How Workshops Enhanced Ordering Processes for a Marine Manufacturer

For many manufacturers, there are really two customers: the end consumer and the dealers or stores who buy and resell the goods. It’s easy to lose focus or place less emphasis on the dealer, but they have choices, just like the end consumer.

The sales and customer service teams of an international marine manufacturer reported that dealers were experiencing issues with the current ordering process, and it was also impacting sales. Our manufacturing partner needed a way to obtain feedback through the multiple phases and platforms of the dealers’ ordering journey.

We invited dealers from around the U.S. to participate in in-person workshops. They spent the better part of a day together reviewing each phase of the ordering process, sharing their experiences – what’s working, what’s not – and brainstorming ways to improve things through rapid ideation and wireframing potential new experiences.

Dealers were put into groups based on the products they sell and their size, which allowed us to really dig into specific product lines and see how a dealership’s size might impact their process.

And bonus… Since most of the dealers traveled in from far away, we created extra opportunities for them to share feedback in other areas, hear directly from key leaders about how much they’re valued, and just spend time connecting with each other and swapping stories.

The workshops sent a clear message: the manufacturer cared about the dealers’ experience and genuinely wanted their input to build a better process. That alone was a big win.

The detailed feedback gathered during the workshops – from ordering through delivery – is now being used to make real changes. Everything from the interactions between the manufacturer and dealers to the online platform and even product features are being improved based on what the dealers had to say.