Ducati has done it again. For the second-consecutive year the Bologna-based motorcycle manufacturer has topped the rankings of the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle Industry Benchmarking Study.
Stateside Ducati dealerships took the highest score in the study that measured “dealership treatment of motorcycle shoppers, with rankings by brand determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties ‘mystery shopping’ measurement and scoring to industry sales success.”
The drive behind the Pied Piper PSI is to measure how effectively U.S. motorcycle dealerships help shoppers become buyers.
Ducati took the top ranking with 116 points, which was up two points from its 2014 score. Following four points back was Harley-Davidson. Together, Ducati and Harley-Davidson have ranked either first, second or third for the past nine-straight years.
Displaying the greatest improvement in the study from 2014 to 2015 were all European brands – Aprilia (+10 points), KTM (+8 points) and BMW (+8 points).
Pied Piper reports that in total, 13 of the 17 brands improved their performance, resulting in the highest industry average PSI score of the nine years Pied Piper has been benchmarking the U.S. motorcycle industry.
Part of this improvement is due to availability of test riders, dealerships encouraging customers to sit on the motorcycles, and salespeople requesting customer contact info and trade-in information.
Pied Piper says it has found that on average, when motorcycle dealerships are ranked by their PSI score, dealerships in the top quarter sell 22 percent more motorcycles than dealerships in the bottom quarter.
“So much about the motorcycle business is difficult for a dealership to control,” said Fran O’Hagan, President and CEO of Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. “In contrast, dealerships can control the sales process used by their sales team, and the results are clearly worth the effort.”
About 2015 Pied Piper PSI U.S. Motorcycle Industry Study
The 2015 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle Industry Study was conducted between July 2014 and April 2015 using 1,779 hired anonymous “mystery shoppers” at dealerships located throughout the U.S. Examples of other recent Pied Piper PSI studies are the 2015 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) (ILE) Benchmarking Study, in which the U.S. Lexus dealer network was top ranked, and the 2014 Pied Piper PSI (In-Person) U.S. Auto Industry Study, in which the Mercedes-Benz dealer network was ranked first.
Complete Pied Piper PSI industry study results are provided to vehicle manufacturers and national dealer groups. Manufacturers, national dealer groups and individual dealerships also order PSI “mystery shop” evaluations—in-person, internet or telephone—as tools to improve the sales effectiveness of their dealerships. For more information about the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, and the patent-pending PSI process, go to www.piedpiperpsi.com.
