Wards Auto
Mystery Shoppers Put Tesla Dealerships in Cellar – Again
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July 2016
Fran O’Hagan is a methodical guy who’s baffled as to why Tesla stores year after year score so low in an annual mystery-shopping study of dealership sales effectiveness. The electric-car maker, which has skirted the traditional dealership franchise system in favor of owning its own sales outlets, ranked dead last on this year’s Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index. The study by brand measures how well dealerships follow sales processes, such ...
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Automotive News First Shift
Porsche, Lexus and BMW ranked highest for responding to customer internet leads
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March 2016
For the sixth year, Pied Piper measures how every brand’s dealers respond to customer internet inquiries. Pied Piper's annual study sent thousands of mystery shoppers on-line to dealerships nationwide to see how effectively salespeople respond.
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Truth About Cars
Tesla Dead Last in Dealer Experience, First in PR
July 2015
We have opined in these pages before about how for every Tesla sold in America, there are two or three glowing stories written about the electric automaker. There are days when over 50 percent of the pieces on auto industry news feeds are about Tesla, which is not bad for a company capturing 0.1 percent of the U.S. automobile market. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is truly a marketing and public relations genius. Given that, it is fascinating when a ...
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Wards Auto
Luxury Brands Have Great Cars, and Great Salespeople
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July 2015
Why do Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus rank 1-2-3 in U.S. luxury-brand sales? Reasons vary. But one of them is that their dealership salespeople are real pros. And a reason for that is their staff retention rates are high, meaning good people stick around. And they do so because they're earning a good living from healthy margins on premium cars. “It boils down to profitability,” says Fran O'Hagan, head of Piped Piper Management, a consulting company ...
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The Detroit Bureau
Turning Shoppers into Customers: Mercedes Tops the Chart in New Study
Tesla turns its showrooms into museums.
July 2015
When Linda Brightman started out to buy a new car she had her heart set on a new BMW 3-Series. The suburban Los Angeles mother of two made one concession to her husband, agreeing to at least visit a few other showrooms to see what the competitors had to offer. He was nonetheless surprised when she drove home in a new Mercedes-Benz C-Class. She liked a lot of the safety features, Brightman explained. But what had clinched the deal was the way the ...
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Mini, Lexus, BMW stores most-improved in responding to potential buyers
July 2015
Mini, Lexus and BMW dealerships achieved the industry's biggest improvements in building rapport with potential buyers, while Mercedes-Benz stores led the way for a seventh-consecutive year, according to a newly released study. Volvo, Smart, Jaguar and Cadillac had the largest drops in performance. The ninth-annual Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study measured the responsiveness of 6,370 dealerships of all ...
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Press Release: MERCEDES-BENZ, INFINITI AND LEXUS DEALERS RANKED HIGHEST BY 2013 PIED PIPER PSI(R)
July 2013
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – July 8, 2013 – Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2013 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study, which measured dealership treatment of car-shoppers. Study rankings by brand were determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and scoring to industry sales success. Infiniti and Lexus dealerships, ...
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Press Release: MERCEDES-BENZ DEALERS TOP RANKED BY 2012 PIED PIPER PROSPECT SATISFACTION INDEX(R)
Treatment of car shoppers improves industry-wide; Highest industry average PSI score
July 2012
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – July 9, 2012 –Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2012 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study, which measured dealership treatment of car-shoppers. Study rankings by brand were determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and scoring to industry sales success. Acura, Infiniti and Lexus ...
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Powersports Business
Industry's prospect satisfaction scores drop
May 2011
All but one motorcycle brand's dealers declined in their year-over-year Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI) as measured in a benchmarking study by independent company, Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. Overall motorcycle industry performance declined across a majority of the sales process activities tracked by the study, which led to lower PSI scores for 13 of the 14 major brands. Only Husqvarna didn't decline, as it maintained its PSI score of 90 it ...
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Dealernews
Victory Motorcycles maintains No. 1 ranking in Pied Piper study
May 2011
Victory Motorcycle has again earned the top spot in the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI) U.S. Benchmarking Study. Victory is followed by Harley-Davidson in second place, and Ducati and Triumph, which tied for third, with BMW and Yamaha rounding out the top five spots. According to the report, all of these brands scored above the industry average. The independent Pied Piper PSI study employed 1,967 anonymous “mystery shoppers” to visit ...
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