MRAA introduces Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard program
The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) announced the introduction of the marine industry’s first-ever Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program.
Designed to improve the customer experience by fostering meaningful conversations between dealers and manufacturers related to their respective performance in the relationship, the Scorecard Program brings together two years’ worth of insights and wisdom from all corners of the marine industry, in addition to in-depth research both within and outside the marine industry. MRAA used dozens of one-on-one conversations with both dealers and manufacturers and several collaborative strategy meetings with MRAA’s board of directors (all dealers) and Strategic Partners (all manufacturers and service providers) to craft the scorecards, performance categories and several supporting resources.
“The introduction of MRAA’s Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program marks a significant moment for the marine industry,” explains MRAA President Matt Gruhn. “For decades, the boating industry has operated with a unique approach to dealer-manufacturer partnerships and has done so with very few examples of the parties standardizing communication and feedback on the partnership’s performance. This scorecard initiative seeks to not only provide a platform for quality feedback to be delivered to dealers and manufacturers, but through the conversations it will create and the performance improvement opportunities it will identify, we expect that these Scorecards will ultimately lead to a better boat buying and ownership experience.”
Through its extensive research, MRAA identified six key areas in the dealer-manufacturer relationship that impact the customer experience. Through deep analysis of those six key areas, MRAA’s Board and Strategic Partners identified 10 key performance categories for dealers and 10 key performance categories for manufacturers and used them to build out the Scorecards. Once established, MRAA vetted the Scorecards and the performance categories through both its board and several boat manufacturers for further feedback. The Scorecards were finalized in October 2024.
With the launch and announcement of the program, MRAA also noted that two multi-brand boat manufacturers — Correct Craft, Inc. and Malibu, Inc. — are participating in a pilot program to not only collect feedback from their dealers but also provide MRAA feedback on how to continue to fine-tune the Scorecard Program. MRAA has chosen Customer Service Intelligence, Inc. (CSI), a long-time MRAA partner and 30-year leader in customer satisfaction and voice of the customer surveying, to help execute the Scorecard Program. CSI provides a platform and technology to survey dealers and manufacturers and provides comprehensive reports and a dashboard for manufacturers to collect insights for business improvement.
After the pilot program is complete and following any necessary updates, MRAA will roll out an industrywide version of the Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program in 2025. Manufacturers will be invited to participate and MRAA will provide manufacturers with in-depth reporting, to include dealer scores and feedback, action plans, urgent action items, and comparisons against industry averages and segment averages in all categories. Each individual manufacturer’s scores and reporting will be kept confidential. Manufacturers will then work to score each of their dealers and establish two-way communication around the feedback the partners provide each other.
For more information, please visit www.mraa.com/scorecards where you can find sample scorecards, answers to frequently asked questions, and resources to maximize the potential of MRAA’s Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program.
