CASE STUDY 2 HARLEY-DAVIDSON LEADS THE PACK IN RETAIL EXPERIENCE The 2012 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle industry Benchmarking study has been released with Harley-Davidson Motor Co. emerging on top ranking. The study combines feedback gleaned from 1,653 mystery shoppers from July 2011 to April 2012 with corresponding sales figures to assess the retail experiences of motorcycle dealerships throughout the United States. Harley-Davidson leads in 16 different sales activities including offering test rides, obtaining consumer contact information and directly asking for the sale op of that, all 700 Harley-Davidson retail stores in the U.S are independently owned and operated, making a coherent, branded retail experience particularly challenging On 0 On May 1, 2012, Harley-Davidson launched its ‘E Pluribus Unum, largely social-media-based campaign, or ‘out of many, one’, designed to break down the stereotype of a traditional Harley rider and highlight the diversity of the company’s customer base. It also celebrated ‘Women ider’s Month’ throughout the month, marketing to potential new female customers. Its vice president of North American sales explains what makes the Harley retail experience successful and how it reaches a new demographic of riders. Q: How do you ensure that all your retail locations around the world have a coherent branded experience and stay at the top of the game? A: We are on a multiyear strategy- Retail 20/20′. It is all about delivering a personalized, compelling, premium, and truly customer experience to every customer, every day everywhere and central to delivering the experience are our dealers. Specific to the strategy, the philosophy is to be customer-led i.e. to truly understand customer motivations and barriers, and ultimately, planning and developing and designing products and experiences with not only customers’ wants and deeds in mind, but their input as well. Our field representative in sales, marketing, financial, insurance and service make routine calls on the dealerships to coach, council, and share best practices. The sales team has been focused on selling factors, such as did the salesperson give you a compelling reason to buy, offer you a test ride, use good visuals in the sales presentation, ask you for your name. May is Women Riders Month. How long has that initiative been going on and what results have you seen? Q: The strategy is to grow our core customer base with a challenge to grow our new customer base at an even faster rate. New riders, including women, who are very important to our business, add to the equation. Despite the fact that our dealerships can be intimidating to new riders, or perhaps non-riders, and that our brand is very powerful and can be intimidating at times, our dealers have been doing a fantastic job of welcoming new customers to the brand and to their stores. A: