“Customers don’t really ask for much,” said Paul Celano co-owner of Cecil Marine in Williamston, NJ. “They just want an answer in an acceptable timeframe. We have our calls forwarded directly to our cell phones, but if we ever do miss a call, we get back to our customers. They are always shocked.

“It’s not a program or a technique,” Paul continues “we just meet the needs of our customers promptly. We want to be their safety net so they keep coming back and telling their friends about us.”

The entire staff at Cecil Marine works hard to clear obstacles that stop them from taking care of the customer quickly. Focusing on smooth processes helps them to meet or exceed the customers’ needs, without hiring more staff. Co-owner brothers Paul and Joe turned to technology to accomplish this goal.

“We are staffed light relative to the amount of people we take care of,” said Paul. “I would rather invest in technology once, then have to hire more employees and have to pay for them every week.”

Finding the Right Technology Solution

Paul and Joe decided they needed to look at their complete operation and streamline the way they worked, using technology where available. One area that was dragging was their computer management system.

Their previous computer system was not meeting their needs. It was originally installed in the eighties and did not keep up with business trends. They turned to ADP Lightspeed’s Marine Dealer Management System, LightspeedEVO to help develop a long-term solution.

“One of the things we were looking for was stability,” Paul said. “We wanted someone we could trust and had good training. We did not want to get hung out there.

“Lightspeed matches our philosophy of taking care of customers,” he continued. “They have gone above and beyond. Every call is picked up by someone who is intelligent and gets us a prompt solution. We feel like we have an ear there because they take our suggestions and really apply them.”

Finding More Time for Customers

The tools in LightspeedEVO help dealerships maximize time by managing processes, tracking performance and improving efficiencies. With this in mind, Cecil Marine started identifying areas within their operation that were time consuming and slowing down customer service. The first area they identified was the Parts department.

“We wanted better integration with selling parts on deals and RO’s,” Paul said. “You don’t realize how much time you waste transferring from books. When you start adding up all those moments you realize that you could have taken a person out of the equation.”

Paul and his team looked at the complete Parts process. Time spent searching, ordering and pulling parts was taking time away from customers and service jobs. They started monitoring the time that was spent on parts which led them to look at their building’s layout.

“We looked at what parts were turning the most and moved them closer to the Service department,” said Paul “That saved our technicians from walking 30 feet which cuts off two to four minutes. That doesn’t seem like much, but think about how many hours that adds up to in a month.”

A More Efficient Flow

Cecil Marine used the bin location feature in LightspeedEVO to assign sections to their entire floor plan. The sections were entered into the system to indicate the location of what they were looking for by bin.

“We are a huge fan of the Lightspeed bin location,” said Paul. “Before I knew where everything was, but no one else did. Now everyone can find what they are looking for. This saves people from having to ask someone else where to find something. It allows us to bring in seasonal help without having to spend a lot of time training them.”

Maximized Value

Cecil Marine found the technology partner they wanted. With an innovative DMS in place they were able to accomplish their overriding goal of prompt customer service by minimizing or eliminating time consuming operations.

“Lightspeed has been tremendous,” said Paul. “The support is excellent. I expected to get the same support as other software companies. I am completely floored by how quickly they answer the phones. The system is constantly improving. There’s no extra charge for the updates so we always have the latest and greatest tools.”

“We are getting more value than we ever expected. ADP Lightspeed has completely exceeded my expectations.”

Cecil Marine
Williamstown, NJ
www.cecilmarine.com

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