Marine business practice

Warranties and guarantees:

A warranty is an agreement between buyer and seller that  that specific details and conditions of their transaction are true and that the word of the party can be trusted. A guarantee is a formal agreement usually a document that ensure the quality of a product or service. In the case of a marine business specifically a marine repair business a warranty could be a guarantee to the service being provided to the boat, or a guarantee to the quality of parts being installed into a boat.

Quotations and estimates

A Quotation is an agreement between two party's on the price of a item or service. A quotation can be taken as a formal agreement and if one party does not honour the quote they could be liable to legal charges. An estimation is a rough estimate of the price required for a item or service. Unexpected difficulty's can mean the original estimate is too low and a new estimate will be needed. In a Marine repair business a quotation or estimate could be changed severely because of unforeseen problems or malfunctions.

Charge out rates

A charge out rate is the amount of money required when charging for a service for example an automotive or marine workshop. A business owner will calculate a charge out rate for their business before it starts. When a charge out rate is being calculated all costs of the business are taken into account including overheads like rent and machinery costs. Other costs involved are labour costs and profit margins. Charge out rates should not be too low as to make the business unprofitable, and not too high as to make it unattractive to customers.

Courtesy service

A courtesy service is a service provided by a business which enhances the experience for the customer and entices them to come to that business again, this can include small things like a cup of coffee on entry or getting something for free with a purchase to more expensive things like providing a courtesy car to a customer who's car is being worked at the mechanics. These all help to create a customer base and customer loyalty (customers that come back to your business)

Cultural issues

The world we are in is far more culturally diverse than it used to be with many different cultures and ethnicity's living and working together. Cultural issues have to catered for in the modern working place. Different cultures have different customs in business and religion and so on, for a business to be seen a diverse and therefore welcoming to all types of people then cultural protocols must be in place. If cultures are respected then employees and staff will integrate better into the company.