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 […]

Many dealers are registering for Dealer Week for the very first time in 2020, thank you, largely to the move to a virtual environment.   In addition to being delivered right onto the device of your choice, the online Dealer Week comes to you at half the normal rate and without all of the flights, […]

  Intent: One of the pillars of Certification is customer service. Certified Dealers need to understand how their CSI numbers are trending alongside their peers carrying the same brands and other dealers in the industry. If the numbers aren’t up to national standards, they need a plan to address and remedy this. If you are […]

While dealers across North America scramble to sell boats with little-to-no inventory in stock, manufacturers are scrambling to catch up on production.   At most boat builders, the incoming orders are far exceeding the ability to produce.   At a 100-boat-per-week builder, for example, they are currently receiving 300 new boat orders per week. “It’s […]

In 2019, 79 percent of U.S. Americans had a social media profile and that number has only continued to grow since. As a result, everyone from politicians to teenagers use the most popular social media sites daily. Search practically any business on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and you will find a page where the business […]

F&I has earned a bad reputation, thanks, largely, to the way it was handled for far too long in the automotive industry. The recreational industry can and should refresh the way people think about F&I. For purchasers of recreational vehicles – boats, RVs, ATVs, off-road, Powersports – F&I should not, cannot, be a pressure-filled, must […]

If you’re like most dealers, you can simply shake your head in amazement over what happened in 2020. A fast start, a sudden stop, and an unparalleled, dizzying re-acceleration to the business of selling boats.   The pressing question now appears to be: What does 2021 have in store?   There’s so much to consider […]

The Marine Retailers Association has announced a new benefit for members designed to assess their personal and business wealth to bring them closer to their most meaningful financial goals. The “Second Opinion Service” benefit is provided by with The Stanek Group at Morgan Stanley. Many of you have built up successful dealerships and concentrated on […]

New visitors to Boat Trader, YachtWorld and boats.com up more than +50% in July Leads flourished across U.S. with over +200% YoY growth in nearly all regions Boats Group’s soldboats.com database shows boat sales increased +30% YoY Data from July for Boat Trader, YachtWorld and boats.com show traffic (+49% YoY) and leads (+193% YoY) continue […]

As your dealership begins turning up the dial on customer experience efforts, you’re likely looking at several options to better serve your customers and prospects. You may be considering steps, such as adding a customer experience representative, outsourcing some of your follow-up efforts, integrating more digital retail into your processes, and more to improve the […]