Recent Press - dealership responsiveness

A company that has examined the sales processes in the powersports, auto and RV industries has found the motorcycle industry significantly trails its counterparts in simple sales processes.

That conclusion, reached by a management consulting company that works with Ducati North America and Victory, is good news for an industry that is likely to be down in retail sales for 2007 compared to the previous year. If dealerships can improve sales process basics, then it's possible sales could increase in a challenging economy.

"How can dealerships sell more motorcycles without more floor traffic?" asked Fran O'Hagan, the CEO of Pied Piper Management Co., the California-based company that unveiled its first-ever, three-industry survey in 2007. "It's not that complicated."

O'Hagan discussed his company's findings at Powersports Business Congress, an annual event that brings together suppliers and dealers for a series of business meetings. O'Hagan was the keynote speaker of the event, which featured dealer principals and general managers from close to 20 dealerships and executives from more than 15 industry companies.

"The customer is king" is the oldest and truest cliché in the book. Before a stranger becomes a customer, however, he or she is first a prospect. 75% to 90% of all motor vehicle shoppers don't buy the same day they first visit a dealership. So when it comes to your bottom line, that makes prospect satisfaction at least as important as customer satisfaction.

For a new dealer evaluation and incentive program, Ducati used Pied Piper Management Company’s “prospect satisfaction index” rather than customary customer satisfaction scoring. Ducati CEO Michael Lock said Ducati opted against using the more common measuring stick—customer satisfaction surveys—because “it’s creating the wrong type of relationship between the dealer and the customer.” Lock said such surveys put pressure on dealer staff to convince consumers to give them high scores on such surveys. With the prospect satisfaction index, which uses an independent third party to shop dealerships, the evaluation of the dealership’s retail practices are kept between the dealer and the OEM, and does not involve the customer, something Lock sees as key.

The Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index allows RV manufacturers and RV dealers to order evaluations of dealerships to see how the performance of their salespeople compares to the RV industry national average, and to the national average of other same brand dealerships.

The Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (www.piedpiperpsi.com//) is one source for dealers who wish to see how their sales process effectiveness stacks-up against the national average for other same brand dealerships.

Monaco RV dealerships ranked highest in the newly released "2007 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index RV Industry Study," which measured how shoppers are treated at retail locations that sell Class A motorhomes. The independent study uses the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process to evaluate and benchmark shopping experience and salesmanship effectiveness, and provide actionable insights on the hot buttons that turn shoppers into buyers.

Pushy car salespeople are more fiction than fact, according to a study that challenges many of the negative stereotypes in the auto industry. Pied Piper Management Co.'s Prospect Satisfaction Index measures how well shoppers are treated at the dealership.

Acura dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2007 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index(sm) Auto Industry Study, an industry-first study that measures how consumers are treated when shopping for a new car, SUV or truck. The independent study evaluated and benchmarked shopping experiences at 1,592 dealerships nationwide, representing all major brands.

Last week a new survey debuted attempting to gauge how satisfied car-shopping consumers are when they visit various dealerships. The report by Pied Piper Management is new and surveyed shoppers, not necessarily buyers, at some 1,600 dealerships. Pied Piper dug up some intriguing tidbits.

Motorcycle salespeople move their customers from one brand to another more than their counterparts in the RV and auto industries do. And the brand can make a big difference in whether a salesperson will direct the consumer’s attention to the product that they originally asked about or direct them to an entirely different model and line.