How does Pied Piper PSI help dealers and manufacturers turn more shoppers into buyers?

In the motor-vehicle business, 75% to 90% of prospects walk right back out the door without buying. How does Pied Piper PSI help dealers and manufacturers turn more of those shoppers into buyers?

Pied Piper Management Company LLC, a five-year-old Monterey, California based company, developed Pied Piper PSI as a patent-pending alternative to traditional “mystery shopping” to improve sales effectiveness of dealerships.

• PSI is based upon facts and science instead of the guesses and opinions of traditional mystery shopping, and this allows individual dealerships to compare their performance over 50 different sales process attributes to the industry average, as well as to the national average of the brand evaluated.
• Patent-pending process begins by conducting industry research of “real” shoppers, to mathematically measure the importance of hundreds of separate sales process factors, and to identify how “real” shopper behavior compares to the behavior of hired anonymous shoppers sent to dealerships throughout the country.
• The industry sales process findings allow the use of hired anonymous shoppers going forward as “fact gatherers” to measure whether or not each of 50+ different sales process factors took place during the shopper’s visit to a dealership.
• Also provides national benchmarking by brand for each of the 50+ different sales process factors, to give meaning and comparison to an individual brand or dealer’s performance.
• Pied Piper PSI shows dealers aspects of the sales process where their dealership performs well, as well as areas which lag behind the average performance of other same brand dealerships throughout the country.

Pied Piper PSI exists solely as a diagnostic tool for dealerships to use to help turn more shoppers into buyers.

PSI is used throughout the automotive, motorcycle, boat and RV industries, but the criteria for each industry is unique since the sales processes used in each industry are unique.

Dealers and manufacturers who improve Pied Piper PSI sell more vehicles

What are the facts? On a brand level, dealer networks which as a whole improve their PSI performance also improve their retail sales performance; and brands with declining PSI scores suffer declining retail sales. Example: When U.S. auto brands are ranked from top to bottom for 2008 YTD retail sales vs the previous year, 8 of the top 10 brands also increased their average PSI scores from 2007 to 2008. And 8 of the bottom 10 brands for retail sales performance also had declining PSI scores from 2007 to 2008.

How about a dealership-by-dealership example? A manufacturer client who purchases monthly Pied Piper PSI evaluations for all of its U.S. & Canadian dealers recently provided some interesting 2008 6-month year-to-date statistics to us:

• Dealers who improved their average Pied Piper PSI scores by 10 points or more from 2007 to 2008 saw retail sales increase 9% during the same time period.

• On the other hand, dealers for whom PSI dropped by 10 points or more saw their retail sales drop 6%.

• The top one-fourth of the entire dealer network, when ranked by PSI scores, saw retail sales grow 5% from 2007 to 2008.

• In contrast, the bottom one-fourth of their dealer network by PSI scores suffered a 4% drop in retail sales from 2007 to 2008.

• What about the dealerships with exceptionally high PSI scores? This manufacturer’s 10 dealerships with the highest 2008 PSI scores enjoyed a 26% increase in retail sales from 2007 to 2008, and so far in 2008 are on track to retail 60% more vehicles on average than the typical dealer for this manufacturer.

The results are encouraging, but even more telling is this manufacturer’s comment that poor performing dealers who use PSI to “act like” a great performing sales dealer have soon become a great performing sales dealer.

Benchmark Nationally: but Act Locally

Clients use our national benchmarking results to quickly identify areas of sales effectiveness strength and weakness. Many common “research” based projects go no further--providing national theory and data for the shelf which is “interesting” but not much more than that.

In contrast, our clients find that Pied Piper PSI is all about driving ongoing operational change. The key to success is local measurement—dealership-by-dealership. A manufacturer’s field force and/or dealership management use Pied Piper PSI as an ongoing diagnostic tool—specific to each dealership—to identify and implement sales effectiveness action plans unique to the dealership—to drive incremental retails and profitability at that dealership.

Or to borrow and modify a political phrase: with Pied Piper PSI, our clients benchmark nationally, but act locally.

How does it work?

Retailers register on this site, and place an initial order of three or more monthly Shopper Evaluations for their retail location. Cost? $99 per Shopper Evaluation. During the designated month, Pied Piper PSI shoppers will anonymously visit the retail location, go through the sales process without buying, and report their findings for 50+ separate elements of the sales process back to Pied Piper PSI. The retailer will shortly receive an email notification with their Pied Piper PSI Shopper Evaluation Report attached. Additional reporting is available on-line for viewing and printing.

What's in a Shopper Evaluation Report?

• Pied Piper PSI Score for the retail location. Overall evaluation of the location, directly comparable to Pied Piper PSI Scores for the industry overall, or for a specific brand.
• Top 10 / Bottom 10 Chart. Calculated as an average over the last six dealership evaluations, this chart shows sales process areas where the dealership falls furthest above or below the national average of other same brand dealerships.
• Question-by-Question Detail. Detailed insight into 50+ separate elements of the sales process.
• Shopper Comments. The visit in the shopper's own words for 20+ separate elements of the sales process.

What else can I see? On-Line Benchmarking.

The Shopper Evaluation Report is just the first step. As soon as a retailer receives their first Shopper Evaluation Report, on-line benchmarking is turned on for the retailer.

On-line benchmarking allows the retailer to see how their operation compares-question by question-to the average for other same-brand retailers, as well as to the overall industry average.

On-line reporting also includes the PSI Performance Dashboard. The PSI Performance Dashboard takes an average of the dealership’s last six evaluations to determine the dealership’s typical sales process. Dealerships are then able to measure and track their sales process, rather than just one-off evaluations of a single salesperson or a single shopper.

Compare your retail location's performance overall.
See how your retail location performs for a specific month, or see how your six-month rolling average Pied Piper PSI score compares to the same-brand average, and to the industry average.

Compare your retail location's performance question-by-question.

Results are shown for a multitude of specific elements of the sales process, divided into categories depending upon the industry. Examples of sales process categories include the following:

• Facility Exterior
• Facility Interior
• Dealership Welcome
• Inventory Display
• Salesperson Professionalism
• Salesperson Attitude
• Fact Finding
• Product Knowledge
• Prospect Involvement
• Salesperson Selling
• Brand Focus

Annual Manufacturer Pied Piper PSI Study
Pied Piper PSI analysis and reporting is also provided to manufacturers to help them identify and target areas of national importance. Manufacturers are provided a comprehensive review and presentation of their Pied Piper PSI performance, which not only delivers annualized benchmarking data for their industry, but also identifies statistical relationships showing which aspects of the sales process are most critical for their industry and for their specific brand.

Ready to get started?

It’s quick and easy. Click here to try Pied Piper PSI for three months at your dealership. It’s affordable—$99 per evaluation—and there is no set up fee and no long-term commitment.

The business methods used by Pied Piper PSI are proprietary to Pied Piper Management Co, LLC, and are Patent Pending.