You don’t just call up a pizza joint and ask, “Can you help me order a pizza?” That might be fun to try one time to capture their response, but it’s better to have some details ready about your favorite order. Having been trained on pizza ingredients, pizza making and working with customers, chances are, with the right amount of context they can create your favorite pizza for you. Therefore, without structure, you could end up with some random sausage pizza loaded with anchovies and sauerkraut — something less desirable.  

AIMIE — A ‘Marine Industry Specialist’

As MRAA Silver and Gold Members, you have access to AIMIE, the MRAA’s AI-powered chatbot trained on our extensive content and educational knowledge. Much like a purveyor of fine pizzas, AIMIE (AI for Marine Industry Education) can perform like the skilled marine-industry content creator she is when given better information. Furthermore, she can access courses, blogs, webinars and the website to answer questions and generate content, while serving up helpful links to referenced resources.

Specifically, you can ask AIMIE for recommendations on key topics — from customer experience to employee development to inventory management and more. However, before you ask her for a recommendation or to write you a social post (which she can do an amazing job), remember that the more specific your prompt is, the more precise and helpful she can be.

Additionally, don’t only use AIMIE like a search engine. In contrast, focus on including your context, goal and audience within your question. See more on the prompt formula here.

Let’s look at an example prompt from real AIMIE users, our MRAA Members.

Actual AIMIE prompt:

“How do I manage my inventory?”

While this quick prompt will produced fast ideas, adding more structure and more context to your prompts (questions) to AIMIE will help her understand your needs and your dealership better before she responds. Let’s take a look at improving a prompt below in two ways.

Context + Outcome AIMIE Prompt:

“I manage boat inventory for a marine dealership in Florida. Outline a simple 30/60/90-day approach to improve cash flow and inventory turns while reducing aged new units and protecting margin. Ask me for any missing context first.”

This improved prompt adds goals and give AIMIE permission to ask for missing inputs.

Operational Playbook AIMIE Prompt:

“I manage boat inventory for a marine dealership in Florida. You are AIMIE, my marine retail advisor. Build a 30/60/90-day inventory management plan to improve cash flow and inventory turns, reduce aging units on hand and retain margin where we can, while specifically attacking aged new fiberglass units and launching a new pontoon brand.”

1. What success looks like (next 90 days)
   • Primary goal (choose/describe): cash flow / margin / turns / market share / all of the above.
   • Aged fiberglass definition (new inventory only): new fiberglass units aged ____+ days since receipt into inventory. (Pre-owned/used units excluded from aged-inventory goals.)
   • Target outcome by day 90:
     • Reduce aged fiberglass from ____ units to ____ units (or ____%).Total inventory turns target: ____ (or: improve from ____ to ____). (Inventory turns target refers to annualized turns, measured on a rolling 12‑month basis.)
   • (Note: Pre-owned fiberglass inventory is provided for context and forecasting only and is not included in the aged fiberglass reduction strategy. Do not recommend pricing, marketing, exit, or margin tactics for used fiberglass unless explicitly requested.)
2. Inventory snapshot (today)
   • Provide counts (and if possible, dollars) by these buckets:
     • New Fiberglass (insert existing brands)
       • 0–90: __ units
       • 91–180: __ units
       • 181–270: __ units
       • 271–365: __ units
       • 365+: __ units
     • Used Fiberglass
       • 0–90: __ units
       • 91–180: __ units
       • 181–270: __ units
       • 271–365: __ units
       • 365+: __ units
     • Pontoons (insert existing brands)
       • Total units: __
       • Aged definition / aging breakdown (if relevant): __
     • New Pontoon Brand
       • Units on hand today: __
       • Arrivals next 30/60/90 days (units + timing): __
       • (New pontoon brand should be treated as a launch-phase product with different margin, aging and KPI expectations than existing pontoon brands.)
       • Any model/price points we’re emphasizing: __
3. Selling season & forecast reality
   • Our top 3 selling months: __, __, __
   • Our slowest 3 months: __, __, __
   • Realistic retail forecast (units) for next 90 days:
   • New fiberglass: __
   • Used fiberglass: __
   • Pontoons (existing): __
   • New pontoon brand: __
4. Margin + pricing constraints
   • Current average gross margin (or target):
     • New fiberglass: __%
     • Used fiberglass: __%
     • Pontoons: __%
   • For aged fiberglass, our minimum acceptable margin is: % or $
   • Prioritize marketing, follow-up discipline, and value-add offers before recommending price reductions on aged new fiberglass.
   • If we go below that, our preferred alternative exit is (choose): wholesale / auction / trade-assist / dealer-to-dealer / other:
   • Alternative exit strategies should only be recommended after margin guardrails and value-add options have been evaluated.
5. Floorplan / cash-flow pressure
   • Floorplan interest rate (approx.): __%
   • Curtailments/step-ups by age (if any):
   • % of inventory floorplanned vs owned: __% / __%
   • (Note: Inventory aging is based on days since receipt into inventory, which may not align exactly with floorplan curtailment timing.)
6. Floorplan / cash-flow pressure
   • Lead sources that matter most: website / OEM leads / boat shows / referrals / other: _
     • Lead response time: Goal: _ minutes
     • Actual: __ minutes/hours
   • Do we set appointments from internet leads? yes/no
   • If yes: est. appointment set rate __%, show rate __%, close rate __%
   • Biggest sales bottleneck right now (choose): lead volume / response time / appointment setting / closing / trade values / price resistance / financing / other:
   • Address identified sales-process constraints before recommending margin concessions or price reductions.
7. Deliverables I want from you
   1. Before you give me the plan, ask if any inputs above are missing, ask me the minimum necessary follow-up questions, then proceed with the best-available plan and mark assumptions clearly.
   2. A 30/60/90-day plan with:
      • Weekly cadence (what we review every week)(Weekly cadence should focus on action-driving metrics and decisions, not reporting volume.)KPIs (forecast vs actual, aging, turns, gross margin, and any floorplan-interest awareness)
      • Clear “owner” per action (GM / Sales Mgr. / Inventory Mgr. / Marketing / F&I)
   3. A specific aged fiberglass attack strategy that prioritizes:
      • Marketing + closing ratio improvements before margin giveaways
      • Value-add options before discounting (where possible)
      • Fast lead response and follow-up discipline
   4. A new pontoon brand launch plan that:
      • Protects margin where possible (don’t race to the bottom)
      • Still generates immediate leads and unit movement
      • Includes simple sales tools (walkaround videos and/or video responses to leads)

Why a Detailed Prompt works (for a GM)

According to AIMIE,it forces your dealership to provide the same ingredients emphasized in inventory-turn education from David Parker (Parker Business Planning, a Dealer Week Educator and subject matter expert): building a realistic forecast by category/month and then tracking actual performance to inform inventory decisions — plus reinforcing “back to basics” selling discipline to lift closing ratio and moves aged/non-current units.

Your AI Companion and MRAA Contact

AIMIE can act as one of your contacts at the MRAA. View her as content delivery assistant who can help you be more efficient, gain knowledge and guide your teammates and dealership to new levels. Moreover, you can continue to use her for writing job descriptions and social posts. Similarly, we encourage you to think deeper and to add more context so AIMIE can deliver the goods when and how you need it.

Additionally, should you need assistance while working with AIMIE, need prompt assistance or have trouble accessing an MRAA resource, please reach out to the MRAA Member Success Team. We are devoted to helping you find the education, resources and outcome you seek. Meanwhile, when it comes to ordering pizza, though, we’ll leave that to you!

Lastly, feel free to try your own prompts, too. Just ASK AIMIE!
Note: AIMIE and Copilot were used for prompting, generation and proofing of this article.

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About the Author

Jerrod Kelley, MRAA Content Manager, supports boat dealers through practical storytelling, best practices, case studies, video content and industry education resources.
Kelley brings a deep background in journalism, editing, writing, public relations and publishing, with experience spanning magazine editorial leadership, freelance writing, television co-hosting and brand communications. Notably, prior to joining MRAA, he spent more than a decade in media. Also, he served as a public relations consultant supporting national powersports brands.
Recently, Kelley earned his Association AI Professional Certification, reflecting his focus on responsible AI use, content governance and knowledge management within associations. He is based in Minnesota and can be reached at 763-402-7230 or jerrod@mraa.com.