Amidst the monotony of the ongoing political banter and the optimism of a growing economy, you may have missed a troubling report coming out of CNN Money. The report, published just last week, suggests that the American economy may be experiencing the bursting of a retail bubble. Dispute the concept of a retail bubble if […]

Good people are hard to find. This statement is as old as any other business cliché, but it has never been more of a slap in the face for me than it is today. I’m writing this blog as I wait for an interview candidate, who is now more than five minutes late for his […]

Whether you believe in coincidence or not, you’ve probably had an experience like this. A topic comes up. Maybe it’s in conversation, a video or a podcast. You might read it in a book or on a website. And then it comes up again and again and again in the following days and weeks. In […]

We rarely get pushback from dealers on the need for job descriptions. However, this one requirement often slows down a dealer’s completion of their Certification checklist. For some reason, creating and updating job descriptions ranks right up there with cleaning out the head — except when it comes to the person whose job description is […]

My 11-year-old son, Nathan, is at the age where he no longer places an unwavering faith in the words and actions of his parents. Rather, it seems he’s constantly questioning what we do and say, looking for confirmation – and undoubtedly finding it – that we’re the flawed human beings he has recently begun suspecting […]

Following Spader Business Management’s launch of a new type of 20 Group, MRAA’s Liz Walz sat down with John Spader to discuss the impact of 20 Group participation on marine dealers, the thinking behind the new type of group being developed, and the new education and training discounts offered to MRAA Retail Members. Liz Walz […]

What’s YOUR team’s mentality?  In the case of nearly every successful small business, there’s a story of a visionary founder with big dreams of making a difference. Those stories are the epitome of the American dream. Find a niche. Start a business. Become successful. And live happily ever after. Your business likely has that story. […]

The lunch crowd’s last stragglers offer a wave and nod as Bill Gage walks swiftly through his restaurant and selects a seat inside a plush corner booth with a picture window view of Lake Geneva. He sits down, inspects the silverware for spots (there were none) and jokes about how he inherited an eye for […]

                        Once the technician has been assigned the task, the service manager can then use the task grid to prioritize the technician’s tasks. The screen shot below shows the task priorities for a technician named “Bobby Bottom.”   In this example, the technicians are […]

            You can use Google Calendar to schedule and coordinate the daily job assignments and/or boat delivery schedule with your employees. Just set up a new calendar and start adding events as your jobs. You will need to include your employee’s email address as the attendee of the event. After […]