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"My goal is for Honda to regain its leadership in France in 2007"

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The objective of Florent Lionnet, 34, future boss of Honda Motos in France, is clear: to regain leadership in France from 2007, thanks in particular to the development of services. Interview.

At 34, Florent Lionnet is the new Deputy Managing Director of Honda Motor Europe South. Soon boss of the world number one in France, this former sales manager at BMW Motorrad intends to take over from Yamaha the number one position in France … Interview.

Moto-Net: How do we find ourselves at 34 years old deputy director of Honda Motor Europe South and future boss of Honda Motos in France ?
Florent Lionnet : At times, I myself am the first to be surprised … Some will say that I am lucky and it is surely true, but I also believe that luck is provoked! I did a banal Sup ‘de Co in the provinces, very average because at the time I was a little … lazy! Then I did two years of studies in England and I found myself in 1995 with a bac + 6 which did not allow me to do much … I had to repay a student loan, so my first job was to sell encyclopedias door-to-door in low-rent housing estates. Then I joined Icare, a company that offers used vehicle maintenance and warranty contracts in the automobile. I stayed there until 1998 then I was poached by one of my clients, a car rental company in Toulouse, but it was not a good experience and I only stayed there for 6 months. So I found myself unemployed, then in July 1999 I joined BMW Motorrad as district manager in the southwest. But the southwest is a small market and I asked to transfer to the southeast to see what I was worth over a large geographic area. In December 2001, taking advantage of the departure of my predecessor, I became Head of Sales and Network Development for BMW Motorrad at headquarters. I stayed there for three years, with three major projects: transforming the entire network into exclusive concessions, developing a complete training program with a sales academy and setting up the external and internal identification of the network. At the end of September 2004, a headhunter picked me up to go to Honda…

Moto-Net: You accepted straight away ?
Florent Lionnet : You would have had to be crazy to refuse such an offer! I asked to stay until December 31st to be able to leave with my head held high, because in 2004 BMW Motorrad achieved in France its best results ever! So I arrived at Honda in January 2005 as Deputy Managing Director, with a vocation to succeed the Managing Director in the near future..

Moto-Net: When you left BMW, did you take the recipe for success to apply it to Honda ?
Florent Lionnet : My recipe for success is to bet everything on quality and this is the philosophy that I intend to apply to Honda. At BMW, I have not been educated in promotions and volumes at all costs! My goal is for Honda to regain its leadership in France from 2007 and keep it. It’s not ambitious, it’s realistic! I intend to rely on existing structures, internal teams and the network of 230 dealerships, because it is true that for the past five years Honda has gone through a lean period, notably with the cash payment of motorcycles for dealers. The life of the network has been turned upside down and reciprocal trust has diminished a little … Today, lean cows are a thing of the past! We are resuming discussions with the network, we will help them sell and we keep our promises. The dealers have received our six-month sales strategy, a harmonization of external identifications is planned over twelve months and within a month and a half we will have the first "new wave" concession, we are developing new financing offers and we are organizing free training sessions in the regions. I want to give dealers the means to be competitive and to react well to the competition. Yamaha and BMW, of course, but I’m not focusing on a specific competitor.

Moto-Net: Will you develop mixed car / motorcycle dealerships? ?
Florent Lionnet : We recently had a motorcycle car dealership in Orange, but this is not a strategy in itself, it is a concept that remains very specific to BMW.

Moto-Net: One of your first decisions was to create a sales academy. How it works ?
Florent Lionnet : Yes, I announced at the end of January that we were going to create a sales academy based at Honda, in Marne la Vallee, which will be launched in October on the occasion of the Mondial du Deux Roues. BMW and Yamaha have one, it is a work-study qualifying contract largely supported by Honda but also by the dealer. It’s important for kids to feel valued, there are young people who want to work! We will teach them how to use the computer, familiarize them with Honda software, and instill in them good sales habits. It is easier to teach a young person good habits than to make a confirmed salesperson lose bad ones! The training will be sanctioned by a real diploma with a simulated bill of sale and the defense of a thesis before a jury. For existing salespeople, we are also planning a validation of prior learning which will in turn allow them to challenge them for the rest of their career..

Moto-Net: You are currently touring Honda dealers in France. How are you greeted ?
Florent Lionnet : At the end of April, I will have met some sixty dealers because before speaking, you have to know what you are talking about! The Honda network is healthy, it has withstood four difficult years in terms of management. I am very well received because it has been a long time since the top management at Honda had not come. And in addition, a French! The network has been bullied a bit, he wants to believe it again but he only believes what he sees and he is right! I will see them again at the World Cup to take stock. Don’t focus on the past, I’m looking to the future !

Moto-Net: How do you see the future? ?
Florent Lionnet : The market of tomorrow is about the good management of opportunities. To make the conquest, it is necessary to make the recovery. The entire economic capacity of a dealership today is based on its ability to take back motorcycles. And after the recovery, we must ensure the rotation of the stock. What is important is the second sale, not the first. We must develop after-sales service and professionalize the service, as in the automotive industry. Today we talk too much about price to the customer, not enough services! The future in the two-wheeler will be very interesting, with all these notions of services to be developed.

Interview by Eric MICHEL

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