Ward's Marine
Marine, powersports & outdoor power equipment dealer · Kingston, Eastern Ontario
Ward's Polaris customers can request service online, but your Princecraft boat owners and tractor customers still have to call — a single booking system across all seven of your brands would give your 55-year-old shop one calendar instead of six.
Why they need it
Ward's is unusually broad for a 55-year-old family dealer — boats, ATVs, snowmobiles, outboards, plus Cub Cadet/Ariens/Stihl/TYM compact tractors and outdoor power equipment — but only their Polaris line has any digital service-request path, and it's a manufacturer widget outside their control. Princecraft boat service, Suzuki work and tractor service all still go through the phone. A single Ward's-branded booking and work-order system across all seven-plus brands would replace that patchwork, giving the service desk one calendar instead of juggling a Polaris portal alongside phone bookings for everything else, and giving customers one place to book regardless of whether it's a boat, a sled or a tractor. Formalizing per-customer service history would also help warranty tracking and repeat business that likely currently lives in staff memory or paper files.
Tech gaps
Only the Polaris line has any online service-request path (a manufacturer widget, not something they control); boats, Suzuki, Princecraft, tractor and small-engine service all rely on phone; no unified booking system or customer portal across the full product range; no published business email
Current tech
Dealer website with a manufacturer-hosted "Request Polaris Service" link for Polaris products only; phone and in-person for every other brand
Selling a customer portal
PlaybookA login for their customers to book, see status, and pay, so the phone stops ringing for updates.
- Ask how many 'where is my job at' calls the office takes a week.
- Portals pay back on admin hours saved, not on new sales. Frame it as staff time.
- Start with status and booking. Payments and documents are phase two.
Objections (3)
- “We already have a website.”
- A website tells people about you. A portal does the work for you. It sits behind a login on the site you already have.
- “Our customers won't log in.”
- They already do it for their bank and their dentist. We text them a link; no password on the first visit.
- “Too expensive.”
- What does one admin hour cost you? Most portals replace 10 to 15 hours a week of status calls.