MINNEAPOLIS — The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, Dominion Marine Media and the Maine Marine Trades Association are pleased to announce their partnership in bringing a Marine Retail University event to Saco, Maine, this December.
The Norman-Spencer Marine Retail University is a four-stop educational event that offers dealer educational opportunities based on trends and opportunities in local and regional markets. Two MRUs have been held to date, one in San Antonio in October and one in Orlando earlier this month. The event series will stop in Lansing, Michigan, on December 5-6 before its final stop of 2012 takes it to Saco, Maine, on December 12.
“The MRU concept has found great success in just its first year,” says Matt Gruhn, President of MRAA. “We’re thrilled to bringing the concept to Maine to help the area’s dealers learn more about what’s happening in their market and how to take advantage of the opportunities.”
Norman-Spencer Marine Retail University events are set up to provide five or six full educational sessions in a single-day format so that dealers can get in, focus on opportunities to make their business stronger and get back to their dealerships the next day. The morning sessions share data and trends from the likes of Statistical Surveys, GE Capital, Commercial Distribution Finance, and the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, and the afternoon sessions demonstrate how dealers can take that knowledge and capitalize on it through separate sales, marketing and F&I educational sessions.
“This formula has worked very well for the two MRUs we’ve conducted to date,” explains Courtney Chalmers, Director of Marketing for Dominion Marine Media. “These one-of-a-kind events provide an excellent opportunity for dealers to create advantages for themselves as they move into the 2013 selling season.”
Registration for the Norman-Spencer Marine Retail University is just $99, and both MRAA and Maine Marine Trades Association members receive a $25 discount (total of $50 off if they are members of both) to make the MRU events not just efficient, but cost-effective as well.
“We’re thrilled to be able to offer our members access to the outstanding educational content that the MRU provides,” says Susan Swanton, Executive Director of the Maine MTA. “It’s just one more way that we can add value to their membership and contribute to their long-term success.”
About Marine Retail University
The Norman-Spencer Marine Retail University is a series of regional dealer educational conferences. Launched in 2012 as a partnership between the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas and Dominion Marine Media, these regional events seek to provide attendees with in-depth market knowledge and the tactics to capitalize on those insights. The partners work closely with regional and state associations to deliver additional value to their members. Norman-Spencer Marine Insurance Services supports MRU as the title sponsor of the event series. To bring an MRU event to your association, to support an MRU event or for more information, please contact Matt Gruhn at 763-315-8043 or matt@mraa.com.
