Harley-Davidson Tops 2013 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index

Mon, 06 May 2013

Harley-Davidson dealers outscored dealers from other brands to take the top spot in the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle Industry Study for the second consecutive year.

The annual study measures the effectiveness of motorcycle dealerships, rating them on how they perform in different categories, such as inviting customers to sit on a floor model, offering demo rides and asking for a customer’s contact information. The study was conducted from July 2012 to April 2013 with data collected by 2,503 hired “mystery shoppers”.

We’ve included the full scores below as well as the scores from past years. One caveat however: Pied Piper PSI has rejigged its study questions and adjusted the weighting and scoring for the 2013 study to achieve an average score of 100. This resulted in a significant scoring changes compared to last year’s study and a wider range between the highest and the lowest scores.

Harley-Davidson dealers ranking highest score of 111 while KTM dealers ranking last at 73. Last year’s study had Harley-Davidson leading the way with 108 while KTM again ranked last but with a score of 92.

Harley-Davidson dealers outperformed all other manufacturers in 18 different activities including encouraging customers to sit on motorcycles, asking for contact information and helping overcome obstacles to a purchase.

Second place in the 2013 Pied Piper study was Ducati with a score of 107. Ducati dealers offered customers a brochure nine out of 10 times to lead all manufacturers. By comparison, less than half of Suzuki, Kawasaki and Honda salespeople offered brochures. Ducati dealers however were less than half as likely to offer a demo ride as BMW, Triumph and Harley-Davidson dealers.

2013 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index Brand 2013* 2012 2011 2010 2009 Harley-Davidson 111 108 104 106 105 Ducati 107 105 102 106 107 Triumph 103 103 102 104 97 Victory 102 103 105 107 102 MV Agusta 102 100 98 103 101 Star 101 98 N/A N/A N/A Husqvarna 100 95 90 90 90 Industry Average 100 103 101 103 101 Suzuki 99 99 100 102 100 BMW 98 105 101 104 102 Kawasaki 96 99 96 100 96 Yamaha 91 102 101 104 99 Moto Guzzi 89 94 87 89 90 Honda 88 98 96 97 95 Aprilia 79 99 95 96 94 KTM 73 92 93 95 92 *Note: a new weighting and scoring system was adopted for 2013.

Overall, the study found salespeople were more 19% more likely to offer demo rides than they were last year. Salespeople were also 49% more likely to point out features that make their motorcycles unique from competing models, and 33% more likely to encourage customers to go through the numbers for a deal.

There were some regressions however. Dealers were 30% less likely to conduct a walk-around demonstration, 26% less likely to overcome shopper objections and 61% less likely to offer compelling reasons to buy now rather than later.

Other interesting results from the 2013 study is a significantly higher score for Star Motorcycle dealers than Yamaha dealers, and the low scores for both Aprilia and KTM compared to other manufacturers.

But how do a manufacturer’s PSI score reflect on sales results? According to Pied Piper, dealerships scoring in the top quarter sell 22% more motorcycles than those in the bottom quarter.

“Any motorcycle dealership faces plenty of challenges that are difficult, if not impossible, to change,” says Fran O’Hagan, president and chief executive officer of Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. “In contrast, how a sales team sells is something a dealership can improve immediately.”

[Source: Pied Piper Management Company]

By Dennis Chung