Wards Auto Blog: Steve Finlay
Don't Blame CRM System for Internet Ineffectiveness
April 2011
If auto dealerships respond slowly to Internet sales leads, don't blame customer-relationship management software, says Fran O'Hagan. He is CEO of Piped Piper, a consultancy that does an annual study using mystery shoppers to gauge Internet lead effectiveness of dealerships by vehicle brand. CRM systems help dealerships track and manage leads. But the systems only are as good as the people using them – if they use them at all. “CRM is great” and ...
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Wards Auto
Some Auto Dealers Master Internet, Some Don't
March 2011
Fran O'Hagan recalls when his vice president of operations, Miles Stearman, phoned him with a sudden realization about selling cars in the digital age. “Miles called from a dealership he was visiting and said, ‘The Internet is no longer incremental business at dealerships; it is the business,' and that's so true today,” says O'Hagan, president and CEO of Pied Piper Management, a firm that consults with dealers on boosting sales.
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Automotive News
Survey: Dealers botch many Web leads
March 2011
Ninety percent of internet customers received some sort of response, but usually it's the e-mail equivalent of a form letter, according to a survey by Pied Piper Management Company of Monterey, California.
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Automotive News First Shift
Lexus, Honda and Toyota Dealerships Rank Highest
March 2011
Lexus, Honda and Toyota dealerships ranked highest in a study to measure how dealerships treat car customers online. Pied Piper tracks dealerships' performance with mystery shoppers, but in this case, online mystery shoppers.
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AutoGuide.com
Toyota and Honda Dealers Deemed Most Responsive to Customer Inquiries
March 2011
A new study, released by Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (try saying that with a full mouth) turned up some interesting findings, specifically when it came to what's called Internet Lead Effectiveness rankings. The study measured average dealership performance for all brands selling vehicles in the US and discovered that it varied widely depending on the brand. Toyota, Lexus and Honda dealerships were shown to rank highest in terms of ...
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Media Post
Automakers Internet Efforts Lag In-Person Customer Svc.
March 2011
Lexus, Honda and Toyota dealerships ranked highest in a newly released Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index Internet Lead Effectiveness study, which measures dealership responsiveness to customer inquiries over the internet. But industry wide, dealers' internet efforts lag their in-person customer service.
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Press Release: 2011 Pied Piper PSI(R) Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) Benchmarking Study (U.S. Auto Industry)
Lexus, Honda, Toyota Dealerships Top Ranked for Internet Lead Effectiveness
March 2011
Industrywide: 36% of customer internet inquiries remain unanswered after 24 hours Lexus, Honda and Toyota dealerships ranked highest in a newly released Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) Benchmarking Study to measure dealership responsiveness to customer inquiries over the internet. The study measured average dealership performance for all major U.S. automotive brands, showing a wide variety in ...
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Automotive News
Pied Piper helps track dealerships' internet results
February 2011
Mystery shoppers are nothing new, but Internet mystery shoppers are. That's part of the expansion plan for Fran O'Hagan as CEO of Pied Piper, which tracks not whether customers enjoyed their shopping experience but whether dealership salespeople did the things that would lead to a sale.
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Yahoo! Autos
America's Best Car Brands: Toyota, Ford and Honda top the list of best-loved car companies.
August 2010
Toyota is among the best-loved car brands in America, according to our analysis, joining a couple of domestics brands--Ford and Chevrolet--in a race to the top. To compile our list of America's Best Car Brands, we looked at data from Consumer Reports that rated each brand based on safety, quality, value, performance, design/style, technology/innovation and environmental friendliness. We also considered scores from the 2010 Pied Piper Prospect ...
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Press Release: 2010 Pied Piper PSI U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study
Mercedes-Benz dealers achieve highest ranking; Detroit brand dealers most improved
July 2010
Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2010 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI) U.S. Auto Industry Study, one of a series of unique national benchmarking studies using ?mystery shoppers? to measure and compare how consumers are treated when shopping. Detroit brands led the way in 2010 for most improvement, with Ford, Lincoln and Chevrolet scoring above the industry average for the first time since PSI auto ...
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