Bill Ringle Interviews Chris Zane on My Quest for Best

Business growth strategist Bill Ringle interviewed Chris Zane, author, bicycle retailer, and award-winning entrepreneur, for My Quest for the Best. In this interview series, Ringle speaks with successful industry experts and outstanding business leaders about their strategies for reaching and influencing significant target audiences, innovative business leadership, breakthrough moments in their career, and the important business and life lessons they've gained along the way.

Chris Zane is a veteran of the retail bicycle industry who bought his first bike shop at age 16 and built Zane’s Cycles into largest bicycle shop in Connecticut by the age of 30. Today, Zane’s Cycles is one of the largest retail bicycle stores in the nation. He has positioned himself at the forefront of the industry by continuously setting standards in customer loyalty and creative marketing. Chris is a sought-after speaker and the author of Reinventing the Wheel: The Science of Creating Lifetime Customers. His cutting-edge marketing techniques have been used as case studies in more than a dozen college textbooks worldwide. Since 1985, Chris has been accumulating awards and accolades such as the Better Business Bureau’s “Award of Recognition for Customer Service and Outstanding Business Practices,” Fast Company magazine’s “Customer First Award,” and North American Bicyclist magazine’s “North America’s Best Bicy cle Retailer” Award.

Zane’s conversation with Bill Ringle on My Quest for the Best offered a window into that award-winning business philosophy. Zane discussed the impact that taking full responsibility has on the culture of Zane’s Cycles, including why free lifetime service is included with every bicycle they sell. He also shared some of the factors his company uses to successfully differentiate from competitors, how the “magic number” helps his team members remember to treat customers with great care and respect, and how adopting his commitment to being in the customer service business - not the bike business - can benefit your company, too.

“Chris has achieved uncommon success as an entrepreneur during one of the toughest economic periods in history through his commitment to create great experiences for his customers, his method of empowering his staff to make significant decisions that reflect the values of his company, and his insights into effective marketing and management,” notes Bill Ringle. “Once you understand how Chris thinks about the drivers in his business and industry, you can combine that thinking with your own ideas in order to steer your business into the fast lane for greater customer loyalty and higher profits.”

Bill Ringle, America’s Business Growth Strategist, is founder of the Rapid Rise Business Growth SystemTM, the proven step-by-step system that shows you exactly how to connect and do business with your ideal customers in record time. He works with high performing entrepreneurs and CEOs who want to overcome the five big challenges to business growth so that they can run profitable and rewarding business rather than become stuck and overwhelmed in unfulfilling and draining roles. He has worked on four continents, is the author of four business books, and inspires and educates thousands of business leaders each year through his speaking, coaching, interactive programs, and products.