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MOTORCYCLE Industry average rises by 2 points; now highest yet BY KATE SWANSON ASSISTANT EDITOR Pied Piper Management Company LLC reached a new milestone in 2016 — it pub- lished its 10th annual motorcycle Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI) that measures how dealerships treat motorcycle shoppers in a vari- ety of sales process categories. "We've had an interesting seat to observe what has happened in the motorcycle industry over the past 10 years. The motorcycle industry has improved dramatically; there's no ques- tion about it," said Fran O'Hagan, president of Pied Piper Management Company LLC. Pied Piper has measured the same categories for the past 10 years, focusing on 55 different sales criteria that break down how salespeople treat customers and sell their brands. Dealerships that were shopped in 2016 carried the follow- ing brands: Aprilia, BMW, Can-Am (Spyder), Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Husqvarna, Indian, Kawasaki, KTM, Moto Guzzi, MV Agusta, Polaris (Slingshot), Star, Suzuki, Tri- umph, Victory, Yamaha and Zero. O'Hagan said there were three key behaviors that are twice as likely to happen today as they were 10 years ago. "The industry is twice as likely to offer test rides; they're twice as likely to ask about trade-ins, and they're twice as likely to ask for contact information to allow follow- up," he said. As a whole, the industry declined in a few areas of the sales process. In 2016, the study found that salespeople only offer printed items (pamphlets, write-ups, etc.) to shop- pers 49 percent of the time, down from 67 percent in 2015. For the third year in a row, Ducati ranked No. 1 in PSI score with 116 points, the same number it had in 2015. Harley-Davidson and Victory dealerships tied for second place, each with 114 points, while BMW and Slingshot dealers tied for fourth with 112 points. Of the 19 brands surveyed, 12 experienced increased scores from 2015. The greatest over- all improvement was Indian, up 10 points from 2015 with a total of 111. "Indian's dealer body has grown dramati- cally," O'Hagan said. "The composition of the dealers has changed. Also, there's no question that Indian is Polaris, so the same attitude about the way dealers sell from Polaris, cer- tainly would carry over to Indian." Harley-Davidson, Victory, BMW, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, MV Agusta, Star, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha and KTM also increased their scores from 2015. Brands with a decline in score from 2015 to 2016 included Husqvarna, Kawasaki, Can-Am and Triumph. On a positive note, the industry average PSI score increased, up 2 points from 2015 to 109, which O'Hagan said is the highest average score Pied Piper has measured in the study's 10 years. "When we first started measuring the motorcycle industry back in 2007, we set the industry average mathematically to equal 100. This year there are only two brands that are below 100, KTM and Husqvarna," O'Hagan said. "The norm for the industry has improved." O'Hagan said there has been a positive trend in the "ask for the sale" portion of the sales process between 2015 and 2016. "The biggest improvement centered on three sales steps: salesperson suggested sitting down at a desk, salesperson attempted to write up transaction and salesperson attempted to forward the sale," O'Hagan said. The percentage of the time when the "sales- person suggested sitting down at a desk" increased to 49 percent from 41 percent; "sales- person did anything at all to forward the sale" rose to 69 percent from 62 percent of the time; "salesperson mentioned availability of financ- ing options" improved to 65 percent from 62 percent of the time. Also, the percentage of the time that the salesperson asked for the shopper's contact information hit a record 59 percent, up 2 percent from 2015. Each of the 55 sales criteria have differ- ent weightings, O'Hagan pointed out, which are not published, but it's key to note that the industry portions that increased in percentage this year are important steps. With the 2016 study, Pied Piper began tracking Polaris Slingshot dealers, who finished above industry average at 112. "From the scores on our rankings, you can say maybe there's some manufacturers who worry about other things, but the way that their dealers sell is something they don't really focus on. That's never been the case with Polaris," Triple threat: Ducati's PSI score tops again 30 • June 13, 2016 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com See Pied Piper, Page 31 Source: 2016 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle Industry Benchmarking Study 2016 PIED PIPER PROSPECT SATISFACTION INDEX U.S. MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY BENCHMARKING STUDY 94 97 100 101 102 104 104 104 104 106 107 107 109 109 111 112 112 114 114 116 Husqvarna (-1) KTM (+2) Yamaha (+4) Kawasaki (-1) Honda (+5) Suzuki (+1) Star (+3) MV Agusta (+1) Can-Am (-2) Moto Guzzi (+4) Triumph (-2) Aprilia (+6) Industry Avg (+2) Zero (n/a) Indian (+10) Polaris (n/a) BMW (+4) Victory (+4) Harley-Davidson (+2) Ducati (+0) (Change from 2015 PSI score) 95 100 105 110 115 120 90