If you are north of the Mason Dixon, like the MRAA headquarters, it is hard to imagine a day that the sun is shining and you can be outdoors with out navigating piles (and piles) of snow. But, as it does each year, winter leaves and springtime starts.

For many of you, springtime is hectic. You start prepping for boating season by following up with boat show leads, prepping boats, AND hiring new teams members. All at the same time.

Did you know that MRAA membership includes access to the MRAA Career Center that holds resources to help simplify the hiring process? Check out the following links as you prepare to grow you team.

1. Marine Job Database. Use this database to find qualified job seekers or upload your job posting for professionals in the marine industry to view.
2. Job Descriptions. Nearly 50 job descriptions for common positions around the typical dealership are available for MRAA members. Use these temples as they are or use the documents to help craft your own job description.
3. Employee Handbook. Download the MRAA Employee Handbook sample to offer guidance to your current staff and new hires.
4. General HR Resources. MRAA designed to help you work through the processes associated with human resources administration within your dealership, such as interviewing, hiring, and on-boarding.

For more information on MRAA membership or the benefits listed above, contact MRAA Member Development Manager, Nikki Duffney.

Bob Bense, of Superior Boat Repair & Sales, was the 100th individual to register for Dealer Week! With the help of his wife, Kathy, the couple compiled a list of 50 reasons why they continue to support the MRAA and, now, Dealer Week.

We signed up for the Dealer Week because the MRAA team continues to deliver information and resources that help us to prosper and grow as a marine dealer. Here are half of one-hundred reasons why we love attending and how participating has been a really good thing for us as the owners of Superior Boat Repair & Sales, Inc.

1. We get excited about the coming year and helping our boating community.

2. We share quality time with other dealers.

3. We enjoy time spent meeting dealers from all over the country and the world.

4. We get ideas, fresh ideas, to implement at the dealership.

5. We find solutions to problems we are facing at the office.

6. We really enjoy being with so many other people that do the same thing for a living.

7. We get to hear really entertaining and thought provoking speakers that inspire us to be better and do better.

8. We are taught by marine industry experts in the educational work-shops.

9. We get to get away and get a break from the dealership, which helps us to relax and unwind with our  staff.

10. We bond with our employees and get quality time to talk to each other.

11. We have the opportunity to win scholarships, which our dealership has won.

12. We keep up with up marine industry news.

13. We are able to meet with new vendors and learn about new products that we can purchase to help our business grow, like software.

14. We rekindle relationships with old friends that work at the boat manufacturers’, some that are decades old.

15. We get a chance to stop and think about our dealership, what we have done right and where we can improve.

16. We learn from dealers that have been doing this so much longer than we have.

17. We learn how to ride the wave through the good years and how to hold on to what we have created, during the bad.

18. We pick up great ideas from new dealers that we meet over lunch.

19. We get to see sunny Florida and get some vitamin D.

20. We break out and each person from our dealership goes to a different workshops so we come back with so much more useful information to help us prosper.

21. We make new contacts and network.

22. We get the opportunity to enjoy our success with others.

23. We get to hear what  the financial experts at the lending institutions predict the economy will do in the coming year(s), which helps us when ordering our inventory for the coming year.

24. We get to visit the manufacturers for the boat lines that we carry, when we’re there in Florida.

25. We get the opportunity to visit with our dear friends in our Parker Twenty Group.

26. We get the privilege of meeting other husband and wife dealership owners and we share what makes it all work.                                                                            

27. We can win prizes.

28. We are given delicious food, like key lime pie, which we don’t get in California.

29. We get SO excited again about owning a dealership and providing families with the joy that boat ownership brings.

30. We learn tricks of the trade, like how to bring up and train your own mechanics, since there is such a huge shortage of technicians across the country.

31. We get to wear shorts during the winter.

32. We build up our sales-team and motivate them to sell more.

33. We learn strategies on how to sell our business to others and market our business wisely.

34. We can ask so many questions, questions regarding all aspects of owning a dealership.

35. We hear how other dealers found solutions and what those solutions were, regarding the same problems we are facing at our boat dealership.

36. We are reminded of important practices we must have in place to have a secure and healthy dealership… like having at least two lines of credit to get through the downturns.

37. We learn vital lessons on how to make more money and get higher margins.

38. We hear how to sell smarter and to close faster.

39. We were able to get expert advice and helpful guidance when we were a brand new dealer, especially during a severe drought and terrible recession.

40. We learned so much, all the while earning the respect of other dealers, because after implementing what we learned we grew by leaps and bounds.

41. We are reminded that we sell JOY, memories and a great quality of life.

42. We hear about other dealers that have gone out of business, why they closed shop and how we can learn from their mistakes, if we can.

43. We are able to take a much needed cruise vacation, before we get slammed in the busy months, by taking a short drive to the Atlantic and hoping on one of many ships.

44. We are challenged to think and grow in our roles at the dealership, through the many workshops.

45. We are given the opportunity to purchase things, like insurance and flooring, at a much better rate, which saves us money and helps us stay in business.

46. We really enjoy the whole experience.

47. We are proud to be a dealer, when we realize there aren’t very many people selling boats across the country.

48. We hear in the seminars what we are doing right and that is uplifting.

49. We exchange contact information with other dealers selling the same lines, which helps us to be able to call them in the future, if we can ever sell each other inventory.

50. We really, truly see the value of all that encompasses attending the Dealer Week and what we take away from that experience.

Take advantage of the lowest prices of the year by registering for Dealer Week before March 31, 2019.

Good thing I knew what I wanted…

Because the sales person I worked with to get my new compact SUV didn’t know much about the product or the sales process. Here is my experience when buying a new vehicle recently. Be warned, this could be happening at your dealership.

In the end of last year, I was in an icy head-on collision that totaled my little coup that I had been driving for about a decade. It was sad for the car and luckily, no one had major injury. So, as I moved into the space of replacing my lost little car with something bigger and safer; I had my father and partner test drive about a half dozen vehicles for me (different story, different time… I can only drive with adaptive hand controls) to get it down to the final two for me to go test ride in. Here is how the day of purchase unfolded.

I went to the first dealership and was greeted by a new sales person. He was very courteous, asked the right questions, sat us down and talked through the options available. I only had one question that he had to walk away to consult his manager about and it was brief. On the test drive, he asked us questions to learn about who we were – which made the experience of riding in a car with a stranger better. After the drive, I knew that I probably wouldn’t buy that model as it didn’t fit what I wanted. Off to the next dealership!

As I walked into the next dealership, I was welcomed by a greeter (strong start) and she paired me up with an available sales person. Before we had been introduced, I already knew I would likely be buying the car from that dealership, that day.

Next, as we sat down with the available sales person, he opened the conversation to let us know he had only been working there for about 3 weeks and was brand new to car sales (not building my confidence). As we started to look at the available on-site inventory for test drives, he mentioned models that weren’t what we were asking for and struggled with navigating their product software system and had to go ask for help. It felt as if most every question I asked, he has to go ask someone else for the answer. About an hour into being at the dealership, we got into a vehicle. I knew immediately that was the one I wanted to get as it fit my needs well, yet he was still trying to tell me about the differences between the model we were in and the top trim package. He was trying to sell me on features and benefits like he was reading it from his phone in the back seat. It was an un-natural conversation and shut me down even more. When we got back to his desk, and we were talking colors and interior, he was showing me the wrong color pallet for the model year I wanted, frustrating. When we were about to start on the paperwork part – the closing – he was pulled away to help other sales people move cars around. What!?! Was this a part of hazing the newbie, and he didn’t have the ability or confidence to say no. So, we waited.

After we met with the business manager to finalize the financials and warranty, we were told to wait next to my new SUV that was washed and ready for delivery. Where was my sales person? Where was anyone? I had been at the dealership for nearly 5 hours; I was tired, hungry and ready to be anywhere else at that time – and I was yet again waiting for my sales person.

Still waiting on that follow up call… or not. I had been loyal for service to this dealership for the last decade with my coup, and decided that I wouldn’t be bringing my new vehicle back for service as this experience changed my relationships with that dealership location. While I am still brand loyal, this was an example of undertraining of new staff cost the dealership a decade long loyal customer from any future service revenue.

How long are you training your staff before releasing them out to contact with your customers? And what is the real cost of under-training your new staff – or not having regular trainings to remind your team about best practices that make your dealership better than the rest? Something to think about the next time someone feels “too busy” to train a new or junior staff person.