A common pitfall that RV and Marine Dealerships often fall into when servicing their customers is the silo effect.  Many different departments responsible for providing different services to the same customer can trip up most organizations.  Without the proper tools and processes in place, the customer is left feeling like they are dealing with an entirely different business each time they do business with a different department.

When dealing with the corporate world we deal with this lack of interdepartmental communication regularly.  Just because you have a checking account at a major national bank, doesn’t mean that the teller can help you with your mortgage. “I’m sorry that’s a different department”, is the frustrating response we often hear.  The same is true when a customer arrives at your service counter but you have no record of his unit inventory purchase or his stay at your Marina last summer with all of his information.  How can your business better address not only the strain on customer satisfaction this type of disorganization provides but also the amount of associated lost revenue?

Tools of the trade

A robust RV Dealer Management System or Marina Management System is an essential piece of tearing down those silos, and operating your business with the best interest of your customer and your bottom line!  Notification that a customer purchased their unit from you while they are in for service allows you to recognize their loyalty and ensure your customer service is at its best.  The ability to review the full service history of their unit and suggest a service that they are overdue for since their last visit ensures increased sales.

Time and time again the breaking point of satisfaction during the sales and delivery process of an RV or boat is during the hand-off between the sales and service departments.  The salesperson has done a great job fully understanding the needs and wants of this excited new customer over an extended period of time.  The sale is finalized, and the customer’s new purchase is off to the Service Department to be prepped for delivery.  But what happened to all of the needs and wants of the customer?  Did that valuable information get transferred from the sales person’s head to the Service Department who is now responsible for ensuring those needs and wants of the customer are met?

If a customer has been waiting 6 weeks for a specific OEM part to arrive so the Service Department can finish the repair on his RV or boat, is there a process established in your business to ensure the part doesn’t sit on a shelf unnoticed when it arrives?  Do your Service Writers know how to access that information, and is your system automatically tracking it?

Communication is Key

Many upset customers have an unpleasant experience due to a lack of communication between departments of the same company.  The customer does not look at the Marina as a separate business from the boat storage department.  The ability for a company to work seamlessly as the customer moves from one department to another allows for increased profits and increased customer satisfaction.  Utilize a Customer Relationship Management tool that all departments can access to keep centralized notes, billings, and information related for shared customers.

You can capitalize on the power of a CRM by integrating a customer’s purchasing habits into your marketing communications as well.  If a customer is due for service or a trade just arrived that is exactly what someone was looking for last week, integration of your systems allows for notification to that customer automatically.  Don’t wait for them to call you!

Anticipate their needs and be prepared

Departmental integration can be quite powerful when it comes to parts inventory.  The sale can only be made and the repair can only be done if the part is in stock.  When it’s not, the entire process comes to a screeching halt.  Set up your Parts Module to run suggested inventory reports based on sales and stock history to head off the “out of stock” disaster for the customer.  These inventory levels can be customized based on seasonality to account for the natural cycles of your business.  As every Parts Manager knows the quicker and more efficiently you can turn your inventory, the higher profits your department is going to have.

Make sure you are utilizing the features of your management system to get the information from where it is, to where it should be.