MRAA, 700Credit Launch Guide to Fraud Detection & Prevention

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 2, 2023 – The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) and 700Credit, an MRAA Education Champion, announce the release of a new MRAA Mini-Guide “Fraud Detection and Prevention in the Marine & Powersports Industry,” to help dealers understand fraud and implement detection tactics to prevent it.

“Dealership fraud has become an $8B industry and the cost continues to rise,” said Ken Hill, Managing Director, 700Credit. “And there isn’t just one type of fraud with one single solution to detect it. This guide was created to serve as a roadmap for dealers to learn about and identify the different types of fraud, where it can attack your dealership and the action you can take to detect and defend your business.”

The free, 10-page mini-guide provides readers with a quick overview of the immensity of fraud within the marine and powersports industry and the possible consequences dealers face if they don’t install processes to inhibit its effectiveness. It also dives into the four major types of fraud, which include identity theft, synthetic ID fraud, driver’s license fraud and misrepresentation of income and employment, and presents solutions to detect and prevent each type.

“Fraud has become more sophisticated with technology and more challenging to detect,” said Jerrod Kelley, MRAA Content Manager. “Without the proper tools and training, your dealership could end up wasting time and losing money on thieves instead of reinvesting back in your business. That’s why it’s important to have defensive solutions and expert guidance from 700Credit to help your team mitigate risk and avoid financial hits to your dealership.”

As the leading training and education organization for the marine dealer body, MRAA fuels the success of the boating industry by delivering dealerships resources, implementable tools and education programs they can use to strengthen their organizations. As the second-highest level of membership, Education Champions power the educational programming that the MRAA delivers to its members in a year-round sponsorship program. Through contributions and sharing its expertise, 700Credit, one of 10 Education Champions, bolsters MRAA’s world-class education, helping dealers find the success they desire.

Download the MRAA Guide to Fraud Detection & Prevention here.

Read more about the guide in this recent MRAA blog.

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 700Credit
700Credit is the automotive industry’s leading provider of credit reports, compliance solutions soft pull prod­ucts, identity theft and driver’s license authentication platforms. The company’s product and service offerings include credit reports, prescreen and pre-qualification platforms, OFAC compliance, Red Flag solutions, 2022 Safeguards protection, Synthetic Fraud Detection, Iden­tity Verification, score disclosure notices, adverse action notices and mobile and in-store driver’s license authenti­cation solutions. For more information about 700Credit, visit www.700credit.com.

Discover Boating Site Content Engages Boaters

Discover Boating, powered by MRAA and the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), continues publishing timely website content to engage new and experienced boaters, providing tips and information relevant to this time of year.

In September, Discover Boating highlighted the top 10 fall boating destinations inspiring new on-water adventures and reinforcing that boating season extends past peak summer months. Also, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Discover Boating celebrated the Latino community within the boating world, including David Callejas, who is featured in the “Float On” video series. The second installment of the series premiered in September, offering a glimpse into Callejas’ boat rental business.

September highlights include:

Articles that saw growth in page views in September (compared to September 2022) included:

Industry stakeholders are welcome to share these articles with customers via social, e-newsletters and other communication channels.

Leadership Requires Strength & Humility

William H. McRaven, retired U.S. Navy Admiral and author, discusses the word hope in chapter 9 of his book “The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy).” Anyone in a leadership position has either used hope or have heard something said like “I hope it all works out.”

McRaven goes on to explain that hope is not a strategy by itself. Hope is essential because it drives, energizes and helps people achieve incredible feats. However, for hope to reach fruition it must be reinforced by studious planning, meticulous strategy and unmatched persistence.

In the marine retail world, effective leadership is a critical component of success. Adept leaders — who play an integral role in helping businesses persist, succeed and advance — interlace hope with courage and hard work. Leadership involves decision making and task delegation and well as cultivating a culture of accountability. Dynamic leaders can delicately balance their strength and humility.

Strength in leadership is about setting clear expectations and promoting self-sufficiency while holding team members accountable. This recipe usually helps in driving the business forward. It’s about making tough decisions, setting ambitious goals and pushing your team to achieve them. It’s about being decisive, assertive and confident.

However, strength alone is not enough. Humility is equally important. Humble leaders recognize that they don’t have all the answers and remain considerate. They’re open to feedback, willing to learn from others and capable of admitting when they’re wrong. On top of that, they value all of their team members, listen to their ideas,  provide valuable acknowledgement when it is deserved and practice transformative communication.

Among the many characteristics of a leader, strength and humility help to nurture accountability. Team members feel empowered to own their work, recognizing that their contributions are valued and their opinion matters. This encouragement is authentic and motivates them to perform at a higher level and strive to take the business to new heights.  

Leading with strength and humility isn’t easy, but it’s a powerful approach everyone in the dealership can abide by that unquestionably can transform your marine retail business.

Need help in raising your leadership performance? The MRAA has specific resources and relevant courses to help you transform your leadership style, tactics and skill set.

Where to start: MRAATraining.com Leadership Course Package
As a leader and manager at your dealership you need insights and tools to expand your skills and to help others in their leadership journey. This course package helps you and your team cultivate your leadership abilities so you can contribute on a greater scale. The How to Excel as Marine Dealership Leader and Manager features seven courses and five different subject matter experts in the marine industry that offer tactics for improving your career trajectory, attitude, bond with others and your overall leadership.

Be Proactive: 5 All-New Dealer Week Leadership Pathway Courses
As a leader, you want a plan to adjust to the changing customer and marketplace, a motivated team that works well together and tactics that help solve your biggest issues. These Dealer Week 2023 Leadership Pathway sessions, Dec. 4-7, in Tampa, Fla., are designed to prepare you for whatever the future could hold. (Don’t worry if you can’t make it to Florida, you can also watch this by registering for Dealer Week Online, and take in the education at your dealership.)

Marcus Sheridan, Marcus Sheridan International, Inc.
  1. How to Fix Breakdowns in Dealership Communication: Leadership Pathway host and speaker Marcus Sheridan will share transformative communication skills that not only have the power to improve dealership performance, company culture and employee retention, but also to turn your employees into future managers and leaders.
  2. Recalibrate & Renew Your Dealership for What’s Ahead: Gain insight into how you can prepare your company to adapt and succeed while navigating turbulent markets, from subject matter expert John Spader, Spader Business Management. He will share proven strategies, management attitudes, processes, financial benchmarks and execution skills to help you outperform the market in the year ahead.
  3. 4 Steps to Solving Your Dealership’s Most Complex Issues: Dave Newell of Evolve Leadership Consulting, LLC will provide you with a repeatable process and methodology to help you make clear decisions on the most impactful issues you’re struggling with now and likely in the near future. Learn how to identify core problems, name desired outcomes for the obstacles you face, and establish pathways and action plans for crushing them.
  4. Drive Dealership Performance Through Interdepartmental Harmony: Expert Kurt VonAhnen, Mañana No Mas, will teach you ways to improve communication and collaboration between departments, create consistency through better process, reduce employee churn, drive efficiencies and bolster profit margins as a way to overcome the finger-pointing and denial that rages through society.
  5. Transform Your Retail Environment, Transform Your Customer Experience & Profits: Today’s customer expectations have changed in response to our omnichannel world. Whether your dealership is large or small, one location or many locations, speaker Paige Wittman, Miller Wittman Retail Design Group, will help you determine as a leader what retail investments would be most impactful to you and your dealership – no matter what your budget.

3 Resources to Help You Lead & Grow Future Leaders
These resources, along with others available through the MRAA, provide supportive tactics to help leaders create more accountability within their team.

MRAA Guide to Dealership Improvement cover featuring images of white boats on black background and bold RED font saying Dealership Improvement
  1. The Guide to Dealership Improvement, created by MRAA in partnership with Barletta Boats, will ignite your inner fire and boost your desire to pursue continuous improvement on both an individual and company-wide level.
  2. The Guide to Building a Foundation for Accountability supplies tips and strategies to help marine businesses create a culture of responsibility. It offers guidance for setting clear expectations, providing feedback and fostering a sense of ownership among team members.
  3. MRAA Webinar: How to Implement Effective Onboarding webinar, offered in partnership with KPA Online, discusses the importance of onboarding new hires effectively. It emphasizes the need for leaders to approach the onboarding process with both strength and humility, setting clear expectations while also providing support and guidance to new team members. By implementing effective onboarding practices, leaders can establish a culture of accountability from the very beginning of an employee’s journey with the dealership.

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Rejects Petition to Establish Vessel Speed Zone in the Gulf of Mexico

Friday, Oct. 27, the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration Office of Fisheries denied a petition to establish a mandatory 10-knot (11-mph) speed limit, and other vessel-related mitigation measures, to protect the endangered Rice’s whale in the Gulf of Mexico. This decision comes ahead of the highly anticipated Final Agency Action on the Proposed Amendments to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule, which would establish Vessel Speed Restrictions for vessels 35feet and longer along the East Coast.

NOAA received a petition on May 11, 2021, from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Healthy Gulf, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, and New England Aquarium, which requested that NOAA establish a year-round 10-knot vessel speed limit, and other vessel related mitigation measures, to protect the Rice’s Whale in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. The petition proposed the following restrictions:

  • Mandatory 11-mph speed limit for all vessels transiting the proposed zone.
  • No vessel transits at night. 
  • Vessels transiting through the zone must report their plans to NOAA, utilize trained visual observers and maintain a separation distance of 500 meters from Rice’s whales. 
  • Use and operate an Automatic Identification System, or notify NOAA of transits through the zone.
  • Report all non-compliance to NOAA within 24 hours.

Public comment on the proposed regulations in the Gulf began April 7, 2023, during which the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) and a coalition of groups in the recreational boating and fishing space submitted comments highlighting our concern with the proposed regulations, stressing the impact they stand to have on MRAA members and the recreational fishing and boating industry. To read MRAA’s comments, click here. To read more about our engagement on this issue, click here.

In denying the petition, NOAA highlighted that instead of moving forward with vessel-speed restrictions and other vessel-related conservation measures, other efforts first must be made. NOAA stated that they are “are denying the petition because [they] are prioritizing other conservation actions for Rice’s whales: finalizing critical habitat for the species, conducting additional vessel risk assessments and developing a recovery plan for the species.”

NOAA understands that the proposed regulations and impacts on recreational vessels is not the correct course of action currently and, instead, other conservation measures should be prioritized. As NOAA works on other conservation measures, the marine industry is dedicated to supporting these efforts and ensuring that recreational boating and the recovery of the Rice’s whale can coexist.

“The MRAA commends NOAA for denying this petition and committing to conserving the endangered Rice’s whale with tactics that won’t unduly cripple marine businesses in Gulf Coast communities,” said Matt Gruhn MRAA President. “This decision comes at a critical time, as we are awaiting the final decision on the Proposed Amendments on the Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule. It is our hope that NOAA will employ similar rationale and deny those proposed changes as well.” It is the hope of our boating community that NOAA will deny the proposed Right whale regulations on similar grounds as denying these, and that the recreational marine industry can be a meaningful partner in the nationwide conservation of endangered cetaceans. For more information on this decision, of if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at chad@mraa.com or Mike Sayre, MRAA Director of Government Relations, at sayre@mraa.com.

Redefining Your Approach to Establishing Trust – The Customer Experience Mindset in the Marine Retail Industry

By John Spence, johnspence.com

Trust is a complex idea built on multiple pillars, such as honesty, integrity, reliability and competence. In the marine retail context, this translates into transparent pricing, consistent quality and the provision of expert advice.

When a customer makes a significant investment, such as buying a yacht, they need more than just a product; they need assurance. They need to know that the price is fair, devoid of hidden costs or future financial pitfalls. They need to be certain that the quality of the product and the accompanying services meet or exceed industry standards. Moreover, they need to feel confident that the after-sales service will be reliable, ensuring that their investment is protected in the long term.

1 younger person fishing from boat with guide
Discover Boating image by Will Saunders.

Elevating the Customer Experience
The modern customer, particularly in high-end retail settings, expects more than just a transaction; they seek an experience. This involves a range of touchpoints; from the moment they first encounter your product to the after-sales service they receive. In the marine retail industry, this could mean the experience a customer has when they first walk into your showroom, the ease with which they navigate your digital platform, and the quality of interaction they have with your customer service representatives.

Personalization is key in this regard. Advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems can capture a wealth of customer data, from basic contact information to specific preferences and past interactions. This data can be leveraged to offer personalized recommendations, services and communication, making the customer feel valued and understood. Customer data, when effectively used, is a gold mine.

Quality assurance is another critical aspect. High-end customers are not just paying for a product but for peace of mind. Rigorous quality checks, backed by guarantees or warranties, can provide this assurance, making the customer feel secure in their investment. When you are 30 miles offshore you want to feel confident that everything on the boat is working perfectly.

Moments of Truth in Marine Retail
The concept of “Moments of Truth” is particularly relevant in an industry where purchases are not just transactions but significant life events. These are the critical points in the customer journey where their perception of your brand is significantly influenced.

  • It starts with the First Moment of Truth, which occurs when a customer encounters your product for the first time. In a marine retail setting, this could be how your boats are displayed in the showroom, the ambiance of the environment and the immediate service they receive.
  • The Second Moment of Truth is equally crucial. This is when the customer uses the product for the first time. This could be the first trip out on the water for a boat buyer. The quality of the boat, the ease of operation and the performance all come under scrutiny here. Any shortcomings can not only lead to a loss of trust but also can have safety implications, making this a critical moment in the customer journey.
  • The Third Moment of Truth comes post-use, where the customer decides whether to share their positive or negative experience with others. In the age of social media and online reviews, this stage is more critical than ever. A single negative review can significantly damage your brand’s reputation, while a positive review can enhance it.

The marine retail industry is complex but incredibly rewarding, sitting at the intersection of commerce, lifestyle and passion. Success in this industry hinges on building long-lasting relationships based on trust, competence and a deep understanding of customer needs. By focusing on these elements and adopting a customer experience mindset, your dealership can not only survive but thrive, even in challenging economic conditions.

About the Author
John Spence, www.johnspence.com, has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Business Thought Leaders in America, one of the Top 100 Small Business Influencers in America, one of the Top 50 Small Business Experts in America and one of the top 500 Leadership Development Experts in the World. He was also recognized on the global list of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior. The American Management Association named John one of America’s Top 50 Leaders to Watch. The prestigious Thinkers50, the definitive global ranking of management thinkers, shortlisted him as one of the top eight in the World for their Distinguished Achievement Award, and Thinkers 360 named John on the Power List of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership.

A Guide to Fraud Detection & Prevention

As a business owner, you have seen and heard about scams that others have gotten caught up in. These increasingly sophisticated deceptions can create a lot of headaches for your staff and your finances. Your industry peers within the marine and powersports markets are experiencing the same pressures as you. To maintain a healthy business, you should understand all the potential threats to your dealership.

Fraud is a mounting hazard that needs your full attention. But it’s not always easy to detect. It’s not as simple as seeing a snake oil salesman roll up in his horse-drawn wagon and start hawking foul-smelling hair tonic. Modern-day swindlers aren’t as easy to spot and their ploys are more calculated and persistent.

The pace of technology creates a constant race to keep up with the latest scams. You must properly train your team and have the correct resources to help you avoid wasting time and money.

The MRAA has partnered with 700Credit, an MRAA Education Champion, to create the free, 10-page MRAA mini guide “Fraud Detection and Prevention in the Marine & Powersports Industry.” This resource will help your team understand what fraud is. Use it to gain insight to identify and combat the types of fraud most likely to affect your dealership today, offering you preventative solutions to reduce risk and maintain profitability.

Multiple types of fraud are impacting marine and powersports dealers. The four most prominent are:

  1. Identity theft
  2. Synthetic ID fraud
  3. Driver’s license fraud
  4. Misrepresentation of income and employment

Because fraud is here to stay and clever offenders continue to evolve their tactics and implement new attempts to deceive, you must know what to watch for and install defenses and processes to shield your dealership. Stay in tune with companies like 700Credit,  which monitors fraud and provides solutions to help your business improve at both detecting and preventing it!

Download Fraud Detection and Prevention in the Marine & Powersports Industry here.

Discover Boating’s Year-Round Campaign, Brand Experience Attracts New Consumers

The past 12 months saw the launch of the new Discover Boating strategy, taking the industry’s collective effort to expand the market for recreational boating from a six-month marketing campaign to a robust, year-round brand experience beginning with winter boat shows and continuing throughout spring and summer. Powered by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and MRAA, Discover Boating invites the next generation – a key focus to help expand the market for boating – and retains current boaters, and with its new strategy delivered more than 3.6 billion impressions between October 1, 2022 and September 31, 2023.

As a result of this extended reach, Discover Boating engaged 5.4 million people on the brand’s websites, and introduced nearly 2 million of them to manufacturers and dealers through website referrals, boat shows, and leads. Additionally, the brand is reaching its target audience with DiscoverBoating.com traffic from the 35 to 55 age group up to 45% of audience, compared to 42% last year.

“This year we successfully transitioned to a fully integrated omni-channel strategy, where Discover Boating was in front of consumers all year round, supporting their boating interests wherever they may be in their journey, whether it was through our See You Out Here awareness campaign, our growing digital community, boat shows, brand partnerships and the buying/ownership experience in partnership with MRAA,” said Ellen Bradley, Chief Brand Officer for NMMA. “We touched more people, connected manufacturers and dealers with more potential buyers, and for every dollar invested by the industry in Discover Boating, NMMA made that dollar perform like four as a result of our multi-channel strategy. Making our industry’s dollars work harder to ensure recreational boating is the number one recreation activity is especially important as we face an increasingly crowded marketplace and time strapped consumer.”

Head shot of MRAA President Matt Gruhn in a blue collared shirt in front of wood backdrop
Matt Gruhn, MRAA President

“The Discover Boating campaign delivered on its influential objectives to generate consumer interest in boating by producing content, messaging and events to educate first-time boat buyers and welcome a diverse audience of new boaters,” noted Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “Our dealers represent the core of the recreational boating community, playing a significant, multilayered role as ownership guide, service expert and faithful industry ally. That’s why generating avenues for dealers to connect with their customers helps establish trust and improve engagement. Providing an unsurpassed customer experience is paramount because it not only aids boater retention but also ensures future generations view boating as meaningful outdoor adventure.”

Highlights of the campaign’s success include:

  • Reached 3.6 billion impressions (the number of times the campaign was served to people), driving our industry’s voice in the market to expand to new consumers and build positive awareness for boating with 5.4 million people coming to Discover Boating websites and 2 million introductions made to boat manufacturers and dealers.
  • Created targeted video content for different boating audiences (including Float On, I’m a Boater: Ask Me Anything, Seeking the Present, Discover Boating Safety Basics Presented with Progressive® Insurance) generating more than 5 million views.
  • Launched enhanced features and functionality on DiscoverBoating.com making it easier for people to navigate, particularly from mobile devices, while providing a variety of digital touchpoints to connect the site’s visitors to NMMA member boat brands.
  • Leveraged strategic media partnerships, including YouTube, SHAPE, Complex, The Root, Uptown, Telemundo, Golf Channel, NBC, Vevo and other emerging Hispanic media platforms to help tell our story to new audiences through the influential voices of these outlets.
  • Generated 32,000 news stories, including a public service announcement, driving $11.8 million dollars in media value (equivalent cost to secure the same media “real estate” if the news coverage were paid advertising).
  • Grew social media audiences across all platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Meta/Facebook and X/Twitter with more than 800,000 followers.
  • Hosted dozens of brand activations, including numerous high-profile sports-related events (viewing professional sports is a common thread that runs through Discover Boating’s core, growth and emerging segments) to reach new audiences and generate awareness including Black Boaters Summit, Boatgating with Professional Football Icons, WNBA All Star Game and American Century Golf Championship with NBC Sports.

For questions related to Discover Boating, contact Kevin Williams, NMMA’s Vice President of Marketing, at kwilliams@nmma.org.

Gathering to Share Recreational Boating Priorities in Massachusetts

• Recreational Boating Industry Meets with Paul Jahnige, Director of Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation

By Chad Tokowicz, MRAA Government Relations Manager

Last week members of the recreational boating industry met to welcome Paul Jahnige as the inaugural Director of Massachusetts’s Office of Outdoor Recreation (OREC), making the Bay State the 18th state in the nation to stand up an OREC. To highlight the importance of this office with the recreational boating industry and small boating businesses throughout the state, representatives from the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), Massachusetts Marine Trades Association (MMTA) and the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) attended the meeting.

Paul joins as Director after a long career with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, where he served as the Director for the Greenways and Trails program. He has 25 years of experience in environmental restoration and community development and a Master’s in Environmental Studies from Yale. With his past experiences and a keen understanding of the Massachusetts outdoor recreational landscape, Paul is an excellent choice to lead the office.

Given the popularity and impact recreational boating has throughout the state, it was beneficial for MRAA and other stakeholders to meet with Jahnige, who was named director Sept. 12. We underscored our need to work together and shared the recreational boating industry’s current priorities, including mandatory boater education and workforce development. These priorities resonated with Paul, who believed OREC and our industry could find synergy on a variety of overlapping priorities and projects.

Established in December 2022 by the Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the office helps elevate and enhance outdoor recreational opportunities in Massachusetts. The OREC creation follows more than six years of administrative and legislative advocacy on its behalf and marks a major investment in the state’s outdoor recreation economy and the many small businesses that support these pastimes.

 To support and enhance Massachusetts outdoor recreation, OREC will:

  • Coordinate outdoor recreation policy.  
  • Identify funding opportunities for programs and infrastructure.  
  • Enhance public access and recreation infrastructure.  
  • Support the outdoor recreation economy.  
  • Advance equity and access to outdoor recreation opportunities.  
  • Promote Massachusetts as a great place to work, live and enjoy outdoor recreation. 

Outdoor recreation at large in Massachusetts plays a significant role in the overall economy, adding $9.5 billion to the state’s GDP and directly supporting more than 93,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account. However, with more than 3,000 lakes and ponds, 1,500 miles of coastline and 129,699 registered vessels, recreational boating alone contributes $5 billion to the Bay State’s economy while supporting 17,500 jobs at more than 1,000 businesses.

As additional states establish ORECs, the MRAA will support these efforts and build relationships to ensure recreational boating remains a priority within the greater outdoor recreation landscape and conversation.

If you have any questions about your state’s office or the efforts to create one, please email me at chad@mraa.com.

2023 Expo Hall to Feature the Most Exhibitors and Largest Floor Space in Dealer Week History

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 23, 2023 – The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) announces that its annual Dealer Week Conference and Expo has set an all-time high for exhibitors, suppliers and manufacturers that have committed to display at the event held Dec. 4-7, 2023, in Tampa, Fla.

The Expo Hall at the Tampa Convention Center is nearly sold out. Of the 147 businesses currently committed to exhibit at the 2023 event, more than 40 exhibitors will be displaying at Dealer Week for the first time. Not only has the attendance bar been raised by 18 percent over the previous record of 124 exhibitors set last year in Austin, Texas, but amongst the exhibitors are 45+ boat brands, which sets another high-water mark. The exhibitor growth has made the Tampa event the largest show floor on record.

In addition to the exhibits within the Expo Hall, Dealer Week will feature 18 boat slips on the water. These in-water displays at the Tampa Convention Center Boat Docks will allow dealers to sign up for demos and view products in the Seddon Channel.

“We have built an impressive list of exhibitors this year for Dealer Week’s return to Tampa, Florida,” said Allison Gruhn, MRAA Vice President of Business Development. “Dealer Week connects manufacturers, suppliers and service providers with marine industry decision-makers and provides them an avenue to showcase their products, industry innovations and services. Networking and education, two staples provided to attending dealers at Dealer Week, are essential for growth, relationship building and increasing both brand awareness and trust.”

Dealer Week’s unmatched education and jam-packed Expo Hall provide dealerships with a two-fold solution to address their current struggles and implement tactics to improve their 2024 planning. This year, Dealer Week attendees can take advantage of a multitude of exhibitor categories, including CRM and dealer management systems, technology services, engine and boat manufacturers, finance and insurance providers and more.

“The ability for attendees to have direct access to industry contacts, resources and experts under one roof is as convenient as it is beneficial for their growth and the success of the marine industry,” said Gruhn. “We’re thankful for every exhibitor because a busy Expo Hall is crucial in providing an incomparable customer experience and producing a world-class event.”

See the complete list of 2023 exhibitors at Dealerweek.com.

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 50 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 exists 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.

Discover Boating Launches Enhanced Boat Finder to Extend Brand Visibility through Boat Shows

With the 2024 Discover Boating boat show season on the horizon, now is the time to get your brands listed among competitors in Discover Boating’s Boat Finder — putting your boats in front of potential buyers before, during and after the show.

This free tool, exclusive to Discover Boating boat show brands, features a new design and layout to drive more shoppers to boat brands and dealers. As part of this new design, all participating boat brands will receive a custom listing for each of the boat models they enter, providing an additional way to market new models to thousands of boat shoppers.

Don’t miss the boat (Deadline is Nov. 17!) More than 162,000 people engaged with Boat Finder in their search to buy a new boat in 2023. The average user viewed more than 53 boat models and spent an average of four hours and 30 minutes shopping — nearly five times industry averages.

4 Reasons Boat Shoppers Use Discover Boating’s Boat Finder

  1. Efficiently isolate brands and models that match their specific needs to get to their desired product faster.
  2. Take a deep dive into boat models with helpful descriptions, specs, and features.
  3. Connect directly to the boat brand website and view complete model information.
  4. Compare and contrast boat brands and types as they prepare to shop the show and visit dealers.

Adding or updating your boat info is easy with Boat Finder’s data portal system:

  • Current Boat Finder participants will receive an email from the NMMA Team including a custom URL to access the Data Portal and instructions. The system makes it easy to clone existing boat models and update with the current model year and pricing.
    • Note: Inputting data is easier than ever this year with fewer specs to input, helping to encourage more shoppers to click off to brand sites.
  • New to Boat Finder? Contact BoatFinder@nmma.org, and someone from the team will be in touch to help you get started.

To take advantage of Discover Boating Boat Finder, which is being promoted to hundreds of thousands of boating enthusiasts ahead of the 2024 winter boat show season, exhibiting brands must ensure they are represented at a Discover Boating boat or sportshow and update their boat data to reflect current model year and pricing. The deadline for uploading boat information is Friday, November 17.

Discover Boating boat and sport shows kick off in January across 10 major markets across the country including New York, Miami, Chicago and Atlanta.