• Tactical solutions to help your dealership overcome key challenges and enhance your profitability By Chris Kulaga, Product Manager, Lightspeed As the marine industry continues to evolve, your dealership has already seen new opportunities and challenges in 2024. Along with being able to adapt, your team must maintain your primary goal to provide customers with […]
Tag: MRAA Spotlight
8 Steps for Improving at Boat Buying
There’s no doubt you want your customers to buy more boats. First, it will improve your dealership’s inventory levels and, in turn, help you gain more space in your showroom. Secondly, it will help you hone your boat-buying plan for 2025 vessels. But it can feel downright nerve wracking to focus on your dealership’s strategic […]
‘Pop-up’ Boat Show
Sales have slowed and are struggling to recover. Customers seem to be hiding from dealers. Banks appear scared of lending. Inventory is back to normal, or worse even higher. Almost everyone has a trade-in vessel where they owe a lot more than it is worth. As a dealer principal, sales manager, or other leader in […]
Let Data Be Your Pathway to Insights & Predictive Solutions
We have all been there, sitting in a meeting when someone says the word. Everyone around the room instantly thinks: is it DAY-ta or DA-tuh? It doesn’t matter how you say it! Both forms are considered acceptable English pronunciations of the word data. Don’t believe me? Watch this! What DOES matter about data is that […]
Discover Boating Drives Introductions Across Digital Touchpoints
To successfully achieve its mission, Discover Boating uses digital touchpoints, or introductions, to connect potential and current boaters with manufacturers and dealers.
The Service Shuffle
A look at service department pain points and potential solutions from MRAA’s recent Pulse Report. To be an elite dealership, you need your Service & Parts Departments to follow and maintain a tight, structured schedule, yet remain flexible to effectively upsell and schedule future work to add cash flow. However, it’s not easy to be […]
Boost Customer Experience & Boater Retention by Throwing a Helpline
• How Providing a Summer Season Hotline Will Improve Your Customers’ Boat Ownership Experience As our team was building the June MRAA Spotlight page about keeping your customers boating, Barletta, an MRAA Strategic Partner, announced that it was improving its Holiday Hotline by transitioning it into a Summer Season Helpline. This initiative is an inspiring […]
22 Tips to Tackle High Rates & Finance More Deals
Higher interest rates are putting a damper on customers’ interest in financing their boat purchases. In a recent MRAA Pulse Report Survey, about 8 out of 10 dealers cited high interest rates as the biggest obstacle to customer financing. Low lender approval rates came in second, followed by “perceived values of trade-ins” and “other.” There’s […]
Begin with ‘GOOD’ to Become Great!
Have you ever uttered the word “good” when something goes wrong at your dealership? Chances are you’ve said a different word, perhaps one with a negative or “bad” connotation. Jocko Willink, author and retired Navy Seal officer, has shared on his podcast his philosophical approach to responding with “good” when problems crop up. How comfortable […]
Installing an Onboarding Process to Help Employees Find Success
Recently you’ve probably heard about the terms “quiet quitting” and “voluntary turnover” while researching hiring and onboarding for your dealership. One reason for these terms and their rise can be attributed to reduced employee engagement and less satisfaction within the workplace. And a lack of training — a problem that often begins as soon as […]