Nautique Becomes First to Launch MRAA’s Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program
July 22, 2025 – MINNEAPOLIS – Nautique Boats has become the first boat brand to enroll in the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas’ all-new Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program. MRAA’s program, which formally kicked off the last week of June, represents an industry-wide effort to foster deeper conversations between dealers and manufacturers, specifically related to improving the performance of this key relationship in delivering outstanding customer experiences.
MRAA fielded a four-month pilot program over the winter, including 12 brands from the Correct Craft and Malibu, Inc. boat brand families. Using feedback from those brands, MRAA made several updates and refinements to its approach before launching the formal Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program in conjunction with the start of the 2026 model year.
“We put a significant value on the feedback our customers — both boat owners and our dealers — give us, and we are intentional about putting that feedback into our products and programs,” says Todd Marquardt, Director of Sales at Nautique Boats. “MRAA’s Scorecard Program offers a turnkey solution for us to gather, collect and analyze important insights from our dealer partners and enables us to enhance how we serve our customers and optimize the boat ownership experience.”
Based on MRAA’s comprehensive research, as well as detailed insights and direction from dealers and manufacturers, MRAA created separate dealer and manufacturer scorecards, each featuring 10 customized performance categories. The scorecard surveys, which are distributed electronically and compiled by MRAA, are designed to deepen the conversation between dealers and manufacturers with a focus on improving the overall customer experience. Participating manufacturers receive comprehensive monthly reports that compare their results to industry aggregates and offer insights into areas of opportunity.
“MRAA’s program gives us, as dealers, a perfect opportunity to ensure there’s a consistent line of communication for us to give our manufacturers feedback from the frontlines,” says Bob Bense, owner of Superior Boat Repair & Sales and a Nautique dealer. “Too often, dealers can be faced with a situation where our insights don’t get delivered to the decision makers at the boat brands, and real conversations that would help us take better care of our shared customers just don’t happen. This program and the conversations that take place because of the real data and feedback it produces, ensure we collaborate to provide our customers with great experiences.”
Through both the pilot program and the early stages of Nautique’s dealer outreach, MRAA has captured insights from more than 200 dealerships related to their satisfaction with manufacturer performance in the relationship, ranging in topics from product quality to marketing and promotions programs and satisfaction with the manufacturers’ reps. To make the Scorecard Program a fully turnkey effort, MRAA provides numerous resources for dealers and manufacturers to use. They include several tutorial videos, scoring guidance documents, sample emails for encouraging dealer participation, a dealer list template and more. Manufacturer participants receive a monthly report outlining their dealer feedback, as well as a comparison to industry aggregates.
To learn more about MRAA’s Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program, visit www.mraa.com/scorecards or reach out directly to Matt Gruhn at matt@mraa.com or 763-333-2421.
About the Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program
The MRAA’s Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program has been designed to improve communication and collaboration between marine dealers and manufacturers to provide a better boat-buying and ownership experience. After a successful four-month pilot with 12 boat brands and feedback from more than 175 dealerships, the program officially launched for the 2026 model year. Manufacturers can participate in this program to receive customized scorecards for both dealers and manufacturers, each monitoring key performance metrics that measure business operations across their company, parent company and industry-wide averages. MRAA collects and compiles the feedback into monthly reports, helping brands identify areas for improvement and enhance the overall boat-buying and ownership experience with their business partners.
About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.
