By Valerie Ziebron, President of VRZ Consulting and Dealer Week 2025 Educator

The more customers use their boat, the more likely they are to stay in boating. Those of us in the industry who love and live for boating can consider it a given that once a boater, always a boater. Unfortunately, statistics tell a different story with a steady stream of boaters using their boats less and even getting out of boating entirely. The good news is your dealership team plays a big role in the industry’s need to drive boat use!

Many of the best practices don’t require more time or resources — just an increased awareness in what you’re doing in your daily tasks and how it can make a difference. Let’s take a look at some of the key opportunities to drive boat use.

Getting to Know You

Do you have the gift of gab with your customers? Not only is this important for building rapport but when we ask questions like:

“How are you enjoying your boat? Would you buy this model again?” 

The responses can give a pulse on boat usage and can open the conversation up to hearing about things they don’t like.  This is key to understanding where they are and how we might be able to help them.

• Do they understand all the features? Sometimes the things they don’t like about the boat are things they simply are not using or are not using properly.
• Life changes? Getting married, having kids, becoming empty nesters, health issues and even getting a dog are all things that can impact boat use.

In the above examples, knowing WHAT is impacting the customers boating gives us powerful information. Is your team making the effort to connect with your customers? Doing so provides the opportunity to suggest ways the customer might not have considered to get more enjoyment from boating.

Even customers who have owned many boats might need to be guided on new features, options for accessories or even different ways to adapt their style of boating to their new life situations.

What We Do Matters

Many of our daily tasks have a very tangible impact on our customers’ boat usage. Repair Event Cycle Time (RECT) is showing that many customers would love to be out on the water but unfortunately their boats are in the shop for far too long. Every department in the dealership plays a role in reducing RECT.

Sales

• Are you educating the customers on the best ways to service their boat?
  • The importance of proactive maintenance and care.
  • The best times to get work done to maximize time on the water.
  • How to schedule maintenance and what service will need to fix the boat (good information, picture/video, etc.).
  • Do you communicate with service advisors about customers who might benefit from looking at a different boat?

Service

• Are you thinking about what the boat will need next and when the best time to do it would be every time you interact with a customer?
  • Are you keeping a tangible and visual schedule that the entire team can see?
  • Are you actively scheduling and marketing work for the slower months?
  • Are boats being prioritized and triaged within 48 hours of intake?
  • Are you closing out tickets and getting boats picked up quickly?

Parts

• Are you making sure we have the right parts at the right time?
  • Does service know as soon as all parts are in for a job?
  • Are you tracking lost sales due to parts not being available?
  • Do you let the team know about backorders that could impact customers?

Lot/Marina

• Are you improving efficiency and quality control?
  • Do you help keep the lot organized based on what boats will be needed next?
  • Are you looking every boat over as you pass it and alerting on any issues?

Show You Care

Understanding our customers and making sure they best understand how to enjoy boating is a mix of soft skills and hard skills. Empathy is key not only with our customers but also with our internal team and our interdepartmental relationships. The more we support each other, the better it is for everyone.

5 Steps to Take to Drive Boat Use that Leads to Customer Retention

1. Clarify how to best do business with the other departments.
2. Share helpful information with other team members as soon as it comes up.
3. Talk through issues. Don’t talk about team members negatively. Work together when something comes up to fix issues and make processes and relationships stronger.
4. Educate customers — either individually or by offering clinics to get them more comfortable with their boat and with boating.
5. Make suggestions “Have you tried … ?” Chances are, you have some excellent insights to overcome barriers or to get your customers on the water more. Don’t wait for them to ask you. The more you educate them and share helpful tips that meet them where they currently are, the more you show that you really do care — not only about their business but about them.

Make an Impact — Drive Boat Use

By making intentional changes you can overcome some of the barriers to boating. Every time you connect with a customer, you have a chance to guide them toward greater confidence, joy and long-term engagement with recreational boating. Your genuine level of care has the potential to make a lasting impact, supporting not only their boating journey but also on the marine industry as a whole

About the Author

Valerie Ziebron, President of VRZ Consulting, is a leading industry expert and top-rated speaker best known for her service acumen. Since starting VRZ Consulting in 1989 she has delivered thousands of presentations for dealers and OEMs to help marine professionals ‘flip the switch’ from reactive to proactive business practices. Her goal is to grow your profitability and customer loyalty while decreasing your stress. She is an educator and host for the Dealer Week 2025 Service & Parts Pathway held Dec. 7-10 in Tampa, Fla.