Ducati Motorcycle Dealers Top Ranked for 3rd Year For Buyers Satisfaction. Harley-Davidson And Victory Tied For Second.

piperrankingPied Piper Management Company LLC released yesterday its annual industry benchmarking study measuring how effectively U.S. motorcycle dealerships help shoppers become buyers. Ducati dealerships were the top ranked brand in the newly released 2016 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) U.S. Motorcycle Industry Benchmarking Study, which marks the third consecutive year that Ducati finished at the top. The study measured dealership treatment of motorcycle shoppers, with rankings by brand determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and scoring to industry sales success. Go here for complete rankings by brand: www.piedpiperpsi.com. Harley-Davidson and Polaris’ Victory brand and finished tied for second, while BMW and dealers selling Polaris’ Slingshot three-wheeler finished tied for fourth.

Ducati.2016 marked the tenth year of the Pied Piper PSI motorcycle industry study, and ten years of results show that the sales process used by motorcycle dealers is more effective today than it was ten years ago. For example, compared to ten years ago, dealers today are almost twice as likely to offer motorcycle test rides, to ask about trade-ins and to request shopper contact information to allow follow-up. One of the few areas which declined over ten years was salespeople offering printed materials for the shopper to take with them, which dropped from 67% to 49% of the time.

Brands showing the greatest overall improvement from 2015 to 2016 were Polaris’ Indian brand, Aprilia, Honda, Victory, BMW, Moto Guzzi and Yamaha. Brands with declines from 2015 to 2016 were Husqvarna, Kawasaki, Can-Am and Triumph. In total, improvement by twelve of the nineteen brands generated an industry average PSI score of 109, a two-point increase from 2015, and the highest score Pied Piper has measured for an annual motorcycle industry study.

From 2015 to 2016, the most pronounced improvement industry-wide came from the “ask for the sale” portion of the sales process. Salesperson suggested sitting down at a desk increased from 41% to 49% of the time; Salesperson did anything at all to attempt to forward the sale increased from 62% to 69% of the time; and salesperson mentioned availability of financing options increased from 62% to 65% of the time. Salesperson asked for shopper’s contact information hit a record of 59% in 2016, up from 57% of the time in 2015.

Founded in 2003, Pied Piper Management Company, LLC is a Monterey, California, USA company that develops and runs sales and service programs to maximize the performance of dealer networks.

9 Responses to “Ducati Motorcycle Dealers Top Ranked for 3rd Year For Buyers Satisfaction. Harley-Davidson And Victory Tied For Second.”


  1. 1 FreakYerGreek May 3rd, 2016 at 9:30 am

    Somehow in light of the reality on the street especially when it comes to the Motor Company as well as the new AuDucati I rather doubt the veracity of both this survey as well as the company that’s putting this forth . Fact is both heave abysmal customer service , both treat the customer as if he/she were a commodity barely worth doing business with and the fact is Victory/Indian isn’t any better . So what was this survey based on ? Magical Thinking ? Who shoved the most money under the table ? What ? Methinks perhaps the company’s moniker , Pied Piper , pretty much says it all !

  2. 2 FreakYerGreek May 3rd, 2016 at 9:41 am

    So after a bit of careful research above and beyond whats being presented here : In reality Pied Piper is first and foremost a ‘ marketing consulting ‘ company who’s sole agenda is to garner more prospective clients , not the dissemination of facts in the quest for truth . Which makes any ‘ survey ‘ they may present irrelevant , biased and prejudiced towards PP and their consulting business , with the goal of promoting themselves and their business .

  3. 3 James Surrey May 3rd, 2016 at 9:49 am

    FreakYerGreek. “after a bit of careful research…” You made me laugh. You visibly understand nothing about surveys. And if you don’t like the results, too bad for you. You can have a bad experience, but not all agree. It was not a survey about your satisfaction, fortunately!

  4. 4 Chief Waldo May 3rd, 2016 at 10:39 am

    The way I read this, it looks like the survey was more of a “who converts shoppers into buyers” survey rather than a “who has the most satisfied customers” one.

    Especially when it gets to the “ask for the sale” portion. A stereotypical pushy salesman would do all of those things (I can see it now… “What can I do to get you on this motorcycle today? Why don’t you sit down at my desk? What’s your phone number? We’ve got some great financing for you! Let me talk to my manager, see what we can do!), but personally, that behavior would just have me heading for the door.

    Making a sale, don’t necessarily equal having a satisfied customer.

    Also, are there really enough stand alone dealerships of any make, other than HD (and MAYBE Indian), to support these results? I personally don’t know of any stand alone Ducati dealerships… not that there’s none out there, but when you combine say, Ducati, Triumph, and Aprilia under one roof, is that dealership really going to offer better customer service for Ducati than it does for Triumph and Aprilia? I don’t think so. It may SELL more Ducatis, but that doesn’t mean they’re offering the Ducati buyer better customer service.

  5. 5 Steve the Producer Johann May 3rd, 2016 at 5:04 pm

    Say Chief – you are spot on.

    Go to the pied piper website and the whole survey is how well each manufacturers dealership sales staff do their job not how well customers are taken care of after the sale.

    One more thing to consider many bikes are sold through multi line dealers so not sure if the same mystery shopper went in to a multiline dealership 5 times to ask about the various makes or they sent in 5 different people to ask about the five different makes of bikes.

    Maybe Husky bikes aren’t as well pushed by multiline seller sales staff because the mark up isn’t as much and they get less in commissions compared to competitor bikes? (speculation here)

    One last point the survey states how well their sales staff are performing their jobs and not how ell the dealership is performing.

    ok spent too much time on this one!

  6. 6 richards May 3rd, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    I’m only one guy but can attest to my motorcycle dealership over the last 40 or so years. I’ve visited and been customers of honda, law, yams, suzyies, and Harley Davidson. I’ve enjoyed good treatment from most and bad treatment from some. I’ve been a Harley guy for the last 26 years. I can honestly say, that on balance the Harley dealers have treated me the best, especially in the last 15 years or so…

  7. 7 Badams May 3rd, 2016 at 9:17 pm

    All great replies from those who posted. This study is form over substance.

  8. 8 Gym May 4th, 2016 at 11:28 am

    The best thing about being a vintage bike owner and collector is not having to deal with dealerships on any level. Having to deal with kids that just starting to shave or graduated from MMI the week before has turned me into an on-line buyer for parts as well.

  9. 9 Blackmax May 4th, 2016 at 4:10 pm

    Agree with all of the above !
    Fluff over Substance !
    Tell me something we didn’t already know !!

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Cyril Huze