Press Release: 2011 Pied Piper PSI(R) Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) Benchmarking Study (U.S. Auto Industry)
Lexus, Honda, Toyota Dealerships Top Ranked for Internet Lead Effectiveness
March 2011
Industrywide: 36% of customer internet inquiries remain unanswered after 24 hours Lexus, Honda and Toyota dealerships ranked highest in a newly released Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) Benchmarking Study to measure dealership responsiveness to customer inquiries over the internet. The study measured average dealership performance for all major U.S. automotive brands, showing a wide variety in ...
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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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Automotive News
Pied Piper helps track dealerships' internet results
February 2011
Mystery shoppers are nothing new, but Internet mystery shoppers are. That's part of the expansion plan for Fran O'Hagan as CEO of Pied Piper, which tracks not whether customers enjoyed their shopping experience but whether dealership salespeople did the things that would lead to a sale.
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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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Powersports Business Blog
When was the last time you spoke with your customers?
September 2010
Years ago, after he had created a multi-billion dollar business from scratch, Ross Perot was asked about his role at the company. His answer was ?sales.? Along with all the other obvious roles of a CEO, Perot was clear his top priority was taking care of customers and finding new customers. How often today do owners or general managers pick up the telephone to spontaneously call a customer who hasn?t been to the dealership for a while? Turn the ...
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Yahoo! Autos
America's Best Car Brands: Toyota, Ford and Honda top the list of best-loved car companies.
August 2010
Toyota is among the best-loved car brands in America, according to our analysis, joining a couple of domestics brands--Ford and Chevrolet--in a race to the top. To compile our list of America's Best Car Brands, we looked at data from Consumer Reports that rated each brand based on safety, quality, value, performance, design/style, technology/innovation and environmental friendliness. We also considered scores from the 2010 Pied Piper Prospect ...
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Powersports Business Blog
What can your dealership learn from Starbucks?
August 2010
Are Starbucks baristas hired only if they love coffee, or only if they already have experience making a cappuccino? And does a Starbucks manager dread losing an employee since the departing employee?s ?tribal knowledge? will be so hard to teach to a new hire? No. The Starbucks business model embraces the fact that baristas will come and go, by making sure the processes used to run a Starbucks are written down and are simple and easy to follow. ...
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