• Sharks and Minnows: A child’s game of pursuit reminds your dealership to just keep swimming to avoid time robbers in the name of boosting your profits Do you remember playing tag as a kid? Someone was “it,” and they ran around trying to tag another person to make someone else a new chaser to […]
MRAA Blog
Boating Business: Expectations vs. Reality
Halftime Review of 2022; Dealers’ Second-Half Outlook It’s easy to feel beat up and exhausted, especially when faced with long, hot summer work days with uncontrollable influences putting chinks in your amor! Throw in the inescapable change that keeps peeping around the corner, and it’s no wonder operating a dealership can be as challenging as […]
Change in the Boating Customer
The Future Does Not fit Into the Containers of the Past To be successful in today’s competitive marketplace, businesses must understand how to market to each generation and what motivates them. There are four major generational shifts happening in society today: Generation Z (born 1997-2012), Millennials (born 1980-2000), Generation X (born 1965-1980) and Baby Boomers […]
Prepare Your Dealership to Satisfy This New FTC Rule
As you and your team are evaluating what you’ll need to do to adapt to a changing market in the second half of 2022, it’s important to keep in mind the new and revised regulations that apply to your marine business. For example, if you operate dealerships in the U.S., you’ll need a plan in […]
Doing More With Less
If you are like most companies in the boating industry, you are currently understaffed and busier than you have been in the last 15 years. Though there are longer term solutions in the making, addressing the shortage of skilled workers right now can feel like an impossible challenge. We have all heard the saying, “Do […]
How to Increase Customer Engagement by Improving Your Website
Shopping online has become common practice for consumers. With 79 percent of smartphone users making a purchase online within the last 6 months, it’s important for dealers selling high-consideration products such as boats, to start considering how they can improve their websites to increase engagement. In the boating industry, it’s not about offering a “buy […]
Improving the Customer Experience through Employee Satisfaction
By Bob McCann, Lead Certification Consultant, MRAA Customer satisfaction in our industry is defined as a measure of how a boat builder’s product and a dealer’s service perform compared to customer’s expectations. It has long been the method to measure the effectiveness of the Marine Industry Certified Dealership Program (MICD). I propose that employee satisfaction […]
Improve Customer Experience with This Consumer Financing Strategy
When we can effectively answer a question in the mind of a prospective boat buyer, we build a layer of trust that boosts the customer’s experience — AND we take a step closer to selling them a boat. This idea probably isn’t new to you. Especially if you’ve been in the room for one of […]
Boaters Beware: E15 At Pumps Through Boating Season
This boating season it is going to be imperative to pay attention at the pump, as a new emergency rule will allow E15, a harmful fuel for boat engines, to be sold throughout the summer. E15, or gasoline that uses a 15 percent ethanol blend, is a widespread, common fuel type that can be harmful […]
Get Used to Pre-Owned Boats
In each monthly Pulse Report survey sent to dealers, one question we ask is, “What’s working?” We also ask the flip side, “What’s not working?” This month, with the MRAA’s Spotlight focus on the pre-owned boat market, we also added two questions to gauge their approach to the used boat market in terms of sales […]
