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Fran O'Hagan is on a mission. The president of Pied Piper Management Company —a group that helps brands, manufacturers and dealers improve their retail experience — has been working for more than a decade to determine the behaviors that turn shoppers into buyers. "When we enter an industry for the first time, we do the math to measure what steps actually drive sales at the dealership," O'Hagan says. 

But his company's research doesn't stop at in-person sales. He's also keen to figure out the important behaviors that drive digital sales - that includes website traffic, online chat, e-mail communication, telephone calls and texting. The information O'Hagan and his team at Pied Piper gathers is compiled in a Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI), which he calls "fact-based mystery shopping."

"We try not to rely on opinions," O'Hagan says of the PSI. "We want to focus on the math, focus on the facts. This fact-based approached allows Pied Piper to publish annual industry benchmarking studies." Those studies can be used by manufacturers and retailers to evaluate the sales behaviors they're currently using and take note of the impact those behaviors have on customer purchasing.

In today's increasingly digital landscape, O'Hagan knows his customers are particularly focused on one question: "How can I sell more vehicles by paying close attention to customers who contact me through my dealership's website?" "This is just the way we shop today," O'Hagan says. "We whip out our smartphone, and then stuff shows up in the mail."

However, O'Hagan cautions dealerships not to expect that customers will want to complete equipment sales transactions solely over e-mail. "Think of it as meeting a vehicle customer for the first time digitally," he says. "Most customers still want to visit the dealership. It's just that this is the first step. This is how they meet the dealership today."

According to O'Hagan, many potential customers turn to their phones instead of heading to a dealership when they first contemplate purchasing a vehicle such as a UTV. They go to a search engine and type in the relevant information - their location, the brand they might be considering, along with ‘UTV' - and then see what comes up. "They click on the dealership (that comes up) and they see this dealership sells this product," but they still have questions, O'Hagan says. "So they ask the dealership. They follow the dealership's instructions for how to communicate and hit send." 

That's where the communication breakdown begins, according to O'Hagan. "After 60 minutes, 3 out of 4 customers won't have received any personal e-mail response," he says. "One customer in 4 will. After 24 hours, one more of those 4 customers will receive a personal response. That leaves half of the UTV customers who typed that question in. They're still waiting after 24 hours.