By Tina Berres Filipski

Ken Schmidt roared on stage aboard a Harley- Davidson 1200 Series Sportster at Wednesday’s General Session and spoke to a packed ballroom about the importance of having a story to tell. “You guys have a story yet?” he asked. “No demand is created in a world where stories aren’t told.”  

The content of that story is where great branding is born. During his tenure as communications director at Harley-Davidson, Schmidt not only orchestrated a legendary branding turnaround that restored the near-bankrupt company to a brand that’s not only outselling Honda 10-to-one in the U.S. but also created an experience that’s become a lifestyle for Harley disciples, as Schmidt calls them. There’s a huge chasm between disciples and customers. “A disciple is someone who feels so good about something they’ll tell another person about the source of their joy.”

He told the audience if their clients haven’t told others why they do business with their companies, zero demand has been created. Without creating experiences for clients through company stories, the relationship is based on a commodity. “If we have zero differentiation, we are creating zero demand for what we do,” he added.

To illustrate the transaction-based model, he used an analogy to which just about every listener could relate: shopping for a flat-screen TV. “Salespeople are fighting to sell you the same thing,” he said. “And the consumer will always take the easy way out if they don’t see a difference—and it will come down to price.”

If consumers can’t differentiate between products, they will demand to pay less. Brain is pain, he likes to say. “When the brain is churning inside the head of a potential customer, we have failed. When your customer’s brain is fully engaged, the customer will become logical. Logic, to the average consumer right now, means to pay the lowest possible price.”

Today’s world is marketing averse—a problem he attributes to the average consumer viewing more than 6,000 marketing messages every day. He said he could talk for hours about the quality, craftsmanship, product line, engineering and elegance of Harley-Davidson motorcycles but still create no demand for his product.

What does move the needle is to ask customers what they want, listen to the answers and take action based on their input. During Harley- Davidson’s rebound, its management team learned that asking customers what they want and using that information to improve the process, product and experience was successful. Schmidt recalled asking, “What can we do differently to make you buy this bike?”  

The customer’s ego is the single-most important lesson sellers and their companies can learn. Sellers, he said, need to create differentiation that engages human beings and allows them to feel good about themselves. “We are all selling the same thing,” he ranted. Differentiation demands creativity—and when that happens, price becomes less of a concern.

While at The PPAI Expo, we experienced one of those rare moments when the IRS has actually given us some good news. The IRS has announced a simplified option for taking a deduction for the costs associated with the office if you have a business office in your home. If you already have a business office in your home, you know that the process for preparing the form to claim a deduction has been a painful one.

The new optional deduction, capped at $1,500 per year based on $5 a square foot for up to 300 square feet, should reduce your paperwork and recordkeeping burden. Currently, you have to fill out a 43-line form (Form 8829), often with complex calculations of allocated expenses, depreciation and carryovers of unused deductions.

Under the new option, you cannot depreciate the portion of the home used in a trade or business, but you can claim allowable mortgage interest, real estate taxes and casualty losses on the home as itemized deductions on Schedule A. These deductions need not be allocated between personal and business use, as is required under the regular method.

Business expenses unrelated to the home, such as advertising, supplies and wages paid to employees, are still fully deductible.

Current restrictions on the home office deduction, such as the requirement that a home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business and the limit tied to the income derived from the particular business, still apply under the new option. 

The new simplified option is available starting with the 2013 return most taxpayers file early in 2014. Further details on the new option can be found in Revenue Procedure 2013-13, posted on IRS.gov at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-13-13.pdf.

By Tama Underwood

Mealey and other attendees at this week’s PPAI Expo who registered by September 14, 2012, were automatically entered to win a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which was given away at Wednesday’s General Session. Registrants had to be in attendance to win.

 “I’m flabbergasted!” Mealey says. “When they were spinning the wheel, I was thinking, ‘Did I register for this or not?’ Apparently, I did! This will probably be the beginning of a new hobby for me. I haven’t ridden a motorcycle in probably 30 years.”  

Other prizes awarded to early PPAI Expo registrants include:

$150 Giftcard: Daryll Griffin, MAS; Pam Slepak $300 Giftcard: Craig McConnaughey; Stan Rykowski

Airfare To The PPAI Expo: Judy Broyles, MAS; Ted Dennison, MAS; Tracy Haseleu; Robert Schwarz, MAS

Hotel For The PPAI Expo: Richard Koolmeyer, MAS; Linda Martin, MAS; Denise Taschereau; Julia Wright, MAS

Power Of Two Tickets: Remy Fenster; Tracy Haseleu; Bucky Holcomb, CAS; Richard Hom; John Killam; Cynthia Lowell; Becky Luger; Chuck Myers; Terry Peak, CAS; Margie Price, MAS; Alan Reinegger; Greg Reinhardt; Josefina Rodriquez; Brian Rothmeier; Kirby Soffer, MAS; Michael Strycharz; Kammie Teter; Ladena Tower; Geoff Wheelan; Herman Wilson

Harley-Davidson Motorcycle: Dolly Mealey

H-D-branded Pool Table: Michael Meindl

H-D-branded Bar: Brad Simmons

H-D-branded Jacket/Luggage: Marc Rudolph

H-D-branded Helmet: Gayle Reinegger