MONTEREY, Calif. -

As the automaker revealed its sales and marketing team for the smart brand, Mercedes-Benz dealerships earned the top ranking for the third year in a row based on feedback from “mystery shoppers.”

The results came Monday when the 2011 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study was released.

Officials recounted the independent Pied Piper PSI study sent 3,524 hired, anonymous “mystery shoppers” into dealerships nationwide. They then used the patent-pending PSI to compile and process results into an accurate measurement of how each brand’s dealerships treat shoppers. 

Pied Piper discovered overall auto industry performance declined from 2010 to 2011, following four years of consistent gains.

Despite the overall industry decline, the study showed dealerships selling Mini, Infiniti, Buick, Jeep and Scion managed to improve their performance during the past year.

Study orchestrators also found two-thirds of the 58 sales process areas measured by Pied Piper PSI declined from 2010 to 2011.

Compared to the previous year, salespeople were less likely to mention maintenance programs and costs, less likely to address specific features and benefits relevant to the shopper, less likely to focus on three to five memorable features and benefits and less likely to discuss features unique from the competition.

“Not all auto brands have struggled during this recession,” stated Fran O’Hagan, chief executive officer of Pied Piper Management Co.

“But reduction in dealership staffing has been common,” O’Hagan continued. “Over the past year, the quantity of car buyers has rebounded, leading to higher sales spread among fewer salespeople but also leading to deterioration in customer treatment.”

Pied Piper also contends the shopping experience at luxury brand dealerships typically outperforms mainstream brands since higher profitability and higher salesperson commissions per transaction encouraged luxury brand salespeople to devote more time and effort to each prospective customer.

Officials determined the 2011 PSI rankings were no exception with luxury brands at the top. However, they pointed out mainstream brands Toyota and Ram both achieved sixth-place rankings in a tie along with Cadillac and Land Rover. 

For the past five years, Pied Piper indicated the best performing brands for sales effectiveness as measured by PSI have also tended to be brands with more exclusive dealerships and higher sales throughput per dealership.

Improvement in PSI by brand has on average also tracked improvement in market share by brand.

In addition, the recent release of the 2011 Pied Piper PSI Internet Lead Effectiveness Benchmarking Study showed that dealership response to customer internet inquiries is also highly correlated to overall Pied Piper PSI performance.

“Brands and dealerships use sales improvement tools like Pied Piper PSI to act like top performing sales dealerships and often go on to become top performing sales dealerships,” O’Hagan explained. 

O’Hagan went on to mention the 2011 Pied Piper PSI U.S. Auto Industry Study was conducted between July 2010 and June 2011.

Mercedes-Benz USA Reveals smart Team

In other news connected with Mercedes-Benz, executives from Mercedes-Benz USA in Montvale, N.J., on Monday announced appointments within a dedicated team that will be responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of smart products in the United States.

Heading up the smart team as general manager will be Tracey Matura.

The automaker said Matura is responsible for the brand’s distribution, sales and marketing activities, reporting to Michael Slagter, vice president of sales for MBUSA. Matura has worked for MBUSA for 16 years, predominantly in the legal and retail areas, and most recently as general manager of strategic retail development where she was responsible for the MBUSA dealer network.

The OEM highlighted that Matura also was ranked as one of the “100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry” by Automotive News this year.

MBUSA went on to explain Matura and her team will be part of a new company subsidiary called Daimler Vehicle Innovations, LLC. Positions reporting directly to Matura include:

—Julia Knittel as manager, smart marketing and brand management. Knittel, who has worked for MBUSA since 2002 in such areas as learning and performance and consumer events and sports marketing, was also communications manager for the smart brand when MBUSA originally introduced the brand to the U.S. in 2004.

In her new post, the company said Knittel will be responsible for developing and implementing strategic communication platforms for smart products and the brand in the U.S. including traditional marketing, experiential marketing, partnerships and social and digital media.

—Sean Lyons as manager, smart sales and aftersales. MBUSA noted Lyons came to smart from Lexus where he held management positions for 11 years in regional sales operations, pre-owned and marketing, and most recently, vehicle field sales.

As part of the smart team, officials indicated Lyons will be responsible for managing sales and aftersales activities including overseeing a team of six field operations managers.

—Deirdre O’Grady as smart dealer network lead. The company mentioned O’Grady brings to her new position nine years of retail experience at Infiniti in such positions as regional market manager and dealer parts and service manager. O’Grady also worked in sales operations, market representation, marketing and consumer affairs.

On the smart team, the company said O’Grady will be responsible for the strategic development and support of the smart franchise network which currently consists of 75 dealerships across the United States.

MBUSA reiterated that it took over responsibility for sales of the two-seater coupes and cabriolets from the Penske organization on July 1.

In rolling out this executive team, MBUSA pointed out more than 47,000 smarts have been sold in the U.S. to date.