Effectiveness Of Dealership Sales Process. Harley-Davidson Leading All Other Motorcycle Manufacturers.

HD-DealershipMotorcycle manufacturers, dealer groups and individual dealers hire the company Pied Piper to measure and help improve the effectiveness of a dealership’s sales process by conducting anonymous “mystery shop” evaluations using their Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®). Objectives are: •Measure their  own sales process. • Compare their own sales process to that of same-brand dealers nationwide • Identify sales process areas in need of improvement • Improve their sales effectiveness and retail incremental units 

The 2013 PSI study conducted between July 2012 and April 2013 using 2,503 hired anonymous mystery shoppers at dealerships representing all major brands, located throughout the U.S. Using data collected  Harley-Davidson dealerships led all brands in 18 different sales activities, such as encouraging shoppers to sit on a motorcycle, asking for contact information and helping the shopper overcome obstacles to the purchase. Pied Piper has found a direct correlation between the mystery shopping scores and dealership sales. On average, when motorcycle dealerships are ranked by their PSI score, dealerships in the top quarter sell 22 percent more motorcycles than dealerships in the bottom quarter.

PSI-RankingsSalesperson behaviors more likely in 2013 than 2012 include the following: •  More of them are offering demo rides (now 19 percent of the time) •  More of them discuss features unique from competitors (now 49 percent of the time) • More of them encourage going through the numbers or writing up a deal (now 33 percent of the time)

Salesperson behaviors less likely in 2013 than 2012 include the following:  • Fewer salespeople do a walk-around demonstration (now 70 percent of the time) • Not as many are adept at overcoming shopper objections (now 74 percent of the time) • Fewer salespeople provide compelling reasons to buy now (now 39 percent of the time)

Pied Piper also conducted a separate Online Leads Study between September 2012 and April 2013 by submitting Internet inquiries to a sample of 1,117 dealerships nationwide representing all major brands. Dealers responding to an online customer inquiry use an auto response (56 percent of the time), a personal response (16 percent of the time), and no response of any type (28 percent of the time). The brands whose dealerships were most likely to answer the customer’s specific question were BMW, Star, Husqvarna, Suzuki and Ducati. The brands whose dealerships were most likely to attempt to contact the customer by telephone were Harley-Davidson, Suzuki, Triumph, BMW and Victory.

9 Responses to “Effectiveness Of Dealership Sales Process. Harley-Davidson Leading All Other Motorcycle Manufacturers.”


  1. 1 J.H. May 9th, 2013 at 9:15 am

    Our local Harley dealer has free ‘burgers etc. on Sat. Free food always attracts bikers, and families with kids. They ring the bell when somebody buys a bike.. which is quite often. One of the reasons they are doing so well is the use of sales personnel-a verity of ages and sexes to fit every buyers needs. And as many as they can get on the floor, I counted 10+. We old timers miss the days when a bike dealership wasn’t a boutique, and didn’t have a female restroom..

  2. 2 J.H. May 9th, 2013 at 9:30 am

    Our local Harley dealership has ‘burgers etc. on Sat. free food always attracts bikers and families with kids. The tips go to charity. They have quite a few sales people on the floor, I am usually approached a few times while there. All seem to love what they are doing which definitely helps with customer satisfaction. We old timers miss the days when a dealership wasn’t a boutique, and there were no female restrooms.

  3. 3 Highrider May 9th, 2013 at 5:57 pm

    Hell, there weren’t even any men’s restrooms!!

  4. 4 Brett May 9th, 2013 at 7:40 pm

    so is Yahmaha getting out of bikes & just letting Star handle them? I don’t get how both are listed & Star is by far doing better then Yamaha….But I guess this is NOT sales numbers, just how well the sales staff does.

  5. 5 Tobby May 10th, 2013 at 11:57 am

    Notice that most of the bikes with the higher PSA scores are more expensive. Could it be that those who are shopping in that price segment might have more disposable income to spend so would have a higher probability of buying anyway?

    And how exactly do these mystery shoppers segregate the scoring for multi-brand dealerships like your typical BMW-Ducati-Triumph dealer? Aren’t they the same salespersons?

  6. 6 Mr. Fischer May 10th, 2013 at 4:32 pm

    HDs have nice paint and chrome, but are not reliable.
    OK, I’ll say how I really feel,……THEY SUCK!

  7. 7 Doc Robinson May 11th, 2013 at 3:04 am

    Mr. Fischer you are living in the past, back in the AMF days. Since the Evo Harley-Davidsons have been extremely reliable. I ride tens of thousands of miles every year and have done so for the past 20+ years and never, ever had a breakdown. Neither have by Harley riding buddies although one guy snapped a belt once doing a holeshot. But then again, his engine puts out 150+ hp.

  8. 8 morpion May 11th, 2013 at 3:47 pm

    doc robinson,,you,re right about mr.fisher he is living in the past,, specialy in the 60 and 70,,,i own ,ride,built h-d since 1970 and i will still own one until i die and it is not for tomorrow i hope

  9. 9 MDKUDER May 13th, 2013 at 9:17 am

    It’s the price gouging company that sucks. The bikes just need to evolve.

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Cyril Huze