(NOTE: This is the second blog in a three-part blog series where MRAA members and staff share examples of how they have worked to develop the local workforce within their business and community.) By Wendy Ramsey, General Manager, Pirate Cove Marina Workforce development has become one of the most important topics in the marine industry […]
MRAA Blog
Improving Your Parts Department Performance
By Erick Jauregui, Fixed Operations Training Specialist for EasyCare The parts department is a critical yet often undervalued component of dealership profitability. Adopting strategic measures that can enhance inventory management and help bolster sales through targeted customer service is essential. Here is a comprehensive plan designed to help boost parts gross profits, leveraging market data, […]
Getting into the Minds of Tomorrow’s Workforce
• How to Motivate, Cultivate and Maintain a New Generation of Employees By Jon Stovall, General Sales Manager, Ocean Blue Yacht Sales In 2024 and beyond, we have a new generation of people coming into the retail marine industry. How do we, as business owners and managers, connect with a generation that thinks and acts […]
4 Ways to Advance Your Business
• Help build careers and strengthen your dealership with continuing marine-industry education As a dealership owner or general manager, we know you want to put your business in a position to win. You want your employees to have long careers and remain loyal to your store(s) while also needing your business to stay efficient and […]
Helpful Content to Inform & Engage Customers
Let’s imagine for a second that one of your new customers texts their sales contact at your dealership asking for offshore fishing tips. They add in a follow-up question about wind and its effect on fishing. While some dealers have fishing experts on staff and could answer them quickly and with expert advice, other teams […]
Fortify Your Service Department
• ABYC / MRAA Service Management Certification helps dealerships improve their service department’s performance, while advancing their team’s careers. To keep your dealership operating like a well-oiled machine throughout the market’s ups and downs, you need a service department that is performing at its best. Whether you have one service manager leading that effort or […]
Dealers Share Pre-Owned Boat Sales Strategies
In the August 2024 MRAA Pulse Report, a monthly marine retailer survey we partner with Baird and Soundings Trade Only to produce, we found that 2024 continues to be challenging due to soft retail demand, high inventory levels, inflation, consumer hesitancy to purchase and more. This has led to a continuation of negative industry sentiment […]
5 Benefits of Installing & FOLLOWING a Sales Process
Natural talent and abilities can only take you so far. All one has to do is look at some of the most elite athletes in sports. Talent can take some of them to all-star status. Hard work and additional effort, day in and day out, can then make an all-star into an all-pro or shape […]
Adding Value to Your Sales Retail Extended Service Contracts (Extended Warranty)
A guest blog by Jason Cochran, Vice President, Global Product Protection In any economic climate or retail market, dealerships that adopt best practices prevail. One example is structuring your organization to offer as many goods and services as your customers need to participate in boating. If you are selling boats, retail finance is a critical […]
Year-Round Strategies for Marine Dealership Financial Planning
• To help build resilience in the face of unpredictability, marine dealership owners can consider adopting adaptive forecasting and flexible planning. By Victor Rivera, Chief Sales Officer, Huntington Distribution Finance† Financial planning and budgeting are often viewed as annual exercises for marine dealership owners – a start-of-year activity that carries throughout the year. However, in […]
