PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID J. SHULER
(Above) Dan Streech: “We’re healthy, our balance sheet is healthy, and we’re ‘safe’ for ourselves and for our clients.” (Left) Jim Leishman: “COMPASS enables us to keep the focus on the most important element . . . our customer.”
when customers raise a problem, or worse, giving the appearance of chaos. Our policy has always been to resolve problems wherever, whenever, and as efficiently and effectively as we can, and then sort out the details later. When we’re proactive, the customer’s response is always positive. With more than 30 years’ experience behind us, we’ve learned the skills to manage the inevitable everyday crises pretty well, but we want to do still better, especially insofar as customer support is concerned. “Our project managers are the people our customers deal with throughout contracting, construction, commissioning, and for ongoing support. They answer their cell phones 24 hours a day seven days a week. To make them even more available and more effective, we’ve just engaged a very experienced production manager to provide supervision and coordination, and to take some of the pressure off. We’ve also hired two assistant project managers to ease their administrative burdens, and are in the process of adding two more. A senior customer service manager has come on board to make it easier for www.nordhavn.com
our owners to deal with warranty issues.” Dan Streech: “Producing a boat is really intense for everyone involved. Over the years, we’ve learned that there is no such thing as a ‘standard Nordhavn.’ All our customers have individual requirements and desires, many of them unique. As a result, the differences boat for boat can be significant. Certainly no two are identical. Consequently, we invest a huge amount of manpower to deal with change orders, typically more than 200 per boat, each of which is crucial.” Jim Leishman: “Building and maintaining a positive relationship with our customers requires that we absolutely must respond to their requests for customization. However, every client also expects us to keep the construction of his boat on schedule and within budget, notwithstanding the pressure to make continual changes. For that reason, we’ve also created a position we call Customer’s Advocate. The incumbent is very experienced, can understand a buyer’s needs, and then coach them on how to best deal with the company in the context of the contract and the 2008-2009 | circumnavigator
191