Boating Industry Canada April 2015 - (Page 29)

CEO Panel - Part 2 1) What can technical dealers do to assure they continue to be important parts of the manufacturer's value chain? Teich: The number one priority should be to make sure the customer is satisfied and successful in using the technology that, together, we provide. Part of that is accomplished when the technical dealer embraces and evangelizes new developments in technology. There's a steady feed of new technology in the industry and we must communicate that to our customers. The dealer community needs to let their customers know why a new product is something they should consider. When they come in to get a replacement thru-hull fitting, for example, that's a prime opportunity to evangelize a new piece of marine electronics or technology. Kits van Heyningen: I agree that dealers are doing a great job of understanding it's their job to make customers happy. Whether a problem is my fault, your fault or someone else's fault, it's the job of the dealer to fix it. To some people boating is kind of scary. They may be reluctant to move up and buy a larger boat. Looking ahead, maybe take that fear factor away. It's a big opportunity for someone to offer expert advice, become a remote captain of sorts-like a help line they can call and reach someone who actually knows something about all of the systems on board. Ottosson: We had several dealers sessions at the beginning of the week (at the NMEA Conference & Expo) and they were very interesting-we learned a lot. There was a lot of cross-pollination. If you are going to help evangelize our products maybe we need to work together earlier so you get to try and test it, provide product validations. Dealers can be a conduit for customer feedback in the product development process. Investing in training is also important. 2) If you were to take over a leading marine dealership today, what would you do to assure it was best positioned for growth and future success? Ottosson: I'd ask how I can improve the whole experience of someone during the life cycle of owning a boat-take a holistic view of the boating experience and ownership. How do I get those touch points-while doing maintenance for example- where I can sell more technology and other services to them, not just installation services. Knowing how the customer uses the boat opens up a lot of opportunities for dealers. Also, it's important to select good partners, provide continuous training to employees and have a customer satisfaction program. And coexist with other distribution channels, like retail and wholesalers and so forth. Kits van Heyningen: I would try something different. I agree 100% that someone has to "own that lifestyle"-to be there to answer all of the customer's questions, but they need to be compensated for that. There's a lot that technical dealers do for free that doesn't have to be free. It might be a good business model where you put the customer on retainer-"I'll take care of all your needs and knowledge advice, show you how to program waypoints, but not for free." I know a lot of you guys fly to the Bahamas to take care of customers, but that's an unscheduled expense. If you had a group of customers on retainer, you'd be making money while you sleep. In effect it's an insurance pool that would pay a steady income. As an industry we need to find a way to monetize the incredibly valuable services you provide. We don't want a situation, like consumer electronics, where people shop in a store and then buy online; that's not good for dealers or manufacturers. Teich: Create an annual service agreement for the customer's boat. Many people have an annual agreement for their boat for winterization and storage, but they don't think about all of the complex IT-oriented systems on board that require maintenance, upgrade, training and technical support. This is a largely under-served market. If one looks at other products that are out there, such as enterprise software, many come with annual support agreements for updates, maintenance and dealing with technical issues. As marine electronics become more complex, there will continue to be software and firmware updates that consumers will either neglect to do, or struggle with. A technical dealer is best suited to install these updates and deal with any potential compatibility issues that might arise from other equipment on the boat. A dealer can build an experience base around these sort of issues and that has value to his or her customer. The ability to offer training is also an opportunity. Many consumers who are using our products are afraid to ask questions because they think they may sound silly. Why not offer an annual refresher course, for example, at the beginning of the season to get people reoriented to the electronics and systems on their boat? 3) What can marine electronics dealers and manufacturers learn from their counterparts in other industries, such as land-based consumer electronics as well as automobile and aviation markets, to strengthen their business strategies? Kits van Heyningen: There are a lot of lessons there and most are cautionary tales. We were involved in the automobile market and after-market and that's a completely different distribution channel. That industry was decimated and the distribution channel wiped out by a combination of factors. It used to be that when you bought a car the first thing you'd do was to rip out the radio and replace it with a better after-market one. www.boatingindustry.ca 29 http://www.boatingindustry.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Boating Industry Canada April 2015

Insight
Industry News
Ad Nauseam
Impact - John Pfeifer
Propulsion - Mercury's Latest & Greatest
Product Innovation - Xantrex
Made in Canada - Nova Kool
The Boat Shop - NMEA

Boating Industry Canada April 2015