explains the complete coach including what to do if a slide does not
work for instance?

4. Give every new Bluebird owner a list of Bluebird Wanderlodge Forum
members by state and area with phone numbers and addresses that they
can call if help is needed. Many of us are knowledgeable about where
the good repair shops are and can offer assistance in an emergency
and know what kind of assistance is needed. To this end we need to
get more forum members to sign up now so we can build a larger
list. I believe this is a very strong indicator of Brand loyalty
and can make a new owner feel very secure that help is very close
from people that understand. While Bluebird has one of the best
trained individuals with a vast amount of corporate knowledge about
Bluebirds in Benny Collier he is often times swamped with calls and
cant respond. This could be a second quick response avenue.

Tom Warner
Vernon Center,NY
1985 PT 40, now under restoration


At 07:29 PM 5/10/2006, you wrote:
>All:
>
> Fred not only responded very positively to the suggestions
>forwarded to him, but he plans to send more information and
>explanations about what is going on with the company and product.
>
> He sent the following message later in the day:
>
> >>One thing I should have mentioned, I reviewed the factory direct
>plan with several owners council members and Glen King. The Factory
>direct decision was not made in a vacuum. The goal is to provide the
>best delivery method and service possible. Our new coach buyers
>deserve that. Thank you for your help and input, I really appreciate
>what you are doing of the company. I will more fully address all the
>concerns when time allows.<<
>
> Let's give him the time to fully inform us.
>
>R.E. (Ron) Marabito, Dallas, TX 92WB40
>
>
>
>
>
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