After a long, cold winter in Michigan, residents and tourists take full advantage of the beautiful summer months in their boats, motorsports vehicles, and other fun toys. That’s where Spicer’s Boat City comes in. The thriving business started in 1964 and is stationed on a 16-acre property across the street from the largest inland lake in Michigan, Houghton Lake, so it’s perfectly positioned to sell hundreds of boats a year.
But it’s not just about location or a great selection of boats and other vehicles. To succeed for more than half a century, the business needed to be built on good customer service, well-trained employees, and, of course, quality data and leadership to act on the data.
In the last three years, Spicer’s has implemented Lightspeed DMS to help with several tasks, including organizing communication in one platform, sourcing OEM parts, and scheduling service and maintenance. We talked to Owner Phillip Spicer and General Manager Jessie Minto about his experience with Lightspeed and how it’s elevated their business.
The Impact of Parts Integration
Minto has been working at Spicer’s for 23 years, taking on a lot of roles in that time: “I started in parts, then moved to sales, and then to the rigging department,” he said. But only recently did Spicer’s make a big decision to switch their DMS platform to Lightspeed, and the key catalyst was its parts integration capabilities.
“We were with our previous DMS for about 25 years, then Lightspeed came into the picture with integrations from BRP and Polaris,” Minto recalled. “We knew Lightspeed was the industry go-to product. We did lots of demos and training, and we even went to another dealership, and they showed us how it worked inside and out.”
Spicer emphasized the difference Lightspeed makes with sourcing parts: “The Parts Locator is a game-changer—it allows us to check other dealers’ inventory, which can be a lifesaver when searching for a backordered or hard-to-find part.”
Good Training is a Strong Foundation
Similar to Minto’s experience of being a home-grown asset in the business, Spicer’s Boat City prides itself on doing the same for other employees: “We do a good job of bringing technicians up through the ranks,” said Minto.
This kind of hiring structure is built on a strong culture and a knowledge base that starts with quality training. If everyone has the knowledge of the industry, products, and processes, they can thrive in the long term. Lightspeed fit right into that philosophy, offering training and resources for the Spicer’s team as they onboarded.
“Before we even signed the contract, Lightspeed sent us resources and training,” said Minto. “We did about 2-3 days of training to make sure everyone knew how to use it.”
Staying on the Same Page
Another way to keep everyone connected is by providing a platform where all communication can happen in the same place, especially with regard to customer service.
“Every department works with Lightspeed,” said Minto. “Everything is Lightspeed communications; we try to keep as much in Lightspeed as we can.”
Spicer added, “LightSpeed has significantly improved our efficiency by consolidating all essential functions into one seamless program. With just a push of a button, we can easily email or text customers, and all communication is stored in their file for quick reference.”
According to Minto, having everything in one place starts with communication: “You can easily go to the customer tab and see who’s been talking to the customer. You can see what platform they’ve been talking on and what the status of the order is.”
This helps Spicer’s serve their customers well by always knowing the status and the best way to contact customers. No matter who is reaching out to them, everyone is up to speed.
This also includes photo and video features built into Lightspeed. Spicer’s requires all maintenance orders to have at least 5 photos to document the progress: “The technicians have that all available on the mobile app, and they’re also taking videos, which they can share directly with the customer.”
Real-Time Data is the Real Deal
With a business that’s selling hundreds of boats and other vehicles a year, it can be easy to just manage and survive the day-to-day and not see the big picture, but the cure to that is the ability to see the big picture in real-time.
“The financial reporting is amazing because you can get it right away. It’s real-time. You can see how many dollars you sold in labor, how many parts, what the turns are, percentage of returns—all of it is right there.”
Spicer echoes the simplicity of the platform: “LightSpeed’s built-in reports are incredibly user-friendly, and modifications are simple. We can effortlessly track technician hours and even schedule reports to be ready first thing in the morning. Plus, the industry benchmarks provide valuable insights, allowing us to compare performance with over 2,000 other dealers.”
Award-Winning Service
This powerful new platform led to Spicer’s earning a Lightspeed Dealer RECT (Repair Event Cycle Time) Excellence Award in 2024, given to dealers that excel at successful and expedited service and repair operations. As a dealership that’s based in a resort town with a lot of demand for service in the spring, summer, and fall, this is a crucial part of Spicer’s business.
One reason for their efficient service is the ability to find parts fast. Minto says that “the service department loves Lightspeed because of the parts lookup feature. If it’s not available at the OEM, we use that feature and it saves a ton of time.”
He even confessed that, before they had Lightspeed, they would call friends at other dealerships who used Lightspeed to run a parts search for them. Now, it’s all in-house and much easier to manage.
Committing to the Platform
As it is with many things, you get out what you put in. The same goes for Lightspeed, according to Minto: “You’re gonna have to have somebody who’s gonna champion it and make sure other people know how to use it. If you want good data, then Lightspeed is the way to go.”
Even a fully committed business has ways to grow with Lightspeed, though. Minto and his team are looking for more ways to make processes more efficient, including a plan to add Lightspeed’s E-Signature feature for signing forms within the platform. This is especially impactful for people who are buying or getting equipment serviced who don’t live in the area.
Spicer concludes, “LightSpeed has truly optimized our daily operations, making our team more productive and our customers more informed!”
Spicer’s Boat City is another example of how Lightspeed can enhance just about every part of the operations, even in an already successful business.
Meet the Authors
Jessie Minto
