Build a Solid Lead Form to Capture Info

Pre-season is in full swing! Some dealers are smack-dab in the middle of their boat show, and others have already wrapped theirs and are in follow-up mode. In-house events will continue from now until late spring, and boaters are getting excited for the upcoming season. While the traffic may be smaller than normal due to lingering COVID-19 variant fears, economic uncertainties and industry challenges, boat show attendees are determined buyers. With that in mind, be sure you team is prepped with the correct tools to make capturing leads much simpler, because now is the time to start collecting — and qualifying — your leads!

In early 2020, the Marine Industry Certified Dealership program teamed up with expert Don Cooper, The Sales Heretic, to develop a course about boat shows. In “Maximize Your Boat Show Sales,” Don focuses two of his chapters on lead generation and follow up.

Your lead form, he says, should include six types of information:
1. Motivation
2. Experience
3. Usage
4. Criteria
5. Budget
6. Timetable

These items will help your sales team understand how to interact with their prospects, which boat to pair them with and when they’re looking to buy.

Don also recommends you have a follow-up process after any event, whether it’s a boat show or an in-house event.

That process should include:
• Entering all leads into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system
• Assigning all leads to salespeople
• Ensuring follow-up is completed and tracked
• Sharing follow-up success stories
• Rewarding team members who stay on track with their follow-up

Don dives deeper into this topic and others in his course, which the Certification program has made available to all MRAA Silver and Gold members. You can access the course here after you’re logged into MRAATraining.com. Don also has a variety of resources available on his site, DonCooper.com.