Bret Baier to Headline 2019 American Boating Congress

Heading to DC for ABC? This year’s headliner will be Bret Baier, FOX News chief political anchor and host of “Special Report with Bret Baier” – the top-rated cable news program in its timeslot and consistently one of the top five shows in cable news – will headline and facilitate a panel discussion at the 2019 American Boating Congress on Wednesday, May 15. 

This year’s featured session will examine the political and policy realities in the 116th U.S. Congress and the upcoming 2020 elections. Baier will be joined by two seasoned political operatives from Democratic and Republican campaigns. 

During his tenure at the network, Baier has interviewed President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, former President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney. He has also anchored more than thirty political specials on FNC, reported from Iraq 12 times and Afghanistan 13 times, traveled the world with various administrations and military officials and reported from 74 countries. Special Report with Bret Baier was acknowledged by TIME magazine’s Joe Klein as the only “straight newscast” in cable news at 6PM/ET. Bret was also recently awarded the 2017 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.

Prior to his anchor role, Baier was named chief White House correspondent in 2006 and covered the second term of the Bush Administration. Before that, he served as national security correspondent covering military and national security affairs, as well as defense, military policy and the intelligence community from the Pentagon.

ABC 2019 is just over two months away – click here to register.

If you have questions or need additional information about ABC, please contact Will Higgins.

MarineMax, Inc. Commits Major Support to MRAA’s Dealer Week

Brett McGill, MarineMax President and CEO, says the event presents “incredible value” for the industry.

MarineMax, Inc., the nation’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer, has pledged its full support for Dealer Week, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas’ Annual Conference & Expo, to be held Dec. 8-11, 2019, in Tampa, Fla.

MarineMax has committed to bringing the largest group of its leadership team to Dealer Week that it has ever brought to an MRAA Conference.

“Dealer Week was created to deliver opportunities for us, as dealers,” says Brett McGill, President and CEO of MarineMax. “We’re committing at such a high level to this event because of the incredible value of the educational programming that MRAA offers as well as the fact that we know our investment in Dealer Week and the MRAA will get reinvested into making our industry even stronger. We’re looking forward to helping make this event an incredible success.”

As a longtime MRAA Retail Member, MarineMax has achieved Marine Industry Certified Dealership status at all of its retail locations and remains committed to maintaining a level of excellence throughout its organization. The leadership of MarineMax has a long association with the MRAA, which has included volunteer positions on the MRAA Board of Directors, key roles on various MRAA committees, and most recently participating in the inaugural Dealer Week strategic planning meeting in Tampa last October.

“MarineMax is a leader in this industry, and we’re so grateful that they’ve taken a leadership role on an issue that we think is critical for all of us, namely the importance of continuous education and improvement to make our dealer body as strong as it can possibly be,” says Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “We believe Dealer Week is going to help drive marine retail toward increasing excellence, and it’s extremely gratifying to hear that MarineMax feels the same way.”

About MarineMax, Inc.
Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, MarineMax is the nation’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer. Focused on premium brands, such as Sea Ray, Boston Whaler, Meridian, Hatteras, Azimut Yachts, Ocean Alexander, Galeon, Grady-White, Harris, Crest, Mastercraft, Bennington, Scout, Sailfish, Sea Pro, Sportsman, Scarab Jet Boats, Yamaha Jet Boats, Tige, Aquila, Nautique, and NauticStar, MarineMax sells new and used recreational boats and related marine products and services as well as provides yacht brokerage and charter services. MarineMax currently has 63 retail locations in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas, and operates MarineMax Vacations in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. MarineMax is a New York Stock Exchange-listed company. For more information, please visit www.marinemax.com.

About Dealer Week
For more than 40 years, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has delivered world class educational programming to dealers, retailers and service operations that power the boating industry and serve today’s boaters. Dealer Week evolves as MRAA’s rebranded and reimagined annual conference and expo, a profoundly new event experience designed to engage, energize and empower the dealer community. The MRAA envisions a brighter future for marine retail, and Dealer Week is the preeminent means for bringing that vision to life. Learn more at dealerweek.com.

About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
At the MRAA, our team believes that for the marine industry to thrive, the dealers on the front lines of the industry must first find success. With that in mind, we work to create a strong and healthy boating industry by providing dealers with tools, resources and educational programs — such as MRAATraining.com, the Marine Industry Certified Dealership Program, and Dealer Week, The MRAA Conference & Expo — and by representing those businesses with a powerful voice. For more information, visit mraa.com.

Boating Caucus Unveils Industry Data on Capitol Hill

On Wednesday, February 27th, the Congressional Boating Caucus and representatives of the recreational boating industry presented the “Boating Industry Briefing: Jobs, Businesses, and the Economy”. It also served as the official release of new economic data from the National Marine Manufacturers Association, and that data indicates that the boating industry generated $170.3 billion in spending in 2018, supporting 691,000 jobs and 35,000 businesses across all 50 states.

Several members of Congress, including Representative Jackie Walorski (R-IN-02), Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI-02), Representative Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03), and Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) attended the event and gave remarks praising the economic impact and jobs that recreational boating creates.

Representatives from the industry were also present at the event, including Kevin Grodzki of Brunswick, David Slikkers of Tiara Yachts, Bill Yeargin of Correct Craft, and Joan Maxwell of Regulator Marine. They discussed a number of issues facing recreational boating, including the ongoing workforce shortage that has dogged the industry for years.

NMMA’s newly released infographics are available here.

Outdoor Recreation Industry Welcomes the 116th Congress, Celebrates Early Wins

The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) hosted a reception for the 116th Congress and celebrated the monumental steps its members have already taken to grow the outdoor recreation economy and provide access to America’s great outdoors. The ORR, which MRAA is a founding member of, is America’s leading coalition of outdoor recreation trade associations and organizations working to promote the policy reforms needed to enhance the outdoor recreation economy. Combined, ORR members produce an annual $734 billion output for the U.S. economy, making up 2.2% of America’s GDP.

At the event, more than 100 recreation industry leaders applauded the bipartisan and bicameral passage of S. 47 – the Natural Resources Management Act – which delivers needed reforms that will protect public lands and waters and enhance visitor experiences in our treasured places. ORR specifically called out the importance of permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act, the Every Kid Outdoors Act, the Sportsmen’s Access to Federal Land subtitle and the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Act.

Representatives Don Beyer (D, VA-08), Steve Stivers (R, OH-15), Garret Graves (R, LA-06), Peter Welch (D, VT-AL), Suzanne Bonamici (D, OR-01), Bruce Westerman (R, AR-04) and John Curtis (R, UT-03) spoke to the group and were personally thanked for their wide ranging support for outdoor recreation, including providing funding for the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, as well as securing appropriations for the first federal government study of the outdoor recreation economy at the state level.  Last year, the government released national data demonstrating the importance of an outdoor recreation economy that accounts for 2.2% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product and directly supports 4.5 million jobs.

“With last night’s passage of the public lands package and the inclusion of appropriations for the continued study of the outdoor recreation economy in the funding bill earlier this month, 2019 is off to a strong start for outdoor recreation,” said Jessica Wahl, Executive Director of ORR. “We would like to thank our partners in Congress for taking the initiative to promote and protect access to recreation on public lands and waters and ORR members for all the work they did to get us here today. We hope to continue this momentum with the inclusion of other recreation priorities in an infrastructure package or recreation bill in the near future.”

To learn more about the ORR, visit here.

Good Thing I Knew What I Wanted…

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.

MRAA Surpasses 2018 BoatPAC Fundraising Goal

BoatPAC is the recreational boating industry’s political action committee. Since 2015, MRAA and NMMA have to support candidates running for Congress who will represent and protect the interests of the recreational boating industry on Capitol Hill. Last February, MRAA pledged to raise $20,000 from within the retail sector. In the 2018 calendar year, the MRAA board of directors and general membership donated more than $22,000 to BoatPAC. MRAA would like to thank all those that donated, your dollars help to support strong advocates for recreational boating and ensures that our priorities are protected.

But, we still need your help. Each year, we update our compliance records to ensure that we have a prior approval form signed by our members, which authorizes BoatPAC to communicate with or solicit you and your executive and administrative employees. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) requires that we have this form on file in order to send you BoatPAC related communications. Please know that BoatPAC will be respectful of your corporate policies when partnering with you on all communications.

Please help us update our records by signing the online BoatPAC Prior Approval form today.

Dealer to Dealer: February 2019

Did you do something different at your boat show(s) this year? How did it turn out?

We created a different layout from our normal. We brought more pleasure boats and less fishing boats. We also put are higher dollar boats out front and center. Not toward the back. This seem to get more traction than normal on these boats.  What I would change is moving are center console out of the corner and putting that more out front.  All an all it was a great show! – Leo Lach, TMBC- Grandville

We expanded our footprint throughout the shows, which allowed us to invite more brands to participate and gave us a better visual presentation by spreading boat models further apart.  Also, we took advantage of in-water boat demo areas, partnering with engine brands, to take customers out on boat rides.  Lastly, we excluded under-performing brands so we could focus staff resources where it mattered most – at the booths where customers wanted to be.  As a result, this year’s sales, from the same shows as last year, are up 30% to 45%. – Frank Ferraro, Nautical Ventures

We added several kiosks with iPads which were locked to the respective boat manufacture “build a boat” pages- was received quite well with both buyers and their children! – David deAndrade, White Lake Marine

We did things much differently this year than previous years. We started out by purchasing a lot more booth space which allowed us to display more inventory. It also allowed for more space for customers to maneuver and get a better look at our boats. We received many compliments not only from prospects and buyers, but from all our manufacturers who worked our booth with us.

We also had a lot of the inventory built with more boat options as well as a larger selection of different engine brands. We allowed our normal boat show discount percentages. We normally give each boat buyer a free gift which has generally been a Yeti Tundra ice chest, but this year we allowed the buyers to choose from 3 free gifts, one of which was a free year of maintenance, hoping that will allow them to experience our awesome service and parts department and hopefully continue to come back. 95% of buyers chose the maintenance.

We brought in our parts manager and service coordinator to work the floor with us because many times we have customers who only have parts and/or service questions and our salesman get tied up with them. This was extremely successful because they were instrumental in getting 3 customers to trade their units in for new units – MAJOR WIN! – Christi Romero, The Sportsman

First Year of Continuous Certification Receives Rave Reviews

The Marine Industry Certified Dealership (MICD) program recently wrapped up its first full year of programming, and dealers have shared extremely positive feedback for the curriculum.
 
The Continuous Certification program replaces the previous Re-Certification process. Instead of simply checking the same boxes each year to remain Certified, dealers now complete a year-long education program that teaches them how to improve upon their already premier operations. Continuous Certification delivers relevant, timely, high-impact, in-depth education customized exclusively for Certified Dealers.

The 2018 courses include: Take Your Dealership from Good to Great with CRM by Sam Dantzler, Improve Loyalty with a Customer Experience Mindset by Theresa Syer, How to Create a High Accountability Dealership with John Spence, and Strategy: A Path to Improved Performance with David Spader.

After completing the courses, which include videos, skill check quizzes, discussion questions, activities, a final skill check and implementation-based homework, 95 percent of dealers reported that the information in the course was useful, practical and relevant. Ninety-three percent of dealers reported the courses were worth their time and money; 92 percent said they were likely or highly likely to improve their business as a result of the courses. And 91 percent said they’d recommend the course to their dealer friends.

“I am super impressed with Dealer Certification,” said Fred Book, director of customer relations at Marine Center of Indiana in Indianapolis. “Great content. Great speakers. MRAA in my opinion is doing an excellent job with this program. Our dealership has been doing this for many years and to see it evolve into this is super amazing.”

The MICD program has already kicked off Year 2 of the Continuous Certification program with the first quarter course, Develop Your Dealership’s Workforce Outside In by Jim Million, available to those who have already enrolled in the 2019 program.

MRAA Releases “Call for Solutions” for Dealer Week, Other Initiatives

MRAA today launched an open “Call for Solutions” to solicit educational partnerships throughout 2019. Instead of a traditional “Call for Speakers” for a single event, MRAA is interested in potential solutions across all of its educational offerings, including both its annual conference and expo, Dealer Week, and a host of other educational initiatives.

“Some topics are perfectly suited for a live presentation at Dealer Week, and we’re excited to receive those suggestions,” says Mike Davin, MRAA’s Director of Education. “Other material, however, is more appropriate to a white paper or an in-depth online learning course. For us, it’s all part of an ongoing process of dealer education throughout the year, so for 2019 we’re opening up our call to a greater variety of content.”

MRAA develops online and in-person courses, digital publications, webinars, tools, templates, sample processes, and a number of other educational offerings for dealers all year long, in partnership with experts from both inside and outside the marine industry.

In addition, during the next few months, the MRAA staff and MRAA’s Education Committee will be researching a plethora of potential trainers, educators and other experts for our 43rd annual conference, Dealer Week, which will provide an ALL NEW experience to our guests and partners Dec. 8-11 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla.

Potential partners can submit their solutions via an online form located here:

2019 MRAA Call for Solutions

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.

About Dealer Week
For more than 40 years, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has delivered world class educational programming to dealers, retailers and service operations that power the boating industry and serve today’s boaters. Dealer Week evolves as MRAA’s rebranded and reimagined annual conference and expo, a profoundly new event experience designed to engage, energize and empower the dealer community. The MRAA envisions a brighter future for marine retail, and Dealer Week is the preeminent means for bringing that vision to life. The event will be hosted Dec. 8-11 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla. Learn more at DealerWeek.com.

Dealer Week Surpasses 100 Dealer Registrations in First Week

One week after launching registration for Dealer Week, the all-new MRAA Annual Conference and Expo, more than 100 dealers have registered to attend the event.
 
The 100th registrant was Bob Bense, President and CEO, Superior Boat Repair & Sales of Rancho Cordova, Calif.
 
“We signed up for the new Dealer Week because the MRAA team continues to deliver information and resources that help us to prosper and grow as a marine dealer,” Bense said in an email to organizers.
 
Bense joins dealer registrants from 19 states and Canada who have already signed on to the event. That total only includes dealer registrants, not the numerous sponsors or exhibitors who have committed to the event, or the MRAA staff.
 
Upon learning that he was the 100th registrant for the event, Bense and his wife and co-owner, Kathy Bense, created a list of 50 reasons why they love MRAA’s events and have benefited from them as business owners. Those reasons include:

  • We enjoy time spent meeting dealers from all over the country and the world.
  • We get ideas, fresh ideas, to implement at the dealership.
  • We get to hear really entertaining and thought provoking speakers that inspire us to be better and do better.
  • We get to get away and get a break from the dealership, which helps us to relax and unwind with our staff.
  • We are able to meet with new vendors and learn about new products that we can purchase to help our business grow, like software.
  • We rekindle relationships with old friends that work at the boat manufacturers, some that are decades old.
  • We learn how to ride the wave through the good years and how to hold on to what we have created, during the bad.
  • We get the privilege of meeting other husband and wife dealership owners and we share what makes it all work.
  • We are reminded that we sell JOY, memories and a great quality of life.

“Each year, our team spends a lot of time and energy promoting the key deliverables of our annual conference, including the powerful education, the expo hall packed with business solutions, and so forth, but frankly, the list that Bob and Kathy sent us underscores that this event delivers real-world, meaningful impact for real business owners,” said Matt Gruhn, MRAA president. “It’s quite humbling for our team to witness this sincere outreach, and it only inspires us to meet and exceed all those expectations – and add in a few surprises as well. We are so excited to welcome all the dealers who have signed up for Dealer Week, and we sincerely appreciate everyone who has given Dealer Week an early vote of confidence.”
 
So far, Bob and Kathy have registered for the event, but they plan to bring other members of their team.
 
“The culture at Superior Boat Repair & Sales is to continually grow and learn,” Bob wrote to the MRAA. “We will be bringing several of our team members to the 2019 Dealer Week.”

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.

About Dealer Week
For more than 40 years, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has delivered world class educational programming to dealers, retailers and service operations that power the boating industry and serve today’s boaters. Dealer Week evolves as MRAA’s rebranded and reimagined annual conference and expo, a profoundly new event experience designed to engage, energize and empower the dealer community. The MRAA envisions a brighter future for marine retail, and Dealer Week is the preeminent means for bringing that vision to life. The event will be hosted Dec. 8-11 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla. Learn more at DealerWeek.com.