Here’s the very real workforce conundrum many of you are facing: Retaining staff when times get tough. However, hiring them when you need them is just as difficult and more expensive.  

The Service Management Special Report showed that the workforce shortage is not just an issue in most service departments, but perhaps the No. 1 pain point. It was the top concern for the respondents in the survey by more than 25 percent over the next most recorded pain point.

Clearly, the workforce pain continues. In the September 2024 MRAA Pulse Report, one dealer noted “finding experienced leadership – need a service manager, can’t find.”

During a recent MRAA Board Meeting, dealers were asked whether they would hire an experienced technician today if one was immediately available to them, and just about everyone raised their hand.

The September Pulse Report also reflects a painful time period for some in sales and the marine industry. Comments about what’s working from dealers include: “Being low-staffed and keeping our chins up” and another about what’s working, “Nothing … Worst sales since 2008. Parts and service slowing significantly vs. normal this time of year.”

What a difficult combination. Workforce shortages in service means we can’t get the staff we need to increase our efficiency, our CSI and to lower our Repair Event Cycle Time. With the dramatic decrease in sales, we need service to drive profitability. “Service has the ball now with winterizations,” said one dealer about how service is going to carry the burden since “it’s tough to find something that works” for sales this time of year.

At the same time, many dealerships are looking at their numbers and strongly considering staff layoffs to maintain cash and stay afloat. One dealer commented, “We are very concerned about inventory, credit and interest rates, and believe we will see a thinning out of dealers over the next months.”

The concern is real, but so is the conundrum. Dealers can’t hire the staff they need in some areas, and yet, at the same time, some feel the need to reduce staff during these trying times.

If you have to let staff, go, will you be able to get them back when business inevitably picks up on the other side of this downturn? At what cost?

According to insights shared by Dealer Week educators and industry experts, Jim Million and Gloria Sinclair Miller, the cost of replacing an employee is over two times the cost of their salary.

Will someone else hire them away as there is clearly a need? How do you manage cash and yet, keep the staff you know you can’t easily replace?

What strategies do you use to retain your current staff, ensuring you’re prepared for an economic rebound and able to keep service personnel who are hard to replace?

John Spence, a former Dealer Week educator said, “Nothing happens in your business without your people. Nothing. That is why finding, growing, AND KEEPING talented people should be a MAJOR focus of your organization.”

Perhaps one way to navigate this conundrum is to explore alternative ways to improve your cash position. Here are 11 ideas:

1.Bring the entire staff together for a discussion: Where does each team member see opportunities to cut spending? Some quick examples from staff:

• Do you need the fresh carpets delivered weekly?





• Do you need to maintain Wi-Fi for customers in the offseason?





• Does the showroom need to be heated to 72 or 65 degrees?





• Do we need to hire someone to mow and move snow or can we do it ourselves?

2. Put some pre-owned boats in very good condition onto a floorplan so that cash is available for the offseason.

• Talk with community banks about floorplan for recent year trade-ins.

3. Review your actuals vs. budget. 

• Make the budget as simple as possible to review and maintain.
• Determine where you really are and establish very conservative projections to clarify where you stand and what you need.
• Can you wait and see how the next few months go before making any staff changes? You don’t know for sure without preparing a cash flow forecast. If you don’t currently do so, use our Sample Net Cash Condition Worksheet.

4. Look at parts. Are there opportunities to sell some of the leftover inventory using online marketing or other tools like eBay, Facebook Marketplace and others?

• Parts on the shelf are tying up cash that could be used to keep an employee and pay other bills. Find ways to move them now.

5. Review your accounts receivable and warranty. 

• If you have outstanding balances due from customers or manufacturers, it is time to pursue those with gusto.
• The time commitment necessary to pursue those outstanding balances will likely pay for itself and more with the resulting income.

6. Can the sales department use some inexpensive new approaches to move another boat or two in the next few weeks and more over the next few months?

• Video new and used boats and get them online and on your social media.
  • Use your cell phone to create these simple videos. They don’t need to be perfect. They just need to let someone see the inventory you have.
  • Use your cell phone to create these simple videos. They don’t need to be perfect. They just need to let someone see the inventory you have.

• Use social media to create your own “boat show” during the down time of fall.
  • Could you be the first show after the election?
    • Whichever candidates win, someone will be happy and perhaps eager to celebrate. What better way than with a new boat?
    • Whichever candidates win, someone will be happy and perhaps eager to celebrate. What better way than with a new boat?
  • Be the one show that happens in your region for those few days or work with your peers in your area to put together a “show trail” with online maps to go from one dealer to the next having common hours for a shared show. People follow “wine trails” all the time, why not a “boat trail?” 

7. Approach your staff and communicate.

• Do you have a staff member who actually wouldn’t mind being laid off for a time in the offseason?
• Have you ever asked? 

8. Consider how your salespeople are making selling decisions.

• Do they understand the current constraints and concerns?
  • Are they trying to stick to margins that are higher than you deem necessary?
  • Do they recognize that floorplan costs continue to eat away at profit margins so taking a lower price now may result in the same outcome as if they had waited months to sell the boat at a slightly higher margin?
  • Are they asking customers to consider selling on consignment or brokerage instead of taking in that expensive trade-in?

9. Review your advertising and marketing analytics.

• Do this to determine what works and what doesn’t work and how to reduce expenses with low-cost alternatives (influencers, digital marketing, newsletter). 

10. Consider effective ways to create work-week shift schedule changes.

• Could you rotate staff shifts so that you can be open on the weekend to draw any missed business opportunities that occur in the offseason? 
• Could you adjust schedules to have a 4-day work week? 
• Could you do both and have staff have a 4-day work week and yet stay open every day you want to be? Instead of losing one employee completely could you go to several staff dropping to a 4-day 32 hour work week and achieve practically the same cost savings?

11. Build a rainy-day list in service.

• If your service department has a rainy-day list of customer repairs and upgrades that could be completed in the offseason, put your team on the phone to get that work scheduled during slower times to keep your service department busy.
• Consider making it a contest to see how many customers you can serve this way. Remember: This is an opportunity to show them how much your dealership cares about their experience on the water.

Along with those quick thoughts, the MRAA has some additional guides and courses you can access depending upon your membership level that will support you in the process of retaining staff and managing your cash.