As an owner, GM or decision-maker, hoping for the best this boat-show season isn’t a business strategy or a sin. Many people are driven by fear AND hope, so it’s easy to make a quick critique of someone who says, “I hope our boat show season goes well.” Just because they utter these words doesn’t mean they don’t have a necessary plan of attack in place or haven’t made a strong enough of a commitment. No! In reality, having hope is one aspect of making decisions and comprising a plan, whether that’s for boat shows, marketing or how you approach sales at your dealership.
After you’ve built your schedules, set your objectives and created your plan, you often hope all will work out as it should or better. Your confidence in your team to overcome show challenges produces faith in your plan and reinforces your hope for success. That’s why strategic planning and team coordination is so important with boat shows.
Over the years, you’ve learned the key steps to enhance your boat show success, but it’s also nice to know what others are doing and additional tactics so you can try some yourself. We understand that what works for Dealership A may not work for Dealership B. And that Dealership C may need to borrow ideas from both, but then customize their boat show strategies to fit their size and needs. That’s why we recently asked dealers to share their insights involving boat show strategies and tactics.
3 Common Best Practices for Boat Show Sales Success
At Dealer Week 2024, dealers shared with us responses to this question: “What one practice before, during or after the boat show is most effective for your team in driving maximum sales results (both at the show and afterwards)?”
Here are three common best practices identified from the responses and a few approaches you can explore:
- Consistent and Timely Follow-Up:
This one seems like a common sense tactic and it is, but it’s often overlooked or lost within the shuffle of other tasks within a dealership. Following up with leads quickly and correctly is vital for your success and your ROI from boat show participation. The responses shared tips such as:- Make the follow-up (calls/texts/letters) personalized!
- Make immediate post-event contact to engage customers when they are still warm!
- Hold follow-up events at your dealership (onsite or virtual) to continue to engage leads and customers.
- Schedule your reminders so you don’t lose sight of lead management.
- Maintain consistent outreach. You’d rather contact leads and keep that boat in their thoughts than have them move on due to a lack of proper engagement.
- Customer-Centric Engagement:
The purchasing process and shopping experience is tied to emotions, so be sure to build upon those connections with your customers. Try holding:- Demo days tailored to only your new leads and show visitors. Give them a VIP treatment if it helps.
- Include your existing customers because they may upgrade, of course, but more importantly for their loyalty and the role they play as a dealership ambassador.
- Remember to make it about the experience NOT the product. Make this part of their journey memorable by taking care of them.
- Structured Processes and Preparation:
Converting your leads into sales is what your striving for, but you also want to build stronger bonds with most of these contacts because some may not be ready to buy just yet. That’s why it’s vital to have structured workflows and plans in place so you don’t miss steps or leave a customer hanging if a co-worker is out sick, etc. You want to have in place a plan for your introductions and handoffs and maintain a level of consistency from your entire team.
Boat Show Strategies for 2025
In the most recent MRAA Pulse Report, we asked dealers about their boat show budgeting for 2025 compared to last year. The majority of responses revealed that most dealers favor matching last year’s budget or to slightly increase their spending, from 1-10% YOY. As with any decision-making, there are few outliers, those businesses that will boost spending more than 11% and those that will reduce their boat show budgets even more in 025.
In response to a second question, “How are you adjusting your boat show strategies based upon the changing market conditions?,” they shared nearly two pages of answers. We’ve broken them into five top themes:
- Cost Management and Space Reduction: Many dealers seek to reduce costs by decreasing the show space they occupy. Others will opt for smaller, more efficient setups, like smaller spaces or smaller shows to help reduce costs and move existing stock.
- Pricing Strategies: Despite having lower margins, dealers will continue their aggressive pricing efforts, including lowering prices and offering more discounts to move product. Focusing more on price-point boats at shows was also mentioned as a way to attract buyers.
- Inventory Management: In an effort to liquidate old products and make room for new stock, dealers suggested bringing more non-current inventory to the shows.
- Selective Participation: Being more selective with boat shows will also play a factor for certain dealerships, as they focus on shows with the higher returns on investment or that best align with their target audience. For example, surf boats may not be the ideal product to showcase at a boating and fishing show.
- Alternative and In-House Events: One of the emerging trends is in-house boat shows. This could be single-dealer shows or group shows (multiple locations under one brand or a few competitors joining forces to move products). Participating in alternative events, (like lawn-and-garden events or wine shows), aside from traditional boat shows is another shared strategy because they would be more than just another dealer in a crowded show.
These five themes and three best practices point to a strategic shift among some marine retailers and those businesses that still want to maintain a boat show presence but do so in a the most cost-effective and efficient manner possible.
Are you doing anything different at your dealership? Reach out to me at jerrod@mraa.com and let us know.
