Chasm between Certified and non-Certified marine dealers continues to grow, 2015 data says

Measuring customer satisfaction in nine key areas, the 2015 National Marine Manufacturers Association’s Customer Satisfaction Index again draws a clear distinction between Certified and non-Certified Dealers. Steve Pizzolato, founder and CEO of AVALA Marketing Group, which gathers and evaluates data for the annual NMMA CSI numbers, says the correlation between Certification and improved customer satisfaction grows stronger each year.

The largest, and what Steve says is the most important, gap in the 2015 numbers can be found in the “overall dealer” category, where Certified Dealerships received a cumulative score of 91.3 compared to 88.4 registered by non-Certified businesses. The +2.8-point chasm is the largest seen in the category since data compilation began.

One of the MICD Program’s top priorities, Moseley added, is to keep customers happy with their experience at the retail level so dealerships perform better in the marketplace. Certified Dealers are required upon entering the MICD Program to track sales and service processes as a key approach to ensuring a positive customer experience. When areas where customers indicate they are less satisfied are isolated, the MICD Program has processes in place to help dealers easily and quickly address these areas of concern to ultimately improve satisfaction and sell more boats.

About 55 marine manufacturers voluntarily participated in the recent AVALA data collection, up about 10 percent from 2014.