NATCHEZ ON THE WATERFRONT 23
Co-ordinating the service department By Dan Natchez*
Two sailing boats supported on chocks for repair.
“
W
hat do you mean my boat is not ready? … but you promised!” That is among the worst calls a marina can receive and, truth be told, it happens all too often. At this point the customer doesn’t want to know why the boat isn’t ready. It isn’t relevant to them whose fault it may be and they are no longer caring about the various reasons the work may have taken longer. They just want their boat! The marina may have legitimate reasons for the delay – the technicians were sick, the subcontractor did not perform on time, the parts that came were the wrong parts and had to be reordered, the work became more extensive than was originally thought and the list goes on. Then, of course, there are times when things just drop through the floorboards. So how do you help prevent the above scenario? In most cases, it comes down to better co-ordination and conversation. Simple but true! Marinas are in the hospitality business and marinas provide service. We have chosen to focus on the actual service department, but the same types of issues apply to the entire marina, whether or not
It is no secret that the boating public’s demographics are changing, with boaters being more demanding and less understanding. After all, most customers think that their problem, even if something relatively minor, is the most significant of all and you should just drop everything to solve it! repair service is part of the facility. It is no secret that the boating public’s demographics are changing, with boaters being more demanding and less understanding. After all, most customers think that their problem, even if something relatively minor, is the most significant of all and you should just drop everything to solve it! This translates to those in the marina industry needing to be much more sensitive and responsive to customer perceptions and expectations. Co-ordination of the service department is of paramount importance and it starts with the
first contact with the customer and continues through the payment of the bills and return of the boat to the customer. The larger the organisation is, the more that coordination is needed. The first point of contact with a customer for service should be directed to the service manager to have a candid discussion of the service desired. If the service department is backed up, this should be communicated to the customer. One of the common service problems is that the customer’s issue may not be fully communicated to the service manager, may not cover the full extent of the issue or may be undefined. Starting off on the right foot can make a big difference. On many occasions, a customer will come to the marina and the service manager or lead mechanic is not readily available, and the front office takes down the information. Unfortunately, we know of many instances where the translation of the issues was either not as descriptive as that from the customer or was misinterpreted or left out relevant information, which may have been interpreted as not significant. An important suggestion is that
the service manager and/or the mechanic, who is or will be working on the project talk directly to the customer. You might be surprised at the little details that an interaction can bring out that can be very meaningful in identifying the problem and finding a solution. For example, I happen to know of a customer who brought in a high-performance boat and talked with the service manager with a detailed description of the issue and a mindset of what had to be undertaken and how long it should take. The service manager took detailed notes and suggested to the customer that the description provided was very helpful, but also might point to other issues. The customer thought it was a carburetor problem. The service manager said he would have a mechanic take a quick look at the boat and see if he could quickly provide a preliminary diagnosis. That afternoon the mechanic reported to the service manager, who quickly called the client and relayed that the problem most likely was not the carburetor, but might be more extensive and provided a timeframe for a more detailed hands-on determination. It turned out there was water leaking into
MARINA INDUSTRY • DECEMBER 2021
