DOL Publishes Guidance Explaining Leave Under The Families First Coronavirus Response Act

On Tuesday, March 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor announced they will be hosting a national online dialogue to provide employers and employees with an opportunity to offer their perspective on compliance and implementation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. This bill, signed into law last week, provides paid sick leave, free COVID-19 testing, food and unemployment benefits, among other items until the end of 2020. It also grants the Department of Labor the option to exempt businesses with fewer than 50 employees from providing emergency family and medical leave if it would jeopardize the viability of the business.

This new online dialogue by the Department of Labor will help employers and employees understand their responsibilities under the new law. Input will be accepted from March 23 to March 29, 2020 at https://ffcra.ideascale.com, or through a Twitter chat hosted by @ePolicyWorks on March 25, 2020 at 2 p.m. using the hashtag #EPWChat.

A one-page explanation of how the Families First Coronavirus Response Act specifically affects the recreational boating industry can be found here.

Additionally, on March 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced its first round of published guidance to provide information to employees and employers about how each will be able to take advantage of the protections and relief offered by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) when it takes effect on April 1, 2020.

FFCRA will help the United States combat and defeat COVID-19 by giving all American businesses with fewer than 500 employees funds to provide employees with paid leave, either for the employee’s own health needs or to care for family members. The legislation will ensure that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus while at the same time reimbursing businesses.

The guidance – provided in a Fact Sheet for Employees, a Fact Sheet for Employers and a Questions and Answers document – addresses critical questions, such as how an employer must count the number of their employees to determine coverage; how small businesses can obtain an exemption; how to count hours for part-time employees; and how to calculate the wages employees are entitled to under this law.

“Providing information to the American workforce is a top priority for the Wage and Hour Division,” said Administrator Cheryl Stanton. “With so many workers and so many employers struggling to find their way in these trying conditions, providing guidance on a rolling basis will allow workers and businesses to prepare for the law to go into effect on April 1, 2020. We remain committed, and are working around the clock to provide the information and tools for employees and employers alike.”

The guidance announced today is just the first round of information and compliance assistance to come from WHD. A workplace poster required for most employers will be published later this week, along with additional fact sheets and more Q&A.

WHD provides additional information on common issues employers and employees face when responding to COVID-19, and its effects on wages and hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act and job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic.

For more information about the laws enforced by the WHD, call 866-4US-WAGE, or visit https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.

For further information about COVID-19, please visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation’s workforce. WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the U.S. Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.

If you have any questions, please reach out to MRAA government relations manager Adam Fortier-Brown at adam@mraa.com.

MRAA Priorities for COVID-19 Small Business Stimulus Package

This morning the U.S. Congress is finalizing their $2-trillion economic relief package for businesses to address the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic on small businesses and their employees’ financial stability.

MRAA, along with NMMA, and Association of Marina Industries (AMI), actively engaged with leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate throughout their negotiations to ensure the collective voice of our industry was heard. Responding to feedback from our membership, MRAA worked with the Trump Administration and policymakers in Washington, DC to secure new funding streams for small businesses, ensuring public access to waterways, and support small business employees. The full letter MRAA sent to Congress is available here. A summary of our points is copied below.

Small Business Financial Certainty
Our industry is concerned with the drastic declines in new revenue now at the beginning of the season when recreational boat dealerships are holding their highest value in inventory, and when boat floor plan loan payments are coming due. Without additional income, dealers across the country will quickly find themselves in a bind trying to pay overhead costs. MRAA recommends Congress implement the following solutions:

  • Approve a form of floor plan interest subsidies until 60 days past the expiration of the National Emergency to help major unit inventory retail locations make up for the economic losses from declining revenue in our industry, and allow them to continue to hold inventory that is actively depreciating, and continue to and take in new inventory.
  • Approve the Treasury Department’s proposed Small Business interruption loans, to provide small businesses with the capital to support their employees who may need to utilize emergency PTO, and other liquidity issues.
  • Implement an income tax holiday from April 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 for small businesses in order to provide much-needed liquidity to dealers in our industry, and reduce the strain on business owners and employees who are faced with potential layoffs. March 19, 2020
  • Make available low or no interest loans for small businesses, and cut through red tape with the SBA to allow for speedy application and approval for companies with solid credit.

MRAA’s COVID-19 resource page for the recreational boating industry can be reached here. If you have any questions, please reach out to MRAA’s government relation manager Adam Fortier-Brown at adam@mraa.com.

How to Sell in Today’s Environment Webinar Recap ​

Selling right now isn’t easy. People are scared to go out in public. Some have lost their jobs or have lost money tied up in investments. Others are just nervous, unsure of what’s next. And some dealerships are being forced to shut down by the government.

But that doesn’t mean it’s time to throw in the towel. In fact, it’s time to demonstrate your leadership, rally your team and cause door swings (even if people aren’t physically walking into your building). That was the message behind MRAA’s Ask the Expert Webinar: How to Sell in Today’s Environment by Sam Dantzler of Garage Composites.

In the webinar, which ran long due to a productive question and answer segment, Dantzler breaks down how to sell right now into four steps.

Step 1: Tell them you’re open. If your physical dealership is open, let customers know. You can do this via social media, email or other forms of communication. Dantzler recommends using video on Facebook Live because the sincerity you can express about staying open to serve their needs and continue to employ your staff will ring through via video. If your doors aren’t open, but your website is, or your service department is, or your marina is, let people know. Continue to let customers know your status, so they’re aware.

Step 2: Reassure them: We’re being socially responsible. Follow all Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization guidelines and share with your community that you’re doing so. Some dealers are being harassed by the public for staying open. Inform your customers that you’re staying open, so your staff can continue to receive an income, and so your business can survive.

Step 3: Explain how you can safely serve them right now. Offer alternatives to walking into your building. Provide curbside pickup for boats coming in for service. Offer one-on-one appointments for those looking to buy. Perform live video walkthroughs for customers interested in your boats or accessories. Prep as much paperwork as you can in advance to make the buying process quick, easy and contact-free, while staying within legal compliance.

Step 4: Overcommunicate. This goes along with Steps 1-3. Frequency sells, Dantzler explained. Keep your messages positive and upbeat, and share often and through any and all of your communication methods. As things change, communicate that as well. A little bit of levity, when appropriate, also goes a long way in your message being seen and heard, such as using toilet paper as a door prize giveaway. Liz Walz of the MRAA offered a lot of dealers’ communication examples within the webinar. These efforts will “cause the door to swing” and get customers interested in buying from you now and in the future.

In addition to these four steps, Dantzler covered tips for your Customer Relationship Management, dealing with employee relations, creating an opening and closing checklist and more. To watch the full webinar for free, click here.

MRAA Provides Free Access to Online Learning for Boat Dealers

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced today that it has made its entire library of standard educational courses found at MRAATraining.com available for free to any boat dealer who would like access.

MRAATraining.com features 140 courses key to dealership growth and success, such as sales, marketing, customer service, F&I and the service department. Nearly 130 of those courses are being made available to any dealer and their entire staff, no matter if they are currently an MRAA member or not. Normally a $1,000 annual investment, MRAATraining.com has been opened up to assist dealers with training and development opportunities while we navigate the uncertainty of the weeks and months ahead.

“Our hope and desire with this offer is that dealers and their teams tap into the truly word-class educational resources that the MRAA provides,” explains Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “With business slowing down, we believe keeping your staff busy with training and education is a great way to set your team up for a quick rebound, and we sincerely want to help dealers and their teams come out of this slowdown stronger than they were when they went in.”

MRAATraining.com courses include video, often accompanied by downloadable resources, as well as several publications specific to dealership operations. They feature the leading industry experts like Sam Dantzler, Valerie Ziebron and more. And the robust learning management system allows dealership personnel to create course preferences in addition to giving you the opportunity to search the vast library of content.

Last week, the MRAA launched a COVID-19 resource page for dealers to tap into the latest information available to them. Then MRAA refocused its Ask The Expert Webinar series to give dealers timely insights into how they can adjust their business for the new climate. This latest announcement gives dealers direct access to the heart of the MRAA – its highly regarded educational programming.

“Dealers have repeatedly told us that the courses on MRAATraining.com provide actionable information that makes their businesses run better,” says Liz Walz, MRAA Vice President. “At a time like this, we want to put that information into as many dealers’ hands as possible to help them get through the current crisis and succeed well into the future.”

To access MRAATraining.com, log in using your pre-existing MRAA account or create a new one. Instructions for adding staff to your account are here. Instructions for creating a free non-member account to access MRAATraining.com are here (creating) and here (accessing). If you have questions, contact Nikki Duffney, Member Development Manager, at 763-333-2420 or nikki@mraa.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, contact us at 763-315-8043.

Supercharge Your Customer Experience, with all customers, all of the time

Note: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all standard MRAA educational courses found at MRAATraining.com will be available free of charge to any dealer who wants to use the content from now through May 31st. Between now and then, we will be posting regularly to highlight courses that may be useful during this time.

 

Have you ever looked at your online reviews or your CSI results and noticed they’re sometimes lopsided? Maybe some customers had a great experience, especially as they interacted with a specific employee. But maybe another customer had a horrible experience because they worked with someone who was not focused on the customer experience.

 

It’s mind-boggling and frustrating.

 

What if you could work toward a more seamless customer experience at your dealership? What if your porters knew how to greet customers when they walked in? What if that customer gets the same treatment from the receptionist, their salesperson, their service advisor, the tech that walks by and management?

 

Now that would be great! But building such a culture takes a little work and a lot of practice. In this unique workshop, originally created as an e-learning course for Continuous Certification, and then presented live at the 2019 Dealer Week, hospitality expert Theresa Syer gives you a plan for creating that consistent customer experience throughout your dealership.

 

Two key points Theresa focuses on are Emotional Motivators and Key Emotional Drivers (KEDs). The Emotional Motivators are what drive customers to take action, such as making a purchase, and the KEDs are how you can influence those Emotional Motivators to get customers to close on the sale. Theresa will show you how to create your own KEDs, and she’ll give you a set of KEDs that she’s developed, if you’d rather implement those instead.

 

She also offers a plan for rolling out the KEDs in your dealership, with constant reminders and practice, so you can get your whole team rowing in the same direction and remembering to stay the course. 

 

I had the opportunity to attend this workshop in person at Dealer Week, and I can tell you people were excited and energized to make changes to the customer experience at their dealership as they walked out. And, this workshop was one of the most highly-rated courses at the 2019 conference.

 

Now — pre-season for much of North America — is the time to start thinking about how you can amplify your customer experience and create an environment where people will want to buy.

Intrapreneurship: Now is the Time for Innovation

Note: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all standard MRAA educational courses found at MRAATraining.com will be available free of charge to any dealer who wants to use the content from now through May 31st. Between now and then, we will be posting regularly to highlight courses that may be useful during this time.

Innovation is always important, but during times like these it becomes absolutely essential.

At Dealer Week in December, Samantha Cunningham Zawilinski presented a course titled “Intrapreneurship: Developing Early Adopters & Harnessing Innovation in Your Company.” The point of the session was to create a culture that empowers innovative thinkers to apply their smarts to making your business stronger.

Right now, business as usual isn’t possible, whether we like it or not. But that hasn’t stopped some retailers from getting creative. We saw one dealership – Norris Lake Boat Center – offering a “Canceled Vacation Sale.” The deal is, anyone who brings a receipt from a canceled vacation can get that amount off any new boat. I doubt you’ve seen that offer before, and I’m sure two weeks ago they had never considered having a sale like that. But they’re adapting to these strange times.

In her presentation, Samantha lists a number of ways that cultivating intrapreneurs (i.e. people who bring an entrepreneurial spirit to your internal operations) can benefit you in the long term.

If you’ve got some employees who might benefit from that kind of attitude, or you want to instill that type of culture in your business, I’d encourage you to watch the course while it’s available free to the industry.

Just log in or create an account here on MRAA.com. Instructions for adding staff to your account are here. Instructions for creating a free non-member account to access MRAATraining.com are here (creating) and here (accessing).

It’s Time to Text Your Customers, but You Have to Do It Right

Note: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all standard MRAA educational courses found at MRAATraining.com will be available free of charge to any dealer who wants to use the content from now through May 31st. Between now and then, we will be posting regularly to highlight courses that may be useful during this time.

Are you open? Are you closed? Are you providing video walkthroughs of your boats? Are you offering early delivery of stored boats? Customers want to know this information, and by providing it to them, you can probably sell more boats and get more of your customers out on the water using them.

But how do you share this message in our current COVID-19 world?

Text messaging may be the easiest way to get a hold of customers. Even in times of crisis, we all have our phones on us 24/7.

But there are a lot of considerations.

First, do you have the technology to text? This may be through a service that provides texting from a computer or mobile device, or it could be your staff using their dealership-provided or personal cell phones. You have to work that out.

Second, are you prepared with messaging? You need to make sure you have people on staff who have the spelling and grammar skills to text with customers. And it helps to have some planned responses to common questions ready to go.

Third, you need to be prepared to respond. We know from 2018’s online mystery shop that follow-up isn’t always frequent or well-planned out. If you’re going to start texting, customers are going to text back, and they’re going to want a quick response. Make sure that once you send a text, you’re ready to reply in a timely manner.

Fourth, have you asked permission to text your customers? This is extremely important. Before you start sending a barrage of texts to your customers, you need to ask them if you can text them and only text them if they say yes.

Just the other day, I was looking for an electrician, and as it was off-hours on a Sunday evening, I saw there was a text option, so I thought I’d use it. The whole experience was awkward. The person texted back, but nothing was in complete sentences, and the person didn’t even introduce him or herself. It was uncomfortable, so I didn’t book with that electrician.

There are so many ways texting can go right or wrong. If you do it right, the service can be extremely beneficial, and you can communicate with customers, even when they’re quarantined at home.

To get the most out of texting, I suggest you watch “Texting Customers: Do’s, Don’ts and How to Make It a Win-Win,” in which Bob McCann of the MRAA and Graham Anderson of KENECT, discuss texting tips, best practices and more. Bob even shows you how to create a text signature, so everyone you text with will know who you are and which company you represent.

MRAA Expands Its Webinar Series for Boat Dealers

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas expanded its Ask the Expert series of live webinars for boat dealers to help them navigate decision-making in the coming weeks and months.

“Today’s business environment leaves dealers with numerous critical questions — questions about caring for their employees and customers, managing their costs, generating revenue, and just generally about how they can ensure the continued success of their business,” explains MRAA Vice President Liz Walz. “Our goal with these webinars is to ask those questions of industry experts who can provide sound insights and help our dealers make informed decisions.”

Going forward, the once monthly Ask the Expert webinars will increase in frequency, being held as often as MRAA and its network of experts can provide fresh, actionable content to answer dealers’ questions. These webinars will continue to be recorded and made available to all dealers in MRAA’s Resource Center at MRAA.com/Resources.

The first webinar, launched yesterday and now available on MRAA.com, featured Walz and MRAA President Matt Gruhn discussing ways in which dealers can tap into the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas for support. In the webinar, Gruhn reminded the audience that MRAA exists for one purpose — to fuel the success of boat dealers — and during what is perhaps their greatest time of need, the MRAA has refocused its entire team and all of its priorities around supporting the marine dealer body.

During the webinar, Walz and Gruhn outlined the five steps MRAA is taking support dealers across the industry: 1. Resources found at www.MRAA.com/COVID-19; 2. Regular “Ask The Expert” Webinars specific to the concerns of today; 3. The launch of a dealer forum for Dealer to Dealer interaction; 4. Free access to all standard MRAATraining.com courses for dealers; 5. Hand-in-hand collaboration with our industry partners to work with government to secure support and relief for our small businesses.

“For some dealers, it’s business as usual out there and for others there’s serious concern about the economy, but for all of us there’s a great deal of uncertainty on how the selling season and the remainder of 2020 will unfold,” explains Gruhn. “No matter how things transpire, I am making it clear that supporting our dealers is MRAA’s No. 1 priority. We have redirected the focus and efforts of every one of our team members to contribute to this mission. I urge anyone to reach out to MRAA for any need they may have, and we will respond with an answer or with someone who can provide the answer.”

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, contact us at 763-315-8043.

Responding to the Coronavirus: A Place to Start

Let’s face it: There’s no one here on Earth who is an expert on how to adjust your marine business for success in the face of this Coronavirus Pandemic. Frankly, none of us have been through this before – the “experts” included.

But we all need to begin adapting to the changes taking place, whether we feel perfectly prepared for it or not. Whether we have all the answers or not.

We’ve gathered together some COVID-19 resources for businesses that we hope will help, and we keep adding more. You can check them out here.

But where to start? We like the guidance provided by business thought leader, educator and speaker John Spence in his video, Leading Thoughtfully and Effectively in a Crisis, available here.

In it, John shared the four lessons on where to focus during challenging times that he learned from the best, most successful leaders during the last recession:

  • Priority #1: Take amazing care of your employees, especially your top talent:
    • Provide:
      • Training
      • Support
      • Resources
      • Help
      • Coaching
      • Mentoring
      • Give them as much safety, trust and stability as possible
      • Communicate courageously and transparently about problems
  • Priority #2: Take incredible care of your customers
  • Priority #3: Keep your eyes on the financials
  • Priority #4: Find someone outside of your business to talk to

 

Here at MRAA, we can help with all four of these. And we’re going to continue to develop new resources in these areas and others. Here’s what we can provide today.

  • Priority #1: Take amazing care of your employees, especially your top talent:
  • Priority #2: Take incredible care of your customers

    • This starts with having a plan for communicating with current and prospective customers about what you can do to serve them safety and securely – and what you’re doing to protect them. For example, if you have customer boats in storage or in the service department, you may be getting questions like: Can I pick up my boat? If so, when and how? How can I pay for it?
    • It’s okay to not have all the answers right away. But that shouldn’t stop you from communicating. At a minimum, let them know that you care about their situation, and you’re working on a plan as you and your team adapt to a fast-moving situation. More about communicating in a crisis is available here: https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/crisis
  • Priority #3: Keep your eyes on the financials

    • Three key areas you will want to watch closely are your budget, the aging of your inventory, and your cash flow. Need help tracking these? Our friends at Parker Business Planning have made templates available to you here: https://mraa.com/page/FinancialManagement
  • Priority #4: Find someone outside of your business to talk to

    • If you belong to a 20 Group or you’ve participated in Roundtable Discussions at MRAA’s annual conference, you know the power of this first-hand.
    • But what if you could plug into an even larger segment of the dealer community 24/7/365? That’s the goal of the platform MRAA is about to launch on its website, which you can access by logging in to MRAA.com. If you don’t have an account, you can create one (even if you aren’t a member).

Just like you, the team at MRAA is adapting to a fast-changing situation, developing new tools, resources and education to serve you and your team. As you navigate the uncertainty and challenges that come up, our goal is to meet you where you are with as much of what you want and need to be successful as possible. Please contact us to let us know how we can help.

Matt Gruhn, President
763.333.2421
matt@mraa.com

Liz Walz, Vice President
315.692.4533
liz@mraa.com

Allison Gruhn, Director of Business Development
763.333.2419
allison@mraa.com

Mike Davin, Brand Director
763.402.7232
mike@mraa.com

Liz Keener, Certification Manager
763.333.2417
lizk@mraa.com

Nikki Duffney, Member Development Manager
763.333.2420
nikki@mraa.com

Mickaela Hilleren, Program Marketing Coordinator
763.333.2424
mickaela@mraa.com

Katie Eichelberger, Marketing Specialist
763.333.2423
katie@mraa.com

Sarah Korbel, Events & Operations Specialist
763.333.2418
sarah@mraa.com

Adam Fortier-Brown, Government Relations Manager
202.737.9779
adam@mraa.com

Michele Rosacker, Administrative Manager
763.333.2425
michele@mraa.com

Bob McCann, Lead MICD Program Consultant
763.333.2422
bob@mraa.com

Jim Million, Certification Consultant
jim@mraa.com

Rallee Chupich, Certification Consultant
rallee@mraa.com

Zane Stevenson, Certification Consultant
zane@mraa.com

MRAA Launches COVID-19 Resources for Boat Dealers

In the first of a multi-step plan to support marine dealers with their response to the coronavirus and ensuing economic challenges, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has launched a webpage with resources for the industry to tap into.

This page will be updated daily with new resources as they become available.

“If you’re like our team, you may be feeling overwhelmed by all the resources, information and advice you’re receiving in regard to COVID-19,” explains MRAA Vice President Liz Walz. “Some of it applies to you as a marine retailer, and some of it doesn’t.

“Our goal at MRAA is to meet you where you’re at and be here when you’re ready with as much of the information and education you need as possible — not because we’re experts on the virus, but rather because the way we see it, it’s our job to collect insight from experts on what you might need to make decisions today and tomorrow.”

To begin with, the MRAA’s COVID-19 resource page, available at www.MRAA.com/COVID-19, provides a listing of national- and state/province-provided resources for small businesses in the United States and Canada. They include links to organizations like the U.S. Center for Disease Control, Small Business Administration, the Society for Human Resource Management, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Employment and Social Development Canada.

In addition, the site includes links to useable resources like sample communication plans, social distancing guidelines for the workplace and more. Also listed are links to several articles with worthwhile insights into how dealers might consider navigating today’s uncertainty. They include a list of employer FAQs for responding to the coronavirus from workforce attorneys and a National Law Review article, “The Emergency Coronavirus Bill: What Employers Need to Know Regarding the Legislative Response to COVID-19.”

“The MRAA exists solely to serve and fuel the success of our dealer body,” states Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “In a time of uncertainty like we’re facing today, MRAA has refocused all of its energy on providing critical insights and resources that will help dealers gain clarity and make informed decisions about their business.”  

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, contact us at 763-315-8043.