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Powersports Business Blog
Harness anticipation to boost customer satisfaction and profitability
August 2012
Matt Appleman runs a very small custom bicycle shop in Minneapolis, specializing in hand-built carbon-fiber bicycle frames. Matt's business may be small, but he has adopted an important sales tool — anticipation — that you can apply at your dealership too. Matt describes how he builds bicycles like this: “Upon approval of the design, the fun starts for me, and the anticipation begins for you! As the frame is being built, I'll keep you up to date with pictures of the framebuilding process …” ... Read More >
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NBC News
Mercedes aims to oust BMW as top luxury brand
July 2012
It's one of the most bitter battles in the American automotive marketplace, and it pits two of Germany's luxury automakers in a grab for the brass ring. But this year, Mercedes-Benz is betting it can topple rival BMW to become the best-selling luxury automotive brand in the world's largest high-end market. The maker has been staging a series of meetings with dealers across the country aimed at improving customer handling. Dealers, in turn, have spent about $1.5 billion to upgrade more than 90 ... Read More >
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The Detroit Bureau
Mercedes Doing the Best to Close the Deal
July 2012
Mercedes-Benz dealers are most likely to deliver customers the sort of shopping experience they want – and then close the deal, according to a new study. Asian luxury dealers were close behind, along with Jaguar and Cadillac, according to the latest Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index which uses so-called “mystery shoppers” to measure the way potential car buyers are treated. The study looks at 60 different sales activities, from the simple act of greeting a customer when they walk into the ... Read More >
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Automotive News First Shift
Secret shoppers pick Benz
July 2012
Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in a study that looked how auto dealers treat customers. Pied Piper's annual study sends thousands of secret shoppers to stores across the U.S. and measures how salespeople perform. Read More >
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Powersports Business Blog
Do today's motorcycles provide an opportunity to sell more extended warranties?
July 2012
Stop and consider how much new technology is appearing on today's motorcycles. You know all about ABS brakes, maybe you have even ridden a motorcycle with traction control, but what about bikes with electronic suspension adjustment or a computer screen instead of separate instruments? Or ride by wire, or electronic quick-shift, or a plug-in GPS module to data-log laps around a racetrack? There are motorcycles for sale right now that offer all of that technology, and if the bikes you and your ... Read More >
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Press Release: MERCEDES-BENZ DEALERS TOP RANKED BY 2012 PIED PIPER PROSPECT SATISFACTION INDEX®
Treatment of car shoppers improves industry-wide; Highest industry average PSI score
July 2012
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – July 9, 2012 –Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2012 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study, which measured dealership treatment of car-shoppers. Study rankings by brand were determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and scoring to industry sales success. Acura, Infiniti and Lexus dealerships, the luxury brands from Honda, Nissan and ... Read More >
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Automotive News
Mercedes has most effective sales process
July 2012
Some vehicle brands that score high in customer satisfaction surveys do less well when the effectiveness of dealership salespeople is measured, according to a California consultant. Mystery shopping consultant Pied Piper of Monterey, Calif., sent 4,419 shoppers to dealerships nationwide, from July 2011 to June 2012, to measure salespeople's effectiveness in selling cars on the showroom floor. Mercedes-Benz ranked first in the survey and led all brands in 10 of the 60 sales activities measured in ... Read More >
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Car Connection
The Best Brands -- And The Worst -- For Shopping Experience
July 2012
There are a lot of ways to measure customer satisfaction. J.D. Power talks to recent buyers. Polk looks at sales stats and customer retention. But the folks at Pied Piper do it the old-fashioned way: with secret shoppers. Between July 2011 and June 2012, Pied Piper hired 4,419 secret shoppers to visit dealerships across the U.S. The shoppers scored each sales pitch on 60 different criteria: were they offered a brochure? Were they given a walkaround demo of the vehicle? Did the salesperson ... Read More >
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Media Post Marketing
Mercedes-Benz Tops In Dealership Experience
July 2012
Mercedes-Benz is still topping out in the U.S. when it comes to how its dealers treat shoppers. The Montvale, N.J.-based automaker, which was in the top five of the J.D. Power & Associates dealership experience survey last year behind Lexus and Cadillac, takes the top position in the latest Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI). The PSI is a mystery shopper-based study that the firm conducted between July last year and June this year, using 4,419 hired anonymous people to shop at ... Read More >
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Forbes
Car Brands With The Most Satisfied Shoppers
July 2012
This is a good news/bad news, glass is half empty/half full type of situation. On the one hand, dealing with unscrupulous car dealers remains among the top consumer complaints, on the other hand a recent study reports that dealers are treating today's car shoppers better than ever on the showroom floor. Especially if they're interested in buying a luxury-branded model. Mercedes-Benz dealers can boast having the most satisfied shoppers in the auto industry according to the 2012 Prospect ... Read More >
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