DSI Dealer Satisfaction Analysis

The key benefit from using the research results is an increase in the company’s financial performance by at least 20%.

On average, only 12-15% of clients (buyers) are satisfied and, accordingly, loyal to the company (brand). But this small group of buyers generates 55 to 90% of sales. It is easy to calculate the growth of a company's performance when the level of loyalty increases by at least 1-2%.

Dealer satisfaction directly affects the sales results of manufacturing companies and is often a KPI. This is especially important for companies whose share of the dealer channel in their sales structure exceeds 30%.

There are a lot of statistics on dealer satisfaction levels. This allows you not only to track your own development, but to be able to compare the level of the index with competitors or participants in related markets: for some companies, information about the level of dealer satisfaction is open. For example, the average level of satisfaction of dealers in the automobile market is about 70%, while for certain brands dealers rate their satisfaction at 86.8%. Dealer satisfaction affects not only sales and market shares of manufacturers, but also the expansion of the dealer network - everyone wants to work with the best manufacturers.

The sample size for the survey depends on the size of the dealer base. As a rule, all dealers of the company are surveyed, or at least 80-90%. Often this is a small database (up to 1000 contacts). But due to the fact that contact persons of dealers may be on vacation or a business trip during the survey and may not have time for the survey, at least two weeks are allocated for data collection.

The cost of a project to assess dealer satisfaction using the DSI method consists of the cost of data collection (payment is taken only for fully completed questionnaires) and the cost of analytics (usually no more than 10-15% of the cost of data collection)

You can calculate the cost of one questionnaire yourself using our calculator (you will need to enter the number of open and closed questions in the questionnaire, quotas)

The cost of such a study is from 2000 £ (the cost is indicated for a minimum sample).

To assess dealer satisfaction, the composite index DSI (Dealer Satisfaction Index) is used.

The DSI index is a comprehensive indicator that takes into account a lot of parameters: from financial indicators, marketing support to information about the manufacturer’s plans. The parameters by which performance is assessed may vary from company to company.

It is important to keep in mind that tracking the DSI indicator and comparing it with previous periods (it is recommended to carry out at least two waves per year) is only possible with a unified calculation methodology. Therefore, at the very beginning, it is necessary to foresee and take into account all the nuances in the index. It is also advisable to discuss the importance of evaluation parameters once, at the very beginning, since additional changes will not allow us to fully track the dynamics of dealer satisfaction.

Data collection for calculating DSI occurs, as a rule, using a telephone or online survey. After this, the data is consolidated and processed. Step by step, BCGroup’s work on assessing satisfaction using the DSI method is structured as follows:

1. A BCGroup specialist clarifies the evaluation criteria and their importance. If a company has work standards, then they are taken as a basis. If not, a BCGroup specialist can offer several options to choose from, based on the specifics of the company’s activities;
2. A BCGroup specialist agrees with the customer on the methodology and the final version of the survey questionnaire;
3. An NDA (confidentiality agreement) is signed between BCGroup and the company. According to the document, all contacts transferred by the customer are deleted by BCGroup after the completion of the project;
4. The company provides BCGroup with contacts for survey;
5. BCGroup specialists conduct a survey of dealer representatives;
6. Next, the BCGroup employee transfers the data array to the customer’s representative in Excel or SPSS format; other formats are possible for further integration with the customer’s CRM system;
7. After 3-5 days, a BCGroup employee sends an analytical report to the customer based on the results of assessing dealer satisfaction (sample reports)