TOP 100 BEST IN CLASS
TOP 100 BEST IN CLASS
BEST IN CLASS : BEST SERVICE
HAYDEN , ID
Mark ' s Marine has been in business since 1970 , and they feel it ’ s important to stop occasionally , take a 30,000-foot view of the business , say who they are and make sure everyone knows “ where they plant their flag ” as they said in their Top 100 application .
So they challenged their staff to come up with an acronym for Mark ’ s to describe what they stand for as a company .
This is what they came up with . Masters in our industry Always have the customer ' s best interest at heart Respected throughout the community Knowledgeable resource Selling only the highest quality boats
They also added learning , growing , always improving and striving to be better every day .
Day 1 to today
Striving to be better every day was a mantra from day one for Mark Garnier when he started the business in 1970 , in International Falls , Minnesota , as a small service shop and Lund dealer . Service was a focus then , and it remains so today .
In the early 1980 ' s , Mark ' s Marine moved to Idaho . But they stayed true to their service roots , offering low key service and sales , and along the way becoming the first full-service Yamaha Dealer in the northwest . They would also eventually offer the largest marine parts and accessories selection in the Inland Empire .
The dealership is located on highway 95 right in the middle of the lakes area of north Idaho , roughly halfway between the area ' s two largest lakes and only a couple of minutes from Hayden Lake . They have a 20,000 square-foot main building with a central parts / service hub design and a large indoor showroom . Their 3,500 square-foot service shop is stocked with more than 30,000 different parts . They also have two other major buildings on their main property with a detached detail warranty bay and six additional offsite warehouses .
Every year their service technicians undergo almost 100 hours of training and factory certification to make sure they ’ re up to date on the latest service techniques , tricks , and technologies .
Technicians are paid on an hourly rate with seasonal overtime as needed . In addition , they receive a percentage of the service department billing as a commission to encourage collective efficiency improvements . In their Top 100 application they note that this has helped to create a much more mutually supportive environment .
All staff are eligible for participation in year end profit sharing and the two criteria for technicians on their allocation is longevity and efficiency . In addition , they employ a 5-Star Review / Perfect CSI spiff that gets split equally between the technician working on it and the front staff that interacted with the customer .
Also like most certified shops , they have quarterly proficiency and billable efficiency goals and pay a bonus every time the shop hits those marks .
As far as scheduling goes , they have a quick turn schedule that is Same Day / Next Day depending on the job type , and a standard first come / first serve system that typically has a one-to-two-week turnaround time . Currently they are only offering same day diagnostic inspection for current new boat customers .
Mark ’ s is currently shifting some of their scheduled workflow from their Yamaha service scheduler and table method to a newer Lightspeed system , but they have not yet completed the transition .
They have also created individual tech bins so that parts for jobs actively assigned to techs before all the parts have landed don ' t get lost on their benches or in the parts dispatch room . By utilizing large , canned jobs in Lightspeed they can very quickly pull large chunks of the necessary parts for jobs to help work more efficiently .
Each rigger maintains a dispatch board next to their station with their current job , and their next three to four rigs , as well as what is currently holding up rigs in process and what the delivery dates are .
Mark ’ s has also been taking heavy advantage of cloud technology to share photos , inspection documents , engine downloads , and serial numbers between staff to minimize customer downtime and improve billable efficiency to 96 %.
“ Our focus on training , processes , and continual improvement have become our reputation and our claim to fame in the Inland Northwest Region ,” reads their Top 100 application . “ That reputation gives us a strong competitive advantage even against the price sellers on the internet . We aren ' t everything to everyone , but we are the first , and often last stop , for die-hard fishermen . We ' ve managed to maintain good margins and sales and service growth while still maintaining an outstanding customer experience . And we look forward to continuing to grow and serving our customers here for another 40 years .”
28 january 2024 www . boatingindustry . com