Collaborative effort between the MRAA board and leading manufacturers and suppliers focuses on driving improvements in the customer experience. By Matt Gruhn, MRAA President In the world of major unit retail, stark differences exist between the auto and marine industries. Major unit sales volume, alone, drives the bulk of the disparities between how each industry […]
Author: Matt Gruhn
The Nexus of Success
The relationship among dealers, manufacturers and customers is more critical than ever. By Matt Gruhn, MRAA President In 2018, an eye-opening report surfaced about the health of the marine industry. It revealed the attrition rates of first-time boat buyers. Close to 40% were selling their boats and leaving boating within the first five years of […]
Don’t Split Up the Team
How the strength of the dealer-manufacturer relationship drives customer loyalty. By Matt Gruhn, MRAA President “Don’t split up the team,” Christina Fliakos said. Nearly 50 dealers and manufacturers paused their conversations and turned to Fliakos, who is Senior Manager of Parts and Service Processes at Brunswick Corp.’s Service Center of Excellence. They had been buzzing […]
Beer vs. Boats
In the game of trying to stabilize inventory, there really is no difference. By Matt Gruhn, MRAA President Have you ever played The Beer Game? No, I’m not talking about a frat-house game. I’m talking about The Beer Game as chronicled in the book The Fifth Discipline. The book shares the story of three businesses — a […]
RECT: Today’s No. 1 Customer Experience Metric
Your service department holds the key to a quality customer experience. With the twists and turns of every new season, the needs and demands of boater buyers and owners change. These evolving needs, of course, are brought on by the ever-changing economy, technological advances, product development, consumer sentiment and satisfaction, and experiences found elsewhere in […]
How to beat The Great Resignation
You may have heard of The Great Resignation, the “mass, voluntary exit from the workforce” that has been anticipated for months. Experts like those quoted in the article linked here suggest that it’s already begun. As boat dealers, despite the wild sales success we’ve enjoyed of late, there’s a lot to be frustrated about in […]
Time to Focus on Your Repair Cycle Times
Over the pandemic-riddled 12-month period of April 2020 through March 2021, it took boat dealers an average of 70.5 days to complete service on a new boat under warranty. This isn’t a rough estimate. We’ve pulled this data directly from the Lightspeed dealership management systems of real boat dealers. This jaw-dropping statistic underscores a number […]
What Dealer Week can teach you about your boat show strategy
Over the course of just 90 days or so, the team here at the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas produced what many have suggested was the best virtual event they have ever participated in — Dealer Week 2020. The secret to the success with this event, in my opinion, was that we never treated […]
Embrace virtual and evolve your strategy
The evolution toward digital for the retail market took its largest leap forward yet in 2020, inspired, of course, by the pandemic and subsequent social-distancing requirements. In the boat business, market conditions continue to transform go-to-market strategies, as we enter what, for many, will be the first winter without in-person boat shows. While this […]
Dealer loyalty takes a hit in Q3
In the midst of 2020’s crazy selling season, the marine industry witnessed a direct and inverse relationship between sales growth and dealership customer satisfaction scores. During the third quarter, sales-related CSI fell even further, hampered mostly by low scores for sales person follow-up. While overall Sales CSI scores dipped by just a half of a […]
