Powersports Business Blog
As dealer principal, do you act like a CEO or a janitor?
January 2012
Back in 1985, I scraped together every last cent to buy a Kawasaki Ninja 600R from a dealer in Pennsylvania, Bill Peacock. I still remember Bill's business card to this day because below his name he had chosen for a title, “Owner, Janitor.” His point was that his dealership was a small, friendly, hands-on family business. One of the sales process steps our company measures today is whether a sales customer is introduced to dealership management ...
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Powersports Business Blog
Are the motorcycle brands you sell really just commodities?
December 2011
Wandering around this year's Long Beach motorcycle show, I was struck by how dramatically the U.S. motorcycle market has changed — and is still changing. Remember when the four Japanese brands and Harley-Davidson seemed responsible for 95 percent of what was happening, and niche brands like BMW, Ducati, Victory and Triumph were really just curiosities? Today the four Japanese brands and Harley-Davidson are still heavy-hitters, but the brands that ...
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Powersports Business Blog
Is your dealership closed when customers want to buy?
October 2011
Earlier this year, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law allowing Sunday motorcycle sales. While pushing for the change in law, New Jersey motorcycle dealerships observed that many of their customers had been crossing over the state line into Delaware to shop on Sundays. How many motorcycle dealerships nationwide are open on Sundays? For that matter, how many have extended hours on Saturdays, instead of closing early to allow ...
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Powersports Business Blog
Lack of floor traffic sinking your dealership?
September 2011
Too many hard-working motorcycle dealerships today are holding on for survival, trying to grind out a living relying on the same number of customer “ups” in a week that they used to see on any given day. First of all, yes, you are in good company; there are plenty of other dealerships in exactly the same predicament; and yes, most would agree that you and your team didn't cause the downturn. On the other hand, you and your team are the ones who ...
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Powersports Business Blog
Do your salespeople ask for the sale every time?
August 2011
Probably not. We know that asking for the sale is an obvious key to selling motorcycles, but we also know that on average, U.S. motorcycle salespeople ask for the sale less than half the time (48 percent to be exact). Given that asking for the sale directly sells more motorcycles, why do so many salespeople resist? Two reasons: First of all because we humans dislike rejection as much as we dislike anything. Salespeople must understand and ...
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Powersports Business
Don't talk your customers out of buying
July 2011
If your salespeople are having trouble turning shoppers into buyers, find out if the salespeople are talking customers out of buying. No salesperson would turn away customers on purpose, but by skipping the “fact-finding” step of the sales process, a salesperson may end up making customers less likely to buy. What attracted the customer to your dealership, and why are they interested in that particular motorcycle? Armed with an answer to those ...
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Powersports Business
Does your facility really make any difference to sales success?
June 2011
The best sales team selling out of a tent will run rings around an unskilled sales team at a beautiful dealership. Dealers quickly learn that skilled and trained employees are the most important ingredient for a successful dealership operation. But what about the facility? How much of a difference does a facility make to sales success?
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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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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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