Decisions that have to work in practice.

Assess the opportunity

Examine the competitive landscape, customer segments, regulatory considerations and pricing. Test how the brand’s proposition translates into local demand, including differences between performance, heritage and other customer priorities.

Design the route to market

Evaluate dealer selection, store formats and partner capability. Include parts, warranty and after-sales readiness in the market-entry plan, so the customer proposition remains credible after the initial sale.

Prepare for execution

Bring together the proposed operating structure, staffing, launch sequence and financial scenarios. Make the assumptions behind volume, margin and investment expectations explicit. This describes the planning approach without disclosing client plans or confidential projections.

Match the channel to the market

Review the role of distributors, dealers, OEMs and EPC partners in reaching customers. Consider selective distribution, store formats and brand presentation alongside geographical coverage. Mapping can help reveal gaps or duplication in a network.

Make the relationship work

Research into motorcycle distribution in Japan highlights the importance of trust, reciprocity and visible manufacturer commitment. Training, shared investment and consistent support can matter alongside the contract. These observations inform questions to investigate locally, rather than assumptions about every partner.

Connect expectations and support

Clarify the partner’s commercial role, service responsibilities and performance measures. Review incentives, fairness and the support needed to represent the brand effectively over time.

Leadership through change

Experience includes international start-ups, interim leadership, business turnaround and factory relocation. Establish priorities and decision-making responsibilities before expanding the change programme.

Processes and improvement

Use process review, Lean methods and performance information to identify constraints. Connect improvement actions to the people responsible for daily delivery.

Teams and governance

Support cross-functional alignment, multi-country management and organisational capability. Communication needs to work from senior leadership through to the people carrying out the change.

A practical sales sequence

The programme follows a dealership walk-around: welcome the customer, introduce the dealership, understand the need, explain the brand and relevant product benefits, address concerns and agree the next step. The aim is a useful customer conversation with a consistent underlying structure.

Turn product knowledge into customer value

Feature-to-benefit exercises help salespeople explain why a product characteristic matters to the individual customer. Objection handling starts with understanding the concern, rather than pressing towards a sale regardless of suitability.

Build capability through practice

Worksheets, role-play, local examples and evaluation tools support practical learning. Greetings, interaction styles and examples can be adapted for the target market while retaining the manufacturer’s core message.

Service delivery

Experience includes field service, maintenance, repair and overhaul, and service-network management. Review the way customer demand, available skills and service capacity come together.

Operational performance

Focus on utilisation, work in progress, throughput, inventory and parts availability. Measures should help teams understand constraints and prioritise corrective action.

Commercial discipline

Connect service agreements, customer commitments and recurring revenue opportunities with the capability to deliver. Clear responsibilities and appropriate service measures support consistent execution.

Start with the information gap

Identify which decisions lack reliable evidence. Review internal records, external market information and the definitions used across reports before adding more measures. ERP gap analysis can distinguish a reporting problem from a process or data-quality problem.

Make commercial performance visible

Analyse sales pipelines, market intelligence and marketing expenditure to support prioritisation. Use Power BI dashboards and visualisations to explain trends, exceptions and the questions that require management attention.

Build a usable reporting rhythm

Combine data structuring, SQL-based analysis and clearly defined KPIs. Reporting should support forecasting and regular commercial or operational reviews, with ownership for the actions arising from the findings.