CSI surveys provide dealers with immediate customer feedback
By Rob Preston

Retail research studies have shown that it takes six times the time and money for retailers to attract new customers compared to retaining existing ones. That’s why successful boat and motor dealers work extra hard to keep their existing customers happy. It’s also why they depend on customer satisfaction index (CSI) surveys to provide immediate customer feedback.

While some dealers rely on a manufacturer’s CSI surveys to determine customer satisfaction, these surveys are usually sent out a month after the sale, which is simply too late for dealers to react. By then, an unsatisfied customer may be lost, and in extreme cases, irreparable harm may be done to the dealer’s reputation. To get immediate feedback, dealers need to either conduct their own CSI surveys or hire an independent third-party.

Some good examples
Two dealers that do terrific jobs in conducting their own CSI surveys are Spring Brook Marina in Seneca, Ill., which sells Carver, Marquis, and Cruisers yachts, and Lodder’s Marine in Fairfield, Ohio, which sells Bayliner, Four Winns, Manitou, and Yamaha boat lines.

Jim Thorpe, the owner of Spring Brook Marina, said customer feedback is essential to his business operations and warns that not following up with customers can be disastrous. “When you really make someone mad, they’ll tell hundreds of people. It’s amazing how fast bad news spreads, and it’s hard to put that fire out,” said Thorpe.

That’s why Thorpe personally calls customers the day after they take their new boats home and asks them:

If a customer answers negatively to any of these questions, Thorpe will immediately identify the problem and resolve it immediately. This extra effort is not lost on customers, whose loyalty to Spring Brook Marina will last for years.

Lodder’s Marine, which believes that each customer should be a customer for life, also does its own CSI surveys. “Three days after a person buys a boat, he gets a call from the salesperson. Thirty days later, they get another call asking how they are doing. How’s the boat operating? Are there any issues we need to take care of,” said Matt Lodder, the general manager of Lodder’s Marine.

If an issue does arise during these phone calls, Lodder’s Marine empowers its salespeople to solve the problem right then and there. It may cost Lodder’s Marine a little more money upfront to resolve the issue, but Matt Lodder notes that it’s worth every penny to keep a happy customer, one who will be a customer for life.

This extra effort Spring Brook Marina and Lodder’s Marine undertake to stay in touch with their customers and make sure they are enjoying their boats will produce long-lasting results. These boaters will be loyal, life-long customers that are the backbone of all dealers.

Using a third party
Another option many dealers use to obtain customer feedback is to hire an independent third-party, and one company many dealers recommend is CSI Inc. in Cary, Ill.

Fran Olsen, who handles corporate development for CSI Inc., said every dealer should at least consider hiring an objective third-party firm because it offers many advantages, such as: 

• Most dealers don’t have the time to properly collect CSI data.
• Customers are more likely to offer truthful feedback to an objective third party.
• Customer satisfaction companies provide dealers with timely customer feedback through detailed reports and charts.

CSI Inc. calls all customers a week after they take delivery of a boat, asks pertinent questions about the boat and the sales process, and presents the data immediately to the dealer. CSI will also customize its calls to the dealer’s needs, providing dealers with customer feedback within a day or two after the sale and at the end of the first month.

CSI said its information is reliable because it asks the same questions of all customers and gives the same information to all dealers. Because CSI wants to provide a long-term view of a dealership’s CSI, it won’t work with a dealer unless it commits to one year of data collection. Olsen notes that it takes at least that long to provide accurate CSI information that takes into account slow times, busy times, and every other condition that a dealer would see in a year.

Whether dealers collect their own customer satisfaction information or hire an independent third party to gather it, they need immediate customer feedback. It‘s essential for dealers to know how satisfied their customers are with their purchases in order to better serve them.