National Marine Fisheries Service Expands Right Whale Critical Habitat in Alaska On Sept. 26, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced a revision of the Endangered North Pacific right whale critical habitat in Alaska, expanding the protected area for the species. This update comes after a petition, initially filed March 10, 2022, was put forth […]
MRAA Blog
7 Courses to Help Your Service Department Reach the Next Level
“If you were to recommend three courses for a service department, what would you suggest?” This recent question popped up in one of the MRAA internal Slack conversations asking our entire team for their suggestions. We get regular questions about top courses from our our dealer members and MRAA staff for a couple of reasons. […]
Engage More Customers, Use Discover Boating Content to Your Advantage
• Boating content you can use to educate, inform and improve boat owners’ on-the-water experiences Despite having a staff of boating enthusiasts and experts at your disposal, it’s not easy for a dealership to find additional time in the day to devote to writing boating stories that help improve your customers’ individual boating experiences. Designating […]
Lake Havasu Gathering Promotes Boating Advocacy, Education
Recently, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA), National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and the Lake Havasu Marine Association (LHMA) met with elected officials from the Arizona State Legislature and the Lake Havasu City community to discuss various recreational boating priorities and highlight the impact recreational boating has on the local Lake Havasu City […]
Move More Inventory
• How simple changes to your inventory listings can garner more prospect attention, sell more boats and generate more cash flow. By Drew Mick, MRAA Research Specialist Excess inventory. For many, this is a painful reality. But what if a few strategic steps could turn that around? In the fast-paced world of boat sales, capturing […]
Lower Your Expenses with MRAA Member Benefits
By Jason Walz, MRAA Director of Programs Every year you work to grow your dealership. Chances are you’ve been successful at doing just that, coming off of a spectacular three-year run that featured fast-moving inventory and high demand. However, the market is shifting, so now it’s time to pause and take a closer look at […]
MRAA Advocacy Engages Avalon-Tahoe Dealers
As the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) continues to grow and work with all sectors of the industry, meshing directly with boat manufacturers is becoming an increasingly important method to engage new dealers. Presenting at dealer meetings is a great way for our team to meet potential members and highlight MRAA Membership benefits, […]
The Service Shuffle
A look at service department pain points and potential solutions from MRAA’s recent Pulse Report. To be an elite dealership, you need your Service & Parts Departments to follow and maintain a tight, structured schedule, yet remain flexible to effectively upsell and schedule future work to add cash flow. However, it’s not easy to be […]
The Rational Walk to Success: Embracing the Pre-Owned Boat Market
By Bob McCann, Lead MICD Program Consultant When I made the walk from the automotive industry to the marine industry in 1999, two areas of concern jumped out at me. A Missed Opportunity: Neglecting Customer-Pay ServiceThe observation of a missed opportunity in service was mostly my ignorance of the enormity of the dealer’s role in […]
Cautiously Optimistic at ‘Cliffside’
• Lenny Sims, VP Business Development/Strategy – Specialty Vehicles for J.D. Power and the MRAA Discuss Insights on the 2023 Q2 Marine Market Drew Mick, MRAA: April saw a small decline across all boat types in traffic views. Is there any reason for that dip? Lenny Sims: When we look at the data, there’s all […]