The Boat Biz Podcast by MRAA with guests Lori Stacy and Nicole Schantz of Boatline

MRAA Releases 8 Special-Edition Dealer Week Podcasts

MINNEAPOLIS, March 6, 2023 – The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) has released eight, special-edition The Boat Biz podcasts.

Recorded at MRAA’s Dealer Week Conference and Expo in Austin, Texas, the special-edition podcasts feature eight distinct guests — two MRAA Strategic Partners (Boats Group and Lightspeed) and six MRAA Education Champions (Boatline, Elite Recreational Finance, Global Marine Insurance, National Marine Distributors, Northpoint Commercial, Vantage Resource Group) — offering expert viewpoints about the business of boating.

Matt Gruhn of the MRAA
Matt Gruhn, MRAA President

“The Dealer Week environment provides a great platform for the marine industry to capture reflections on the current year and a look forward to the year ahead of us,” says Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “We wanted to capture that insight through the minds of some of our most significant industry partners – MRAA Strategic Partners and Education Champions — because they have the leadership, knowledge and industry awareness to help dealers find greater success in 2023 and beyond.” 

For these Dealer Week-edition podcasts, MRAA enlisted professional podcaster JB Hager, host of the Get Ship Done podcast and co-host of both THE MOVE, and Austin Found podcasts (and a producer of the Garagecast podcast, which is hosted by Sam Dantzler and Tony Gonzalez of Garage Composites).

The Boat Biz Podcasts — Dealer Week Special-Edition Episodes

John Souch, Boats Group Sales Director, shares insights into what the recent model year listing activity and the overall healthy consumer activity mean for 2023.

Russell Baqir, Northpoint Commercial Finance, talks key elements dealers should be thinking about in 2023, adding RV industry perspectives that may translate into the marine market.

Jimmy Delegro, founder of Elite Recreational Finance, shares how he built the company from the ground up, how he’s carved out a niche as an industry leader and forming relationships.

The world of marine insurance has undergone some significant changes over the last few years. Global Marine Insurance’s Troy Buttleman discusses the changing state of insurance and how Global delivers for today’s dealers. 

Ross Solwold of Vantage Resource Group shares his insights into how dealers can strengthen their alternative profit centers through Vantage’s unique products. 

Drawing from her experience, Nancy Cueroni, National Marine Distributors Association President, explains the distributor side of the COVID-related supply chain issues. 

Brad Lloyd, Lightspeed Dealer Management Systems, says automating processes help dealers become more effective in their customer communications and overall dealership systems.

Boatline’s Lori Stacy and Nicole Schantz share great insights about digital marketing and digital retail and how dealers can tap into the wealth of data and information from Statistical Surveys.

“We have built a solid foundation with The Boat Biz podcast, which was one of our essential goals derived from the 2023-2025 MRAA Strategic Roadmap planning meeting last year,” adds Gruhn. “These new episodes double our current output, giving us 16 compelling episodes. Each one provides a unique story and supplies the industry with beneficial market breakdowns, actionable content and highlight many different business aspects within our industry.”

Learn more about The Boat Biz podcast here.

About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.