Press

LOS ANGELES -- A study of car dealership sales techniques shows that luxury brands often are the most effective deal-closers and also are best at making customers happy. Among mass-market brands, Hyundai, Kia, Ford and Toyota were the leaders.

Among all brands, Mercedes-Benz dealers finished atop the 11-month mystery shopping study by Pied Piper Management Co. of Monterey, Calif. Infiniti finished second, while last year's winner, Lexus, finished third.

Using 5,203 mystery shoppers, Pied Piper repeatedly visited dealerships to analyze their processes and techniques to create the Prospect Satisfaction Index.

Pied Piper CEO Fran O'Hagan said his survey is different from J.D. Power and Associates' Sales Satisfaction Index because Power "only measures everything after the customer says, 'I'll take it.'

"It's all the stuff before then that matters. We're measuring how effectively the sales team sells," O'Hagan said.

Tactics for all brands

Some tactics seem to work best across all brands. Offering a test drive, as well as trying to get the customers to the negotiating table, are more effective at closing a deal. Yet a small percentage of dealerships do neither.

If a salesman is empowered to talk about leasing or financing options — instead of making the customer wait to talk to the F&I department — that's even better at closing the deal. And while being a "friendly museum curator" is seen as an essential tactic for a genteel luxury brands, it doesn't sell cars, O'Hagan said.

Not that everything has improved on the showroom floor, though. While many salespeople sell themselves and the car, fewer salespeople are giving customers a compelling reason to buy from their specific dealership

"The best dealerships have a process. It's not the Wild West where you get to sell the way you want to," O'Hagan said.