Congress Advances Key Safety, Infrastructure Priorities

Ahead of August recess, the U.S. Congress made significant progress on a number of the recreational boating industry’s priorities including key boating safety priorities, approving the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund out of committee, and introducing legislation that would allow small businesses to protect themselves from natural disasters.

Coast Guard Authorization Act
On July 21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Elijah E. Cummings Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2020 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill includes notable provisions the recreational boating community has been supportive of including mandatory usage of engine cut-off or “kill” devices for boaters operating boats under 26 feet. This builds on Congress’s work two years ago that required manufacturers to install these devices on vessels under 26 feet, something the industry has long been in compliance with.

Another notable part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act includes granting the U.S. Coast Guard new authority to streamline approval of recreational boating industry construction standards, technologies, and devices.

The House and Senate have not reached an agreement on this yet and are negotiating a new agreement to be introduced in the Senate.

Sport Fish Restoration and Recreational Boating Trust Fund
On July 22, 2020, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation passed the Sport Fish Restoration and Recreational Boating Trust Fund, a $650 million funding mechanism used for conservation and fishery restoration efforts, fish stocking programs, and infrastructure improvements for the recreational boating and angling community.

Reauthorization of this Trust Fund is a top priority for the entire recreational boating and angling community. In addition to the regular uses of the Trust Fund, it will also require studies to be conducted on the impacts of non-motorized vessel usage on recreational access, as well as the impacts of abandoned and derelict vessels. These studies are supported by MRAA and will increase the efficacy of the whole fund moving forward. The bill now heads to the full Senate floor for consideration.

Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Protect Small Businesses from Natural Disasters
On July 8, champions of our industry in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the Providing Resources for Emergency Preparedness and Resilient Enterprises (PREPARE) Act, landmark bipartisan legislation that would give small businesses the opportunity to access much needed capital to invest in disaster resilient infrastructure — a top priority for the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas. This bill would allow the Small Business Administration to make low-interest, fixed rate loans of up to $500,000 to small businesses to invest in their properties to protect their facilities, real estate and contents from natural disasters.

This will preserve small business job gains in communities that depend on them and prevent against the existential threat of permanent business closure. According to FEMA, roughly 40-60 percent of small businesses never reopen following a disaster.

This program would be the only SBA program focused solely on small business disaster prevention, and would complement rebuilding efforts through the government agency’s disaster loan programs. Research shows that every $1 the government spends on disaster mitigation, such as improving existing infrastructure or elevating homes and businesses, saves taxpayers an average of $6.

A study by the MRAA and AMI found that marine businesses need significant funding to protect from flooding, requiring an average of $260,000 to invest in projects like elevating buildings, bulkheads, constructing flood barriers or levees, dry and wet floodproofing, yard regrading, and sewer back up protections. This is an issue that transcends industries where all small businesses across the country face similar needs to mitigate damages caused by an increase in frequency and severity of natural disasters, costing the U.S. over $800 Billion in the last decade.

Read MRAA’s press release outlining the bill.

For additional information, please contact MRAA government relations manager Adam Fortier-Brown at adam@mraa.com.

Great American Outdoors Act headed to President’s desk

On July 22, 2020, The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Great American Outdoors Act on a bipartisan vote of 310-107. This comes just a month after the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the package to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and addressing the significant national park maintenance backlog. The most significant conservation package in a generation will now head to President Trump where it is expected to be signed into law.

“As boating becomes a more popular pastime, the Great American Outdoors Act is perfectly times to invest in our public lands and waters, and encourage outdoor recreation for families and enthusiasts alike,” said MRAA President, Matt Gruhn. “This package shows what can happen when our outdoor recreation community collaborates together on important issues like this. We thank Congress for their bipartisan passage of the Great American Outdoors Act that will provide ways to stay safe and healthy – both mentally and physically – by escaping the anxiety and uncertainty in our current world.”

“The Great American Outdoors Act is the most significant conservation and public lands package in a generation that will finally fully fund important maintenance and conservation projects to invest in our outdoor communities,” said MRAA government relations manager Adam Fortier-Brown. “This investment will ensure our public lands endure as a gift from our generation to those who come long after we are gone. We applaud Congress for passing the Great American Outdoors Act and proving strong bipartisan compromise is possible on important issues, and our outdoor recreation community for their tireless work on this.”

The Great American Outdoors Act is the largest public lands and conservation package in the past 50 years, and the single largest outdoor recreation package ever passed and includes two parts: permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and the Restore our Parks Act (ROPA).

The Land and Water Conservation Fund uses revenues from offshore oil and gas leases to support conservation efforts. Established in 1964, LWCF has funded recreation opportunities in all 50 states, ranging from National parks to baseball fields, wildlife refuges, and river and lake access points. Every year LWCF rakes in $900 million in royalties for these conservation programs; unfortunately, Congress has not fully funded the program each year, resulting in a federal backlog of $30 billion in areas important to recreational boating like the Florida Everglades. Additionally, State governments report needing $27 billion to fund local and state park projects.

The Restore our Parks Act specifically directs funds to maintenance projects in national parks, forests, and waterways. The National Park Service reports an $11.9 billion backlog in deferred maintenance projects, including cleaning up polluted waterways, repairing bridges and trails, and modernizing important buildings and structures. ROPA would ensure that our nation commits to maintaining the public lands and waters our industry depends on, and preventing a future pileup of projects.

For additional information, please contact MRAA government relations manager Adam Fortier-Brown at adam@mraa.com.

If Something Has Gone Wrong for Your Customer, Fix it ASAP

When discussing following up with recent buyers, we’ve heard some dealer express reluctance. What if the customer is truly unhappy? What if the issue is something with the boat that you can’t fix yourself quickly? What if the customer’s boat needs to come back to service, and you’re already overbooked?


First, that’s no reason to not follow-up with your customers. The fear of the unknown is a poor excuse for not offering the levels of customer experience that your customers expect.


Second, follow-up helps you discover those issues that arise and address them as they come.


Sometimes the feedback may be something small, such as, “I thought I purchased four lifejackets, but when I got home, there were only three in the boat.” Other times, it will be something much bigger, as in, “After the second time out with the boat, the dang thing won’t even start.”


But without asking, you’ll never know where these issues are surfacing.


And, even better, by asking, you get the opportunity to fix the issue. Data from the Technical Assistance Research Programs (TARP) and others shows that by fixing a customer’s issue, you can actually build more loyalty than you can from just the sale.


Here’s some of that data from TARP:

  • Ninety-five percent of customers with minor complaints ($1-$5 losses) will buy from you again, if you solve their complaint quickly. Of those with major complaints (over $100 losses), 82 percent will buy from you again if you solve their complaint quickly.
  • On the flip side, if their complaints aren’t resolved, only 46 percent of customers with minor issues will return, while only 19 percent with major complaints will come back.
  • And, again, don’t think that not asking for feedback helps. Of those who are unhappy with minor issues, who don’t actually share their complaint, only 37 percent will return to your business. Those with major issues who don’t complain will only return 9 percent of the time.
  • And those non-complainers will tell 9-10 other people about their bad experience.


So, what can you do to serve your customers? In her course, “Turn Upset Customers into Loyal Ones” on MRAATraining.com, Valerie Ziebron shares the Five Keys to Turn Upset Customers into Dealership Advocates.


They are:


1.2.3.4.5.

Of course, all situations can’t be fixed quickly. Right now, getting certain parts is hard, and you’re already extremely busy trying to get work done this summer. Just be honest and transparent with your customer and offer them the best solution you can at the time, while setting expectations for when the final resolution will come.


Remember, the goal of improving the customer experience at your dealership is to show your customers that you’re their friend and guide in their boating lifestyle. When a customer does come to you with a complaint, take a step back and think how you’d want to be treated in that same situation, or how you would treat your friend or neighbor if you sold a boat to them, and they had the same issue.


The data shows that by helping that customer, fixing their issue and restoring their trust, you can flip the unhappy customer to a raving, loyal fan.

New Data: First-Time Boat Buyers are Here, but We Need to Keep Them

We’ve heard anecdotally over the past few months that many of those customers who have purchased boats this year are first-time buyers. And new data is showing that is, in fact, the case. More than one-third of those who have purchased new and pre-owned powerboats this year are first-time boat buyers, Info-Link has confirmed.

 

The thought is that as people are still living socially-distanced lifestyles without vacations, a boat is that getaway we all need, a place to get out on the water, away from others, remove the mask and watch something other than the TV, as highlighted by this recent Associated Press article.

 

While first-time boat buyers are coming in at a higher clip than they have been since about 2014, the concern still lies that we may lose those boaters going forward, as their regular activities, lifestyles and vacations return. Looking at the Info-Link First-Time Boat Buyer purchasing chart, you’ll see that the industry averages about one-third of sales to first-time boat buyers.

 

But the issue is in the second chart here. When we look at the five-year attrition rate — how many buyers remain in the sport within five years of buying at boat —we’re losing 42 percent of first-time boat buyers before they hit that milestone. Forty-two percent! So what good is it bringing in new buyers, if we’re not going to keep them? All we’re doing is using our funnel to refill a bucket that has a big hole in the bottom of it.

 

 

That’s why we all need to be focused on the customer experience, as we have been with Operation: Keep Your Customers Boating. This isn’t a new problem — it’s something NMMA, Discover Boating, MRAA, Info-Link and others — have been discussing for at least the past few years, but it’s an issue that has really been brought to the forefront by the number of sales that have occurred in 2020.

 

If we want to build on the momentum we’ve built this year, we have to help our customers by showing them the boating lifestyle is THE lifestyle they want to be a part of, and a boat is something their family just can’t part with. If you look back at the Operation: Keep Your Customers webpage, you’ll see there are a variety of ideas to drive a positive customer experience, and the list of things to do may seem long, but the data shows that effort pays off. Once you get the customer to buy a second boat from you, the five-year attrition rate shortens to 24 percent, then down to 18 percent and 12 percent as they continue to buy, for an average of 19 percent for boats two through four.

 

As Jack Ellis, managing director at Info-Link shared, “One certainly can’t expect a 19 percent attrition rate for FTBBs (first-time boat buyers), but the information on this graphic suggests that it’s perfectly reasonable to think we could improve the attrition rate a bit. There are currently about 400,000 FTBBs each year, so if we could improve retention by just 5 percent, this translates to another 20,000 people we could keep in boating each year, rather than have them run off to a different activity.”

 

Converting those first-time boat buyers into second-time boat buyers is the key to plugging that hole in our sales bucket. Let’s, as individual businesses and as an industry, do what we can to fill that hole by improving our customer experience.

Why F&I is Critical to the Customer Experience

The F&I office is a second thought at many dealerships. If it exists at all, it primarily functions as a lending arm or paperwork administrator for the sales department. This approach not only loses your dealership significant amounts of money, it also greatly impacts your customer’s satisfaction with the sales process.

Every minute that a customer must sit in chair instead of driving off with their new boat decreases their overall satisfaction with your dealership. Your customer is now used to buying things off Amazon and having it delivered the next day. They get their movies and shows on Netflix instantly. Customers now expect an efficient and timely delivery of their goods and will seek out those companies that can deliver that to them, while avoiding those who cannot.

Sale

Nowhere in the sales process is inefficiency more apparent than in the F&I office. In fact, some dealers have no dedicated F&I process in place at all. Without a process, financing often must be secured externally, and consumer products that would otherwise be presented go overlooked. This creates more work for your customer and deprives them of additional services and products that may be of benefit to them. It also removes additional revenue opportunities from your dealership and opens you up to a whole slew of compliance issues.

By having a dedicated F&I office or partnering with a third party to provide the service remotely, you mitigate these issues while also greatly increasing customer satisfaction. Now instead of your customer having to pass information between the dealership and the bank, your dealership can quickly secure a lender while your customer is still working with sales, picking out the color of their seats. By the time the customer has made their purchasing decision, the paperwork is ready to go, and the F&I manager can introduce themselves and present the customer with their terms. This also allows a quick break for your salesperson so that they may print or procure any additional items for the customer, while the customer is engaged with F&I. This handoff also ensures that when the customer returns for delivery, they already know your F&I manager and are more comfortable during the delivery process.

Delivery

Upon returning for delivery, your dedicated F&I manager has overseen the titling and financing paperwork, allowing your salesperson more time to look over the unit and ensure it meets the customer’s expectations. This separation of tasks also decreases the chances that a mistake is made on the paperwork or with the unit. Having an extra set of eyes on closing documents adds a level of redundancy that can save you — and your customer — major headaches. Since your customer is already familiar with your finance manager, sales can now do a complete hand-off and return to focusing on their duties.

Finance now has the responsibility to quickly and accurately present the customer with his or her closing documents and ancillary services. These documents need to be printed ahead of time and presented in a clear and concise way, along with a menu to clearly and quickly show additional services that are of value to the customer. Bringing additional value to your customer is extremely important during the delivery process, as it increases long-term satisfaction with your dealership and leads to more repeat customers.

Products

Some of the products that build additional value are service contracts, appearance protection, pre-paid maintenance, GAP or trailer tire and wheel coverage. It is important to know these products intimately and only present ones that will have an added value to your customer. For instance, if a customer is buying a boat, but will keep it in a slip and not on a trailer, then you should exclude tire and wheel protection from your presentation. The inverse of that would be someone who drives 30 minutes to the lake every day. They may have a spare tire for their trailer, but since a normal car jack should not be used on a trailer, they have no way to install it. Most customers — especially first-time boat owners — do not know this. By bringing it to their attention and offering them a solution, you increase their initial satisfaction while also ensuring continued satisfaction down the road.

Another example of this is with service contracts and appearance protection. The customer expects that the new boat that you just sold them will continue to look new and operate without issue. However, things happen and that is not always the case. When they do, the customer will always reach out to the dealership to make things right. Having to explain to your customer why they now need to spend sometimes thousands more on a boat that they already spent so much on usually leaves your customer less than thrilled. Instead, if you had offered them a way to cover these items when they purchased the boat, and allowed them to wrap those payments into their financing, you could quickly fix the issues at no additional cost to your customer. Getting your customer quickly back on the water for no perceived cost greatly increases their satisfaction and goodwill towards your dealership. It also ensures they return to you for their services. This keeps those service dollars in-house and allows the customer to look at that shiny new boat that you have on the showroom floor.

Why F&I

Having dedicated F&I can greatly affect your customer’s buying process and ultimately how they perceive your dealership. With that said, it is not enough to just have an office – it is also essential that your processes and products are at a level of quality that your customers deserve.

This is a guest blog written by Maxwell Haning of Innovative Dealer Services, Inc., a partner member of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas.

NMMA, MRAA Form Strategic Partnership to Expand Discover Boating

Grow Boating, Inc. merges into NMMA and Discover Boating Canada becomes part of NMMA Canada to allow for improved industry activation that leverages NMMA’s boat show portfolio and adds value to the industry’s investment in Discover Boating across North America

 

CHICAGO and MINNEAPOLIS —The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) today announced the merger of Grow Boating, Inc. into NMMA as part of a redefined strategic partnership between the two organizations. In addition, NMMA in Canada will work with the U.S.-based NMMA and MRAA to develop coordinated campaigns supporting a more unified North American brand.

The efforts are designed to better-amplify and expand Discover Boating as the marine industry’s primary consumer-facing lifestyle brand.  The MRAA and NMMA partnership and the merger of Grow Boating, Inc. into NMMA were unanimously approved by the manufacturers, dealers and industry stakeholders who make up the Grow Boating board of directors.

Since its creation 15 years ago, Grow Boating, Inc., the parent company to the Discover Boating consumer brand, has operated separately, as a standalone 501c6 corporation managed by the Grow Boating Board of Directors. This separate structure helped establish unprecedented harmony and collaboration across the boating retail and manufacturing sectors to launch Discover Boating—the first industry-wide consumer marketing awareness campaign. Over time, however, with its resources siloed from NMMA and MRAA — the two organizations that guide the Discover Boating strategy — this structure limited Discover Boating’s reach and effectiveness and created unnecessary cost and bureaucracy.

“As we continuously look for ways to increase market share for recreational boating against other recreational activities, the Grow Boating Board of Directors recognized an opportunity to harmonize how Discover Boating is activated through NMMA and MRAA, by leveraging NMMA’s boat show portfolio to put Discover Boating in front of millions more people,” noted Bryan Seti, chairman of the Grow Boating board of directors and Yamaha Watercraft Group general manager. “By merging Grow Boating, Inc. into NMMA and putting forward one brand—Discover Boating—we will be able to leverage NMMA’s 18 boat shows, connecting the brand with sales events and adding significant value to our industry’s investment in the campaign.”

Additionally, in Canada, Discover Boating has operated separately from NMMA Canada and Grow Boating, Inc., with its own board of directors. To further reduce brand fragmentation and duplication and to build a more unified, amplified brand, the NMMA Canada board of directors unanimously approved to dissolve the separate Discover Boating Canada board of directors and align with U.S.-based NMMA and MRAA around a North American Discover Boating brand.

With this integration, the outgoing Grow Boating board of directors, MRAA, NMMA and NMMA Canada will build a Discover Boating Marketing Advisory Committee to live within the NMMA governance structure. The committee will kick off in 2021 and be made up of the industry’s leading marketing minds across North America and include: marine retailers, boat manufacturers, engine manufacturers, marine accessory manufacturers, personal watercraft manufacturers, at-large appointments and the NMMA and MRAA presidents.

As part of this new endeavor, all Grow Boating references will change to Discover Boating. However, there will be no changes to the funding model for Discover Boating. The industry assessments in the United States and levies in Canada that exist today will continue to fund the Discover Boating program as they have since the program was created in 2005. As such, there will be no changes to the invoicing process, other than an eventual re-naming of anything Grow Boating to Discover Boating.

“The momentum to date of the Discover Boating campaign created a compelling case to look at ways the brand could be expanded to increase its impact across North America while operating in the most efficient and nimble way possible,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, NMMA president. “We applaud the Grow Boating board of directors for spearheading this industry-wide strategy as their leadership and vision  build upon Discover Boating’s foundation and create an exciting path forward for our industry.”

The strategic partnership between MRAA and NMMA seeks to strengthen dealer inclusion and engagement in Discover Boating to help amplify the campaign to consumers. Previously, the Grow Boating framework did not define the roles of the organizations or the contributions by the respective NMMA and MRAA teams and did not effectively engage industry dealers, all of which prevented the campaign from reaching its full potential. Through this updated strategic partnership, those roles are clearly defined, and MRAA will take the lead on helping to extend the Discover Boating assets, messaging and opportunities to the dealer body across North America in an effort to drive greater engagement and improvements in boater retention through a focus on the buying and ownership experience.

“Over the years, Discover Boating has created compelling campaign messaging, and its strategy has been effective in garnering the attention of consumers,” says Matt Gruhn, president of the MRAA. “Going forward, we have great opportunity to further attract and retain boaters by strengthening the Discover Boating message through the voice of thousands of dealers, as well as equipping our dealers with better tools and resources that will help them continuously improve the buying and ownership experience they provide.” 

Other elements of the MRAA and NMMA partnership to support Discover Boating include:

  • NMMA will continue to steward and own the Discover Boating brand and moving forward will leverage NMMA-owned boat shows to further establish Discover Boating as THE consumer voice for the recreational boating lifestyle. With Discover Boating as the brand behind its boat shows, the campaign’s overall budget and reach will expand as it’s placed in front of millions more consumers, creating a more seamless and meaningful brand and event experience for future customers.
  • DiscoverBoating.com and Discover Boating social media will be positioned as THE destination for all-things boating: education, exploration, shows and events and joint MRAA/NMMA consumer advocacy engagement. What’s more, it allows for the creation of a new way to direct leads to exhibitors, dealers and sponsors, furthering a seamless brand experience and industry growth potential.
  • As the customer experience continues to be front-and-center, NMMA and MRAA will elevate promotion of Dealership Certification to improve opportunities for capturing and retaining boat buyers.
  • To help carry Discover Boating messaging to the consumer, especially as it relates to connecting their shopping and ownership experience, MRAA will invest in Discover Boating educational programming to be offered through its wide range of products and services, including Dealership Certification, as well as its annual conference, Dealer Week, and MRAATraining.com. This also includes the production and distribution of Discover Boating marketing content and resources that dealers can leverage as part of their customer acquisition efforts.

Members of the Grow Boating board of directors who spearheaded this industry-transforming strategy to ignite a stronger, more unified Discover Boating brand, include: Bryan Seti, General Manager, Yamaha Watercraft Group (Grow Boating Board Chairman); Peter Barrett, SVP, Marketing and Corporate Development, Smoker Craft, Inc. (Grow Boating Board Vice Chairman); Bill Watters, President, Syntec Industries (Grow Boating Board Treasurer); David Witty, EVP of Retail Operations, One Water Marine Group (Grow Boating Board Secretary); Dale Barnes, Divisional Manager, Marketing, Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA; Lauren Beckstedt, Chief Marketing Officer, Brunswick; Susan Bonovich, OEM/Dealer Sales Manager, Volvo Penta North America; Natalie Carrera, Director of Marketing, Indmar Products, Inc.; Louis Chemi, Freedom Boat Club, Vice President, Franchising Systems; Michelle Dauchy, Chief Marketing Officer, Mercury Marine; Marc Duhamel, General Manager, Legend Boats; Phil Estes, Malibu Boats; Michele Goldsmith, Publisher, Soundings Trade Only; Joe Lewis, Mount Dora Boating Center (Grow Boating Board Past Chairman); Matt Lodder, President, Marine Sales Group, Lodder’s Marine; Robert Long, Customer Acquisition Manager, White River Marine Group; Laurie Louvier, Director of Marketing, Dometic; Larry Russo, Sr., SVP, MarineMax Inc.; Glenn Sandridge, Group Publisher, Bonnier Corporation.

To learn more about the expansion of the Discover Boating brand contact NMMA’s Ellen Bradley at ebradley@nmma.org. To learn more about how dealers will be able to leverage the campaign, contact MRAA’s Matt Gruhn at matt@mraa.com

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About Discover Boating

Discover Boating is a national customer-focused initiative developed by the North American recreational boating industry to help get people on the water. Discover Boating programs focus on the boating experience and building interest in recreational boating by providing a resource to explore the benefits, accessibility and fun of the boating lifestyle. To find out more, visit DiscoverBoating.com or follow along on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.   

 

About the National Marine Manufacturers Association 

The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) is the leading trade organization for the North American recreational boating industry. NMMA member companies produce more than 80 percent of the boats, engines, trailers, marine accessories and gear used by millions of boaters in North America. The association serves its members and their sales and service networks by improving the business environment for recreational boating including providing domestic and international sales and marketing opportunities, decreasing the cost of doing business, and helping grow boating participation. Learn more at www.nmma.org and get engaged with us on Twitter andLinkedIn.

 

MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.

Make Your Customer’s Boating Experience Better with Accessories

It’s late July, and while boats may still be selling for you in what appears to be a record-setting season for the industry, we can all see the traditional slowdown coming. And, as we’ve heard, some of you are completely out of boats right now.

 

So how do you continue to build revenue for your business and continue to deliver an excellent customer experience? Accessory sales!

 

By now, your winter, spring and early summer buyers are fully settled into their boating lifestyle. They’ve become accustomed to what they like about boating and have started to learn to overcome anything they don’t like (backing up a trailer, anyone?).

 

If they weren’t thinking about accessories when they first purchased their boat, maybe they are now. They might be thinking that they’ve brought their boating experience to a 10 out of 10, but now they want to pump up the volume and bring it to an 11.

 

But many of them don’t know where to start. So this presents another opportunity for you to be the expert, the guide, the friend, who helps the customer improve upon their already fantastic boating experience.

 

So how can you promote the accessories that you sell to improve their boating lifestyle?

 

  • Well, you can’t deliver what they need without talking to them, so let’s note another great reason to have a follow-up plan.
  • As you’re making follow-up calls and sending follow-up text messages, ask the boater what activities they’ve been participating in and what they’re interested in doing that they haven’t tried.
  • Push out an email blast to your full database to showcase new, popular, sale, clearance and other products.  
  • Use your social media to highlight your customers using accessories. Describe which products(s) the customer is using, how they’re using the product and remind your customers that you sell it.
  • Create a video walkthrough of your Pro Shop, focusing on the most popular, visual products on the floor.

 

What types of accessories might a customer be interested in as they enter the back half of the season?

 

1.   Towables: Maybe they’ve been cruising all summer, but their kids are begging for a towable. Showcase the variety that you carry.

 

2.Wakeboards, wakesurf boards, skis and accessories: Just like with towables, your new boat buyers may be out on the water, seeing more and more people participating in these sports. Encourage them to buy their first board, or upgrade what they already have.

 

3. 

4. 

5.ummer (or have had one ourselves). Remind customers that you sell sunscreen, tanning lotion, SPF shirts and hats.

 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

There are many other accessories, or parts, that your customers could be interested in, as they become more comfortable with their boat and their boating activities. Take a walk around your Pro Shop and your parts department and make sure you’re marketing what you have.

 

Again, if done right, sharing information with customers about how to improve their boating lifestyle will position your dealership as an expert, guide and friend. And it will drive traffic and revenue back into your dealership, even if you’re out of boats.

Boat Outfitters Commits to MRAA Partner Membership

MINNEAPOLIS — July 23, 2020 — The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announces that Ocoee, Florida-based Boat Outfitters has joint the organization as a Partner Member.


Boat Outfitters specializes in the sale of accessories, replacement parts and custom-engineered projects within the marine industry. Through its parent company, Teak Isle Mfg., it has also transitioned into making personal protective equipment (PPE) — in the form of plexiglass-based barriers and face shields The equipment allows retailers in multiple industry’s to keep their employees and customers safe. These protective panels are availabe for quick delivery and customizing.


“Boat Outfitters is delighted to join the MRAA as a partner member,” says Andrew Brown, Managing Director. “We continue to be committed to manufacturing high-quality marine accessories, replacement parts and custom solutions while maintaining affordable pricing. Partnering with the MRAA provides expertise and business solutions to enhance our operations as well as allowing us the opportunity to educate members on how we can help them better serve their customers and thus grow profits. We look forward to this beneficial relationship.”
Partner Membership lets marine manufacturers, suppliers and service providers align their brands with the MRAA programs, including training, education and other opportunities, and reach the dealer body fueling the success of the industry. Support from Partners allows the Association to expand its offerings and create a positive, long-term impact in the business of MRAA members.


“We’re pleased to welcome Boat Outfitters as new Partner Member,” says Allison Gruhn, MRAA Director of Business Development. “Whether its parts, accessories, custom work or their new line of PPE items, Boat Outfitters has an astute understanding and innovative methods to meet of the needs of marine dealers nationwide.”


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

Make the Commitment to Your Customers

In any business, it’s difficult to ascertain just what it is that our customers want and need. In a discretionary income business like boat sales, it’s even more difficult. And when you add in the technology that makes shopping from home a breeze, well, it can feel downright impossible.

 

There are, however, a few key fundamentals that customers expect from your business, and all of them can be found in MRAA’s Marine Industry Consumer Commitment, a one-page pledge created as part of the Grow Boating program at its inception. Drafted by both dealers and manufacturers, the Consumer Commitment is a staple of the Dealership Certification program and is a requirement to be publicly posted both in-store and online at Certified Dealerships.

 

If you’re looking for what customers expect of you, the Consumer Commitment is a great place to start.

 

It outlines 18 key deliverables your dealership and your team should ensure are present at all times. Broken down into sales, service and operations, this document could be a great guide for your business to start with. In fact, I would suggest it’s really the foundation of any great dealership.

 

A few of the key elements of this include items like:

  • A written disclosure of all details associated with a purchase.
  • An explanation of the proper usage and operation of products.
  • Products properly prepared, inspected and tested before delivery.
  • An itemized list of all service charges with thorough explanation.
  • Timely notice of changes in service delivery time if delays are experienced during repair.
  • Inspection of any replaced/damaged components upon presentation of invoice or work order.
  • Fair, open and honest treatment without discrimination.
  • Privacy and confidentiality of customer records.

 

There’s nothing about this Consumer Commitment that’s outside of what you would expect, and it’s designed that way. These are the basic fundamentals of running a dealership, but the power in this commitment is your pledge to make it happen.

 

If you want to demonstrate to your customers that they can expect a higher standard of professionalism when working with your business, Dealership Certification’s Consumer Commitment is the place to start.

Build Your Customer Experience Strategy

All this talk about the customer experience feels great. We can all nod, smile and agree that the steps we’ve shared over the last few weeks are great tactics for delivering for our customers. But how do you pull it all together in a customer experience strategy?

 

This is exactly where MRAATraining.com comes into play. MRAATraining.com is an online educational portal where you and your team can access well over 100 courses on just about every topic in marine dealership management, including, of course, the customer experience. It’s a good time to note here that some of the courses I outline below are FREE for anyone to access, while others can be accessed at no charge if you are an MRAA Silver Member or Gold Member. If you are not a Silver or Gold member, you can purchase courses a la carte.

 

To build your strategy on the customer experience, here are a few key courses I’d recommend you take a look at:

 

The cornerstones of our customer experience content include two courses by renowned expert Theresa Syer: Make Customer Service Your Competitive Advantage and a workshop called Supercharge Your Customer Experience. These courses will help you really think about how to focus you energies on delivering a powerful, rewarding customer experience. They are great for your team to watch together and to inspire the team to build customer-focused steps into all of your processes.

 

Make Customer Service Your Competitive Advantage promises to deliver a clear understanding the difference between good service and experiential service, fresh insights and techniques to provide a more emotional approach to customer engagement, and tips on how to make your customers feel valued and appreciated. In Supercharge Your Customer Experience, which was recorded at the 2019 Dealer Week, you will learn how to improve further upon the customer experience, with insights on defining the customers’ emotional motivators (what drives them to buy), identifying key emotional drivers that can shift conversations in your direction, and understanding the consistent actions required to elicit a positive emotional response from your customers. Any strategy on customer experience should start with these courses as the foundation.

 

Any great customer experience must begin in the sales process. MRAA’s course Buyer Motivation: The Key to Building Value offers incredible sales insights, but most importantly it has been designed to help dealers respond to changes in customer behavior and ultimately close more deals. It teaches sales team members how to customize sales presentations to buying motivation and will help any dealership drive more business at a higher profit while increasing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. This course is free for anyone to take at MRAATraining.com and is made available by MRAA’s Dealership Certification Program.

 

Another set of free courses that will help you set the tone for a world-class customer experience is MRAA’s Grow Your Business With First-Time Boat Buyers three-part series. There’s no need to even login or visit a different website with these courses, and these courses will help you understand and guide first-time boat shoppers and sell to first-time buyer motivations, while providing you with a bunch of tools that will help you convert first-time shoppers into buyers.

 

While those courses offer great foundational concepts to build a customer experience strategy around, others found at MRAATraining.com can help you create solid tactics for enhancing that strategy:

 

At the MRAA, we seek to provide resources that you and your dealership need to help you make decisions and run your business with confidence. We know the challenges you face in adjusting your business to meet changing customer demands. That’s why we create powerful resources like those above, but please know that’s not all we have to offer you.

 

The MRAA runs the marine industry’s only program focused on helping dealers deliver a world-class customer experience: Dealership Certification. Not only can our expert consultants help you put the processes in place to ensure a great customer experience, but the continuing education that is built exclusively for Certified Dealers helps you and your team stay up to speed on the latest methods for developing a competitive advantage through the customer experience. These include two in-depth courses by Theresa Syer on building a customer experience strategy; a course titled Take Your Dealership From Good to Great with CRM, by Sam Dantzler; Align Your Dealership with Today’s Customer, with MRAA’s Liz Walz; and more. These courses are packed with great insights, downloadable resources and dealer discussions.

 

If you’re not ready to get Certified just yet, each year, MRAA’s Dealer Week conference and expo provides the latest insights, trends and strategies your business needs to thrive in any market conditions. This year, with all of the chaos in the marketplace and the uncertainty that plagued the economy, you can’t afford to miss Dealer Week. As the industry’s only dealer-focused event, it’s your one opportunity to access the leading experts, the top industry partners and like-minded dealers who are all vested in your success.

 

Finally, if there’s a resource you need or are looking for, please reach out and let us know. If we don’t have it for you already, we’ll help you find it.