Marine retail registrations have a record month as early bird deadline approaches Organizers of the premier educational conference designed exclusively for marine retailers are reporting that the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo saw the most August retail registrations in the event’s history last month.
Hosted jointly by Boating Industry magazine and the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, sponsorships and exhibit space for MDCE 2016 are likewise off to a fast start, with the conference’s top “Powered By” tier nearly sold out. The 2016 MDCE takes place in Orlando, Dec. 5-8, a full two weeks later in the calendar than traditionally scheduled.
This year’s conference includes several new offerings, including Dealer-to-Dealer Roundtable Discussions, Dealer Case Studies and three Keynote Presentations.
Marine retailers who register for MDCE 2016 before the Sept. 23 Early Bird Deadline save $25 off standard rates; MRAA members save an additional $75 for a total of $100 in savings. Learn more and register at MarineDealerConference.com.
The world’s largest consumer powerboat publication, Boating magazine’s print and digital properties reach a monthly audience of more than 920,000 people — all of whom had a chance to see for themselves what sets a Certified Dealership apart from the competition. This was the second consecutive year the MICD Program has teamed with Boating on a consumer marketing campaign.
Blending newsletter content, Facebook posts, digital display banners and print advertising, the campaign ran from early April until late June and included custom content across multiple Boating properties. A series of cheeky comics intended to draw distinctions between Certified dealers and their non-Certified counterparts were also created and posted to social media and the Boating website — capturing more than 2,500 unique visitors.
The June 2016 print edition of Boating included a full-page color ad exploring the value of Certified dealerships, and digital banners were prominently featured on the Boating website from April 1 through June 30. Additionally, a pair of custom eNewsletters were sent in May and June to more than 140,000 confirmed email addresses — resulting in nearly 1,000 visits to the MICD homepage.
As a Certified Dealer we would love to offer you the opportunity to represent the best of marine retailers and participate in Boat Buyers, which premiered on the Travel Channel last weekend and follows young families as they hunt for a new boat.
The show’s producers are looking for premier marine retailers, like you, for help!
Does your dealership have a flair for showmanship? Would you like to sell a young family the boat of their dreams? Can your team smile for the camera and represent the best of retail boating?
If yes, producers of a new reality television show want to hear from you!
Interested dealers must be located in the U.S. and meet the following criteria:
Located on the water and selling both new and used boats
Have sold a boat to a diverse family with kids (teenagers and older) in the last two years
If selected, your ‘family’ will be sent to shop and test drive three boats at the dealership, one of which is the boat they already own. Your sales person would be on camera providing product information and be along for all three of the family’s test drives.
The show’s grand finale would unveil the family’s final choice and follow the purchasing process. Shoots are tentatively planned for late September through October and require at least one full day of filming.
Interactive employment portal connects marine industry employers with qualified candidates
“Helping our members fill open positions and strengthen their workforce has become the No. 1 priority of our efforts for the foreseeable future,” explains Matt Gruhn, president of MRAA. “This Career Center, along with the approach of collaborating with other leading associations is already proving to be an incredibly effective method for addressing the growing workforce crisis in the marine industry.”
create an online resume agent to email candidates with matching profiles daily. Employers also benefit from online reporting that provides job activity statistics.
For job seekers, the MRAA Rewards Career Center is a free service that provides access to employers and jobs in the marine industry. In addition to posting their resumes, job seekers can browse and view available jobs based on their needs and save those jobs for later review. Job seekers can also create a search agent to provide email notifications of opportunities that match their requirements.
An added benefit for both employers and job seekers is access to the Marine Industry Career Network, a group of five top marine associations and professional organizations — including the American Boat and Yacht Council, National Marine Manufacturers Association, National Marine Distributors Association, Boating Industry magazine and the MRAA. The MICN was built exclusively for professionals working within the marine industry to provide an effective online recruitment method on a single network.
Advertise at your MICN partner of choice and your advertisement will automatically be listed on all MICN Partner Career Centers at no extra charge! Visit www.marinecareers.orgto learn more.
About MRAA
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the companies that interact with the boater in their community must thrive. Those businesses determine the boater’s experience and are the leading factor in the industry’s success. The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those businesses, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, please call 763-315-8043.
It all started when a pair of childhood friends had a simultaneous mid-life crisis and decided to buy a small marina in southeastern Wisconsin. Harold Johnson and Tom Shallcross grew up together in suburban Chicago, stayed in touch through the years and in 1971 leapt at the chance to ditch their 9-5 jobs for life on the lake.
Nearly 50 years later, business at Reed’s Marine, as well as their growing service center a few miles away, is booming. Call it high tide — the best time for a captain to make an exit.
Tom went on to say his plan began to take shape at a 20 Group meeting in the early 2010.
Figuring out whom Tom would pass his ownership stake to was the easy part. Jason Shallcross, the grandson of Tom’s original business partner, says he was “born into the business” and was identified early on as Tom’s likely successor.
“It’s a little bit of a strenuous process to come together when you have multiple people and lots of different concerns,” Tom said. “Even though we were a willing buyer and seller, it still took us over three years — and that’s in a friendly situation.”
Marine retailers who participate in the MICD Program closely examine each segment of their dealerships as part of their Certification process. An experienced MICD Consultant is assigned to each dealership upon enrollment in the program, and the successful ownership handoff at Reed’s Marine has helped craft a template for other dealerships to follow.
A key cog of a smooth succession centers on properly preparing the incoming owner or GM for their new role. The MICD Program has helped map that learning process, and Jason says he recognizes the position requires constant demands.
With their service site two miles away from the marina, Jason says Certification has helped sync the Reed’s Marine team and streamlined workflow between the two locations.
The Proper Use of Cookies
“We send cookies to everyone who buys a new boat,” Tom said. “It puts them in a good mood, and they never forget it.”
One of the few North American retailers to be included on Boating Industry’s list of Top 100 Dealerships each year since the program’s inception, Reed’s Marine prioritizes the process of gathering post-sale customer feedback — a pillar of the MICD Program.
“We don’t do it every year, but we hire a company that calls the customer and discusses in-depth their experience,” Jason said. “They can spend much more time talking about what was good and not so good. We’re given a detailed transcript of what was said during the call, and the feedback is extremely valuable.”
“When you live in an area like we do here, you know your customers and see them all the time,” Jason said. “That’s, in part, why we’re so serious about making sure our customers have a positive experience. They’re not just buying a boat or a life jacket, they are our neighbors and friends.”
Tom’s trust and confidence in the MICD Program can be traced back to a small gathering of industry leaders and premier U.S. dealers that took place more than a decade ago. Their collective mission: to establish a standardized program that would help marine retailers improve business practices, enhance customer satisfaction and map overall operations — all while maximizing profit.
Tom, who literally helped write the rules for Certification, went on to say Reed’s Marine enjoyed immediate results.
While the Certification program has gone through several evolutions since that first meeting, Tom insists the value and practicality of the MICD curriculum has played a pivotal role in his dealership’s ability to string together many successful, profitable years.
So is Certification status worth the required time, effort and monetary resources? Both Jason and Tom respond with an emphatic, “yes.”
Tom adds the MICD Program made him a better owner, a better leader and a better salesman.
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