MediaPost News
Victory a Victor in Pied Piper Bike Brand Study
May 2011
American and European motorcycle brands are very good at something the import brands are still struggling with: creating a strong brand affinity and satisfaction at the retail level. For the second year in a row, Polaris' Victory Motorcycle brand is the top-ranking motorcycle maker in prospect satisfaction in the new Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI). Victory led the pack in areas such as providing a product walk-around demonstration, ...
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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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Powersports Business Blog
Does your sales team sell, or are they ‘museum curators'?
May 2011
Our company applies the term, ‘museum curator' to describe salespeople who are friendly and knowledgeable and will happily answer any customer questions, but don't actively try to turn shoppers into buyers. Be careful, because when customers are asked about their experience with museum curator salespeople, the customers will often describe the experience positively, which can mislead. When customers visit a dealership they are thinking about all ...
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Press Release: VICTORY MOTORCYCLE DEALERS RANKED HIGHEST BY 2011 PIED PIPER PROSPECT SATISFACTION INDEX(R)
May 2011
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – May 2, 2011 – The Victory Motorcycle brand from Polaris Industries, Inc. maintained its top ranking in the newly released 2011 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) U.S. Motorcycle Industry Benchmarking Study. Harley-Davidson finished second, while Ducati and Triumph tied for third, followed by BMW and Yamaha, all of which scored above the industry average. 2011 marked the fifth year for the independent Pied ...
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PowerSports Business Blog
Internet Business is No Longer Incremental Business
April 2011
In the auto industry, we recently learned that industry-wide 36 percent of customer inquiries over the Internet remain unanswered after 24 hours. Granted, that is a car business figure, but when we measured the same figure for the motorcycle industry back in 2008, we found that the motorcycle industry responsiveness to Internet inquiries was roughly one-half of the auto industry's performance. Think about what that means. … Imagine if your ...
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PowerSports Business
How to get your customers to say, “I'll take it”
March 2011
How do some experienced salespeople make selling motorcycles seem so easy? The simple answer is that they have mastered three basic steps: trust, understanding and value. Yes, the motorcycle sales process consists of many more than three steps, but these three often separate the beginners from the pros.
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Powersports Business Blog
How to avoid, “No thanks, I'm just looking.”
January 2011
Salesperson asks, “Can I help you?” Shopper answers, “No thanks, I'm just looking.” Ten minutes later the shopper walks out the door. The shopper was interested in motorcycles. You are interested in selling them a motorcycle. What was the problem? You heard what the shopper said, but this is what the shopper was thinking, “I'm psyched to be looking at these motorcycles, and if you were my friend, I would tell you all about what I like and don't ...
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Powersports Business Blog
Will you surrender to ‘creative destruction?'
December 2010
In business, the term “creative destruction” applies to successful new ventures rising out of the ashes of other failed businesses. We watch a typewriter manufacturer go out of business, but find that its building and its employees are snapped-up by a new supplier to the computer industry. Or newspapers lose circulation and layoff journalists who instead find jobs making online publications successful. How does the “creative destruction” concept ...
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PowersSports Business Blog
Internet inquiries: Respond by e-mail or telephone?
November 2010
More than 80 percent of today?s motorcycle shoppers visit a Web site before visiting a dealership, so we shouldn?t be surprised as more and more shoppers? first contact with a dealership is by Internet/e-mail too. Successful dealerships have a defined process in place to handle Internet/e-mail leads, but is the ?best practice? to respond by e-mail or by telephone? Some experts argue that since the customer contacted the dealership by ...
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Dealernews
Want a customer's perspective? Try Secret Shopping.
November 2010
The PSI process measures how effectively each brand?s dealerships help motorcycle shoppers become buyers. Dealers can pay Pied Piper to secret-shop their own store. The cost is $99 per salesperson evaluation, and the information is collected and viewed using a Web-based program.
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