Harley-Davidson Tops 2013 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index

Dennis Chung
by Dennis Chung

Harley-Davidson dealers outscored dealers from other brands to take the top spot in the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle Industry Study for the second consecutive year.

The annual study measures the effectiveness of motorcycle dealerships, rating them on how they perform in different categories, such as inviting customers to sit on a floor model, offering demo rides and asking for a customer’s contact information. The study was conducted from July 2012 to April 2013 with data collected by 2,503 hired “mystery shoppers”.

We’ve included the full scores below as well as the scores from past years. One caveat however: Pied Piper PSI has rejigged its study questions and adjusted the weighting and scoring for the 2013 study to achieve an average score of 100. This resulted in a significant scoring changes compared to last year’s study and a wider range between the highest and the lowest scores.

Harley-Davidson dealers ranking highest score of 111 while KTM dealers ranking last at 73. Last year’s study had Harley-Davidson leading the way with 108 while KTM again ranked last but with a score of 92.

Harley-Davidson dealers outperformed all other manufacturers in 18 different activities including encouraging customers to sit on motorcycles, asking for contact information and helping overcome obstacles to a purchase.

Second place in the 2013 Pied Piper study was Ducati with a score of 107. Ducati dealers offered customers a brochure nine out of 10 times to lead all manufacturers. By comparison, less than half of Suzuki, Kawasaki and Honda salespeople offered brochures. Ducati dealers however were less than half as likely to offer a demo ride as BMW, Triumph and Harley-Davidson dealers.

2013 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index
Brand 2013*2012201120102009
Harley-Davidson111108104106105
Ducati107105102106107
Triumph10310310210497
Victory102103105107102
MV Agusta10210098103101
Star10198N/AN/AN/A
Husqvarna10095909090
Industry Average100103101103101
Suzuki9999100102100
BMW98105101104102
Kawasaki96999610096
Yamaha9110210110499
Moto Guzzi8994878990
Honda8898969795
Aprilia7999959694
KTM7392939592
*Note: a new weighting and scoring system was adopted for 2013.

Overall, the study found salespeople were more 19% more likely to offer demo rides than they were last year. Salespeople were also 49% more likely to point out features that make their motorcycles unique from competing models, and 33% more likely to encourage customers to go through the numbers for a deal.

There were some regressions however. Dealers were 30% less likely to conduct a walk-around demonstration, 26% less likely to overcome shopper objections and 61% less likely to offer compelling reasons to buy now rather than later.

Other interesting results from the 2013 study is a significantly higher score for Star Motorcycle dealers than Yamaha dealers, and the low scores for both Aprilia and KTM compared to other manufacturers.

But how do a manufacturer’s PSI score reflect on sales results? According to Pied Piper, dealerships scoring in the top quarter sell 22% more motorcycles than those in the bottom quarter.

“Any motorcycle dealership faces plenty of challenges that are difficult, if not impossible, to change,” says Fran O’Hagan, president and chief executive officer of Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. “In contrast, how a sales team sells is something a dealership can improve immediately.”

[Source: Pied Piper Management Company]

Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung

Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.

More by Dennis Chung

Comments
Join the conversation
Next