The demand for boats during the pandemic blindsided the marine industry, which was already struggling to hire enough technicians to service boats and enough manufacturing workers to build them.
 

Health is a theme for many of us these days. We need, as dealers and as an industry to stay healthy well into the future. Navigating this pandemic has made us focus on keeping our families, friends, employees and customers healthy.
 

Sales skyrocketed during the pandemic, but dealers now have a problem with the customer experience
 

In the midst of 2020’s crazy selling season, the marine industry witnessed a direct and inverse relationship between sales growth and dealership customer satisfaction scores. 
 

There’s lots to celebrate this year when it comes to interest, sales and participation in boating and fishing, but there’s also a potential flip side that we must be wary of as an industry: losing focus on the customer experience.
 

Even before the unexpected boat-buying frenzy, the attrition rate among first-time buyers was high: Within five years, 42 percent sell their first boat and opt not to replace it, according to a Discovery Boating survey.
 

As sales continue to push forward and new boaters enter ownership at an increasing rate, keeping customers around for years to come is going to be key to the industry’s success moving forward.
 

MRAA partnered with Customer Service Intelligence Inc. to address a concern it has seen in the second fiscal quarter, as boat sales skyrocketed: Customer satisfaction scores declined by more than 6 percentage points between April and June, according to CSI.
 

Business Development Centers, which have grown in popularity in the marine industry in recent years, provide a way for dealers to keep in better touch with customers.
 

Business Development Centers, which have grown in popularity in the marine industry in recent years, provide a way for dealers to keep in better touch with customers.
 

outsourcing these services is a way to get a follow-up program started quickly, as well as to get access to detailed reports on how your dealership is performing.
 

Boat dealers are feeling the digital pressure from all sides as the marine industry rapidly evolves under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic and most recently the significant influx of new boat buyers that have entered the market.
 

For years, the marine industry has lamented the downward trajectory of first-time boat buyers — that is, until the Covid-19 pandemic brought the first uptick in more than a decade.
 

Customer Service Intelligence, Inc., a third-party provider that administers the follow-up and post-event recording, reports that Dealer Week earned twice as many “WOW” reports, or stand-out positive comments on experiences at the show, when compared to the previous year’s annual conference.
 

Editor’s Note: The following column by Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association President details how dealers can gauge customer satisfaction. 
 

CSI’s Customer Tracking and Reporting System is an all-new, cloud-based program available around-the-clock, seven days a week. The CSI system give dealers the ability to track, measure, and manage customer interactions with the dealership and its employees. 
 

The daily reports generated by CSI include customer report cards with comments, complaints and requests flagged. The monthly report provides insight into the success of the calls through a CSI rating profile, a summary of suggestions, an employee performance report and more.
 

This is only the fourth such award that CSI has presented to one of its clients in the last 21 years, and the first for the marine industry. The award is presented to those that maintain a CSI rating of 98 percent or above for 24 consecutive months.
 

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced today that it has created an all-new member benefit program with long-time partner Customer Service Intelligence, Inc.