Build Your 2026 Blueprint
The marine industry is shifting — and your dealership needs to shift with it. Whether it’s changing buyer behavior, service bottlenecks or improving customer experience, now is the time to stop reacting and start planning. This Spotlight is designed to help your dealership build your 2026 blueprint — a focused, actionable plan to pinpoint what’s not working and assist you and your team to prepare for what’s next.
Gain tools and insights organized into three key areas: Leadership, Sales & Marketing and Service & Parts. Each developmental pathway supplies strategic insights to help you uncover your gaps and offers practical solutions — including Dealer Week sessions, expert tips and downloadable tools you can use right away. You don’t need to fix everything overnight. You just need a plan as you prepare for 2026.
— LEADERSHIP —
The Cost of Not Listening
Soundings Trade Only Column
You’re facing inventory pressures and market shifts that threaten your dealership’s survival, while manufacturers can often seem disconnected from your daily reality. Let’s face it — your dealership’s critical market insights aren’t reaching the decision-makers and communication is challenging. Tools like the MRAA Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard Program offer a solution by creating structured channels for your voice to be heard and acted upon. When manufacturers listen to your expertise, both your dealership and their brand win — and the partnership improves.
Matt Gruhn, MRAA President, highlights the new Dealer‑Manufacturer Scorecard Program as the frontline tool for capturing honest feedback and sparking strategic conversations that protect your health and customer experience.
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Leadership Decisions: Training
Dealers often mention the lack of time and financial resources as barriers to successfully training their team. Recently, several dealers shared additional insights about the challenges they face when selecting and assigning staff to training opportunities. Many opportunities for career growth exist, from in-house training, to manufacturer-led training to educational events and online courses. So how do you manage training? Learn more from your dealership peers on how they approach training their workforce.
EDUCATION
Closing Keynote Address: Uncrapify Your Future
A pile of problems. A wave of opportunities. A tidal shift of disruption. By the time Dealer Week wraps, your dealership’s next chapter will be waiting.
That’s why we’re ending on a high note with Closing Keynote Speaker Jeff Havens. In Uncrapify Your Future!, Jeff — a business growth expert and former comedian — blends humor with hard-hitting insights to show you how to navigate change, lead with confidence, and keep the employees who matter most. You’ll uncover the simple pattern behind every innovation and leave equipped to tackle challenges with clarity, resilience, and maybe a few laughs.
CERTIFICATION
MRAA Dealership Certification & ESS
MRAA Dealership Certification gives you a proven, customizable framework to strengthen operations, drive customer loyalty and elevate your dealership’s success. By implementing standardized systems, you improve customer relations, facility and website upkeep, and performance planning — building a foundation for long-term growth.
As a leader, you’ll gain tools to foster continuous improvement, earn team buy-in and create a culture of high performance. Certified Dealers benefit from employee satisfaction surveys, customer experience tracking and shared best practices, creating a feedback loop that fuels stronger results.
Commit to excellence, prioritize customer satisfaction and watch your dealership attract new business, cultivate loyal customers and inspire engaged employees — all while positioning yourself as a market leader.
The Value of Employee Satisfaction Surveys:
Read about the new Sales Leadership Certification education.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
Dealer Week 2025 – Prepare for What’s Next in Leadership
You need to run your dealership better. Today’s market — complete with an ever-changing landscape of challenges — demands strong leadership. Dealer Week 2025 Leadership pathway sessions will guide your team, operations and strategy with real-world and timely training helping you improve today and in the future.
Explore this year’s courses, educators & learning objectives:
- “See It, Solve It: Harnessing Ownership and Order to Elevate Your Leadership” – Pete Smith
- how to spot and address culture drift before it compounds
- Understand how choice, order and energy shape the behaviors and outcomes of your team
- Reset culture, reinforce ownership and reestablish team pride — without micromanaging.
- “7 AI Tools that will Revolutionize Your Dealership” – Marcus Sheridan
- Create world-class marketing copy instantly
- Generate six-month content calendar
- AI-powered lead management and chatbots
- Real-time pricing estimates for everything
- Convert conversations into coaching insights
- Build interactive apps without coding
- “7 Levers to Boost Efficiency and Margins” – Dave Newell
- Identify the seven levers that directly impact profitability
- Evaluate your dealership’s performance in all seven areas – including People, Process and Cost
- Immediate People, Process and Cost wins for short-term gain
- Create an action plan to implement shifts that boost profitability
- “Get WISER: More Than 33 Practical Ways to Improve Your CX” – Dan Gingiss
- Identify key areas to enhance your customer experience
- Develop creative and practical tactics and gain tools to help your entire team execute a focused plan.
- “Create Great Culture in Tough Times” – Max Meterne
- Identify common interdepartmental pain points that hinder customer loyalty
- Optimizing for transactions vs. optimizing for Enthusiast Lifecycle Value (ELV)
- Map the customer lifecycle to expose retention gaps and missed touchpoints
- Create internal alignment around post-sale experience
- Gain tools to diagnose and drive change
— SALES & MARKETING —
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Navigating the Waters of Used Boat Sales
Pre-owned boats can power your dealership’s growth, offering your sales team new opportunities even when new inventory feels uncertain. With the right strategies, you can drive sales, strengthen customer relationships and boost your profitability. This blog from Rob Grant at Lightspeed, an MRAA Strategic Partner, provides you with data-driven insights and proven approaches to help you excel in today’s competitive market. Explore the trends shaping used boat sales and position your dealership for long-term success.
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From Browsers to Buyers: The Power of Urgency Stories
You know the struggle: customers love your boats but hesitate, putting off their decision. The solution is creating an authentic urgency story — a real, relevant reason to act now that your whole team can deliver with confidence. When buyers hear that consistent, believable message, hesitation turns into action and your sales start moving forward.
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Tech at the Helm: Steering Marine Sales Forward
Today’s buyers expect speed, desire personalization and want seamless experiences. But what happens when your sales process can’t keep up? That’s right, hesitation stalls deals. The right technology shouldn’t create more busy work, but instead simplify, streamline and empower your team to sell with confidence. From automated follow-ups to providing real-time inventory visibility, tech creates clear pathways to move your customers from “maybe later” to “yes, today.” Remember to start small and you’ll understand how the correct tools can turn everyday challenges into long-term growth.
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Navigating F&I Success: Choosing the Best Financial Strategy for Your Marine Dealership
You can feel overwhelmed when you struggle with F&I in your business. However, the right approach can help you turn it into a powerful driver of revenue and customer trust. In his latest blog, marine industry expert Dom Zappia lays out clear, practical options for tackling F&I — from outsourcing to building in-house solutions —so you can choose a pathway that best suits your dealership. By leaning into training, strong partnerships and the correct product mix, you’ll position your team for long-term success and create happier, more loyal customers.
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Customer Interviews: A Game-changer for Marine Dealers
Closing a sale is always good, but a well-crafted customer interview afterward protects your bottom line, prevents delivery surprises and turns one-time buyers into loyal dealership advocates. Industry expert Dom Zappia walks you through exactly when, how and what to ask — from verifying deal details and uncovering accessory needs to setting the right expectations and steering payment conversations with finesse. By mastering this interview, you’ll deliver a seamless, professional experience that reduces headaches, builds trust and boosts your dealership’s profitability.
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Wake-Up Call: What’s Next for Marine Retail
In his recent column published on Trade Only Today, MRAA President Matt Gruhn breaks down what’s really behind the weakening boat-sales trends — and why it’s not just seasonality. Learn more about buyer behavior, economic headwinds and what your dealership can do right now to adapt instead of simply waiting for a rebound.
EVENT & TRAINING
Boat Show Boot Camp
The Boat Show Boot Camp, a new pre-conference workshop that precedes MRAA’s Dealer Week 2025, is tailored specifically to help your dealership excel in the upcoming 2026 boat show season. Gain hands-on training focused solely on boat show sales, providing practical tools and proven strategies to enhance your dealership’s performance at this one-day, in-person event on Sunday, December 7, 2025, at the Tampa Convention Center. Led by seasoned professionals with a track record of success, the workshop equips you with the confidence and clarity needed to develop a repeatable, results-oriented plan for your boat shows and events. Kick off Dealer Week by attending this specialty event that will help you to lead your team effectively, ensuring a strong start to the new season.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
Dealer Week 2025 – Prepare for What’s Next in Sales & Marketing
You desire to close more deals, understand and manage your leads and drive growth. But it’s not like it used to be. Boat buyers are different — and so is the market you serve. The Sales & Marketing Pathway provides future-ready insights and tools to reach the evolving customer and lead a top-performing team through every step of the sales process. Learn how to manage your inventory, button-up your sales process and insert modern sales and marketing strategies to win with today’s customers.
Explore this year’s courses, educators & learning objectives:
- “How to Market and Sell to a Changing Boat Shopper in the AI Era” – Marcus Sheridan
- Understand AI behavioral shifts in marine retail for engagement
- Turn your site and socials into the definitive answer hub for boat shoppers
- Learn online AI “trust signals” so it recommends your business
- Map a “choose-your-own-adventure” path to help shoppers without delay.
- Comfortably inject AI into more touchpoints — including chatbots — to help customers and capturing lead intel
- “Revitalize a Key Revenue Stream: Pre-Owned Boat Sales” – Jordon Schoolmeester
- Implement a comprehensive pre-owned boat strategy
- Best practices for acquiring, reconditioning and selling pre-owned units
- 3 proven tactics to increase perceived value and buyer confidence
- Build a transparent and trust-building sales process with strategic pricing
- “Negotiate Win-Win Watercraft Deals thru Modern Mastery” – Marcus Sheridan
- A crystal-clear and calming negotiation roadmap for a win-win outcome
- Reveal hidden concerns about price, trade-ins and financing before they torpedo the deal
- Move from “cost” to “total lifetime value” so buyers sell themselves on the upgrade
- Convert “That’s too much” into forward momentum with question-first reframing techniques and transparent cost storytelling
- Protect margin and leave buyers thrilled with the outcome
- Master verbal tone, body language and micro-acknowledgements to boost credibility and lower defense
- “Reverse Engineer Your Boat Sales Outcomes in Today’s Market”
- Set realistic income goals; reverse-engineer for monthly and weekly sales targets
- Use closing ratios, average commission and contact conversion rates to calculate performance benchmarks
- Rethink what qualifies as a meaningful contact in today’s marine sales environment
- “Sell More Boats thru a Better CX Online: A Panel Discussion” – Bob McCann
- Gain fresh ideas, insight and guidance to optimize your virtual presence for improved search, lead generation and conversion rates.
— SERVICE & PARTS —
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Build Customer Loyalty in Service
By focusing on smart, empathetic training — supported by technology — marine service departments can transform routine visits into moments of connection with customers and build loyalty that lives beyond a single sale. Erick Jauregui, Fixed Operations Training Specialist at EasyCare, emphasizes the pivotal role your service department plays in cultivating long-term loyalty once someone’s initial purchase excitement fades — boater and customer retention.
RESOURCE
Turn Communication Breakdowns Into Breakthroughs
IDS Marine, an MRAA Education Champion, provides you with a marine service and parts department communication flow chart. This handy, downloadable resource shows you how to eliminate delays, automate updates and keep your team and customers aligned. Download it to boost efficiency, close jobs faster and deliver a better customer experience. (Note: Fill out short from to access flowchart).
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Service Messaging Success
Gain helpful tips to polish and customize your service customer communications so you can create improved clarity and find service messaging success. This blog and mini case study with Jason Sasso at Premier Boating provides great insight and a real-life example from a recent service email blast about the dealership’s storage season and sign up system.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
Dealer Week 2025 – Prepare for What’s Next in Service & Parts
Your profit margins are getting squeezed and boat owners are demanding faster turnarounds from your service department. This is happening while you’re also managing parts inventory, scheduling technicians and managing these same customers’ expectations. Your traditional service department approach just can’t seem to keep up with today’s demands. That means you’re not only busy, but also not as profitable as you could be. And your team is frustrated. The Dealer Week Parts & Service Pathway will share proven strategies from real service departments that not only boost efficiency and revenue, but also help your team feel empowered.
Explore this year’s courses, educators & learning objectives:
- “Service & Parts Best Ideas Panel & Roundtable Discussion” – Valerie Ziebron (Pathway Host)
- Proven service and parts strategies from top-performing North American dealerships
- Gain a curated list of real ideas submitted by marine dealers
- Rapid roundtable discussions — share wins and learn new tactics from peers
- “From Forecast to Flourish: Master Budgeting in Service”
- Build a service department budget that ties together labor, parts, warranty and overhead with clear profit targets
- Forecast technician hours and capacity using historical trends, seasonality and resource planning
- Identify and track KPIs for service profitability — use them for monthly adjustments
- Align service forecasting with dealership-wide goals for cash flow, margins and growth
- Communication habits to make budgeting a team sport, not a solo project
- “Close Service & Parts Workforce Gaps (Without Hiring Unicorns)” – Max Materne
- Identify service roles that can be filled by non-technician staff
- Create career path plans to grow talent from within
- Delegate and structure work to allow techs to focus on high-value tasks
- Use metrics to identify staffing gaps and role opportunities
- “Stop Missing So Many Opportunities: Start Marketing Your Service, Parts & Accessories” – Max Meterne
- Develop targeted marketing campaigns for service, parts and accessories departments
- Use digital marketing, social media and email campaigns to effectively reach and engage your audience
- Create compelling marketing messages to convey the value of services and products
- Measure and analyze marketing success to continually refine and improve your strategies.
- “How Service & Parts Can Keep More Customers Boating” – Valerie Ziebron
- Discover five key factors that influence repeat customer purchases
- Best practices that turn daily service and parts tasks into customer retention tools
- Uncover vital questions to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty
- How to measure how well your service team is performing
RESOURCE
MRAA Service Management Special Report
Are your service operations outperforming the industry averages? Do you have processes in place to streamline your approaches and handle service-related issues? Understanding your dealership’s service data is essential to remain competitive and infuse a culture of improvement.
The Service Management Special Report offers you the insights needed to optimize service performance. Gain critical data on dealer demographics, workforce challenges and key service metrics. You’ll also discover stories and strategies that help you tackle the pain points impacting your service efficiency.
Be informed and better prepared in service using the answers and resources from this report to make informed decisions and enhance your business.
Not ready to purchase?
MRAA Members Only: Download the Executive Summary!
EDUCATION & TRAINING
MRAATraining.com — Your Team’s Educational Pathway to Success
Managing your team’s training shouldn’t be a hassle. But between outdated platforms, courses that are hard to find and clunky navigation, it often feels like one. That’s why the MRAA rebuilt our entire online learning experience from the ground up.
Introducing the new MRAATraining: a smarter, smoother and more intuitive platform that puts everything you need at your fingertips. From leadership tactics to success in sales and marketing to parts and service team growth, you can help your entire dealership train and learn together.
Need assistance? Reach out to Jennifer McLachlan, MRAA Membership Specialist
