Sales Strategies to Boost Your Closing Ratios

You must passionately understand that you need to meet your customers where they are at in their journey in order to create a topnotch customer experience. Your sales team needs to understand their boat preferences, but it’s also vital to know their usage requirements and objections when it comes time to purchase a vessel.

Your ability to exceed expectations and to connect with each client requires balance from your dealership’s departments to ensure you’re on the same page and supplying each specific customer with a desirable experience. From your initial prospecting to listening to build rapport to earning trust, a designated sales process — complete with honesty and meticulous communication — will help your sales team improve their effectiveness and closing ratios.

Marine retailers share strategies they have implemented at their stores to help their sales teams improve the close.

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Converting the Forever Shopper

Chances are you have a customer who is the long-term tire kicker. You know, that person who loves the experience of shopping for a new boat and comparing ever vessel under the sun that checks off the desirable boxes. They’ve probably even shopped your competitor as much as your store to find the best possible deal. You may have had them ready to sign more than once only to have them back out or another customer buy that boat! Learn tips and tactics to help your team convert this forever shopper into a buyer and long-term client of your dealership?

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Dealership Tactics to Improve Close Ratios

Do you know your sales numbers and where your individual team members currently sit?  Knowing your numbers is Strategy No. 2 in the MRAA’s Guide to Navigating 2024.

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Revisiting Selling Basics

DEALER WEEK 2023 COURSE

Selling Experience in a New Economy

As a sales professional, you need to adapt your techniques to match the evolving expectations and behaviors to help humanize your sales process to form lasting relationships. It’s important for you to embrace change and develop sophisticated strategies to earn customer access through your expertise. Enhancing your skills helps you position value over price, enhance customer confidence and close sales effectively. The Dealer Week Online course with Ryan Estis of ImpactEleven helps you master storytelling to build customer intimacy, create plans for a personalized value proposition and improve your efficiency with lead management.

DW Online
DEALER WEEK 2023 COURSE

Overcome Price Objections with Next-Level Deal Desking & Financing

Your customers are more reluctant to buy because they are apprehensive about interest rates, boat pricing, credit requirements and are concerned about the economy. However, their objections are typically generated by false assumptions and misinformation. It’s critical for you to find effective ways to move these disinclined customers to the next step in the sales process. Through transparent and trusted conversations, your sales team can improve at negotiating, understand buyers’ financial motivations and share with them compelling reason to buy from you! Learn from finance experts Dom Zappia and Jamison Carrier in this Dealer Week Online course.

DW Online
Head shot of MRAA President Matt Gruhn in a blue collared shirt in front of wood backdrop
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2024’s Most Important Investment

The path to business growth and success is created by the individuals on your payroll. Their growth, through education and training, and success leads directly to your business’s growth and success. A Soundings Trade Only column by MRAA President Matt Gruhn.

GUIDE

The Guide to Navigating 2024

Strategy No. 2, Know Your Numbers, in the MRAA’s Guide to Navigating 2024 offers best practices and tactics managing your dealership’s daily, weekly and monthly figures. Staying in-tune with five internal metrics (Sales, Marketing, Customer, Service, and Parts) helps you keep watch of your successes and struggles. Your ability to comprehend and oversee these metrics will reveal to you areas for adjustment and chances for enhancement. They should be considered the pulse of your business.

MEMBERS ONLY:


Not a Member? Get a preview of the Guide to Navigating 2024, here.

business navigation guide for 2024 with tips for intentional action
ONLINE COURSE

Fill the Gaps in Your Sales Process

Chances are good that your sales team was not put under the microscope during the pandemic, because it was doing more order taking than it was hardcore sales efforts. In fact, the ease of sales, more than likely led to shortcuts and gaps within your sales process. Educators Jim Million and Bob McCann will help you identify gaps in your sales process and B.R.I.D.G.E. them. When you’re done, you will have the tools to offer a consistently outstanding customer experience that fits your prospects, customers, culture – and today’s market.

TRAINING ‘N’ TACTICS

7 Selling Strategies Your Dealership Needs

You need to feel confident in your sales team and know that they are at the top of their game. They should be assertive – ready, willing and able – so you can win every deal. Their success builds momentum for your dealership and gives them the drive to push for more. This MRAA Training ‘N’ Tactics course features Marcus Sheridan, a sales, marketing and customer-experience authority in the retail industry, who helps you examine your sales process. He shares seven practical strategies to install to help your sales team improve and generate memorable experiences for your customers.

Silver & Gold Members ONLY:

Not a Silver Member? Learn more about Silver Membership!

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RESOURCE

Four Square Closing Worksheet

Use the Four Square Closing Worksheet to find out what kind of buyer your customer is: a cash buyer, a payment buyer, do they have a trade-in or are they a difference buyer? This form is very similar to those used by automobile dealers to “desk” deals with prospective customers.

DEALER CASE STUDY

Engage More Customers, Sell More Boats

Proven tactics and business practices to help your dealership enhance its e-newsletter to ramp up customer engagement. MRAA Member Len’s Cove Marina shares some of its best practices for success to help you grow your digital marketing and customer connections.  

WEBINAR

Bulletproofing Your Dealership

Do you know if your dealership is in balance? Looking at your numbers will help you find the answer, but also give you a good idea if you need to fortify it.Learn tactics to help strengthen your dealership even in the face of uncertainty. From an economic downturn to weather-related events, educator Sara Hey can help every department, including sales, at your dealership generate money and contribute to your business’s profitability.

COURSE PACKAGE

Sales Basics Course Package
Master the Sales Basics:
A 5-part series for every dealership

Basic skills training and techniques are as important as ever, because the market has shifted again and sales are much harder to secure in a softer market with stiffer competition and excess inventory. Along with interacting with hyper-informed customers, who have unique demands and desire a customized buying experience, your dealership needs to self-evaluate its sales force and determine your strengths and weaknesses to refine your sales process in order to build strong customer relationships and sell boats.

COURSES INCLUDED:

  • Hitting & Blocking: The Fundamentals of Sales
  • Buyer Motivation: Key to Building Value
  • Get Real about Follow-Up or Get Gone
  • Questioning and Listening for Stellar Sales Results
  • Getting More People to the Desk