Let’s start with what we know: It’s tough out there for boat dealers right now. Excessive floorplan interest and curtailments make managing inventory challenging, at best. Consumer interest rates make dealerships fight to the last moment to close (and keep) a sale. Boat shows have been hit-and-miss. Promotions and incentives aren’t creating the urgency we’d like to see. And as the 2025 model year creeps up, many of us are still trying to liquidate 2023 inventory. The never-ending inability to find qualified new hires only makes things worse.
These are the harsh realities of today’s marketplace. They are not, however, showstoppers. They make things tough, but they don’t make them impossible.
Business owners, managers and high-performing team members can make sound, strategic decisions for the balance of 2024 and into the 2025 model year. In fact, dealers are finding numerous paths to success. Here are some ideas based on what dealers are saying.
You’ve heard the old axiom that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. In my opinion, this should be a guiding principle in a market where it’s difficult just to get customers through the door. Ask yourself (and your team): When potential buyers do show up, what is their experience? Are the sales team, service department and lot attendant making a strong first impression? Every single person plays a role in the customer experience. Are they prepared with the right welcoming introduction? Can they follow internal processes to maximize the chance to close a sale?
How about the dealership and inventory? What’s the initial impression on customers? Is the dealership clean from the parking lot to the service department to the restrooms? Is every piece of inventory clean and delivery-ready?
The appearance of the team, facility and inventory goes a long way toward a potential customer’s confidence in any dealership. That matters more than ever, because in a slow marketplace, consumers feel at risk parting with their money. Finding ways for them to feel more comfortable can be as easy as ensuring a professional look and feel. A little more attention to detail will set apart a business from the competition.
To take the staffing element further, one dealer recently revised every job description in the dealership. He met with every team member to ensure that each of them fully understood his or her role, then went over all the job descriptions with the entire staff to make sure everyone knew their
co-workers’ responsibilities. Some changes were made along the way, and this approach sharpened the dealership’s day-to-day execution.
Other dealers referred to right-sizing their businesses. Right-sizing can mean staff and payroll reductions, or it can mean realignment that ensures everyone is in the right role and knows what’s expected of them. Particularly in a slower sales environment, there’s time to take a closer look, realign around customer needs, document processes and update job descriptions to reflect those processes.
When it’s necessary to work harder for slimmer margins, establishing good processes goes hand-in-hand with making first impressions and right-sizing the business. Many dealers say they have become intently focused on these critical areas.
New or revised processes and job descriptions also necessitate training team members on each step in those processes. Explaining why each step is important, along with teaching how to execute each step, proves significantly valuable with customers. Anyone focused on delivering a world-class customer experience has that level of attention to detail.
Great dealers also establish key performance indicators or scorecards to track and measure progress toward goals.
Whether such metrics pertain to business-generating phone calls, lead-generation efforts by a marketing team, or weekly financial updates, what’s important is communicating, monitoring and sharing the key numbers so that everyone on the team is focused on what matters most.
Quality performance tracking ties metrics to the activities found within processes, and ultimately gives a business the ability to adjust processes when things aren’t working well. With many dealers struggling in the current marketplace, there’s an opportunity to improve processes with a data-tracking system.
Such a disciplined, process-focused approach also allows better customer focus. Pivots can be faster with pricing and marketing decisions, in addition to the overall go-to-market strategy. Specific tactics, such as moving aged inventory or making a service department more efficient, can be implemented. Customer outreach, scheduling service and deliveries can be paired with targeted marketing campaigns that help give sales and service teams reasons to call current and prospective customers.
All of this goes into providing the most impactful first impression in any community.
Matt Gruhn is president of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas.
This article was originally published in the June 2024 issue.
