That’s what a large dealer once said to me. However, he immediately added: “But I must admit the only bad show would be the one I’m not in!”
His observation was true then and it will also be true when the winter show season kicks off in January. With Thanksgiving now behind us and Christmas just weeks away, we’re mired in what is traditionally the slowest boat sales period of the year. So, now is the time for every dealer to recognize they’ll need a winter boat show or two in their market area to get revenue moving again.
Like it or not, some things never change. The power of the winter boat show has always been in its success in drawing thousands of attendees, with a demonstrable interest in boats, to one location at a guaranteed time. Indeed, our industry has yet to find a more productive marketing medium that puts products and sales teams face-to-face in numbers that can’t be duplicated any other way. More about this later.
To illustrate, I recall when a very good Michigan dealer I’d served for years decided to reduce his costs by not exhibiting in our show and, instead, held an open house on the same weekend. He attracted just over 200 existing customers, a handful of prospects, and closed 3 boats. He later shared that while his sales team was dealing with a few hundred qualified people, he realized they were missing the greater possibilities that the nearly 40,000 boaters at the show represented. He never failed to exhibit big again.
Admittedly, no one can know if he would have closed more boats at the show than at his open house. But it can be concluded that he failed to get in front of and capture many hundreds more prospects for the future. It’s a fact that having a show exhibit isn’t just about closing deals on the floor. It’s actually about buying access to a critically large audience. It’s about stocking the dealership sales team’s funnel with as many new prospects as possible going forward.
Now, there’s no ignoring the fact that we’re living in a digital age marked by internet research, social media, email, websites, smartphones, 3D printers, drones and more. While lots of products are sold online this way today, it’s certainly not the way most boats are sold.
It doesn’t take a Harvard economics degree to see the building problem. A deteriorating economy, rising interest rates and a softening demand for large durable hardgoods, such as automobiles, are a clear signal of continuing economic decline. The boating industry is facing the same headwinds as many other industries and these economic challenges will likely last for an extended period.
While prospective customers surely research boating and boat brands online, boat buying remains a tactile process — something generally true for most high-end products. Buyers want to physically compare by sitting in the boat, touching it, smelling it, seeing how the family reacts to it and taking a moment to imagine spending summer in it. Digital marketing cannot replace good old fashioned face-to-face selling, especially to people who’ve paid admission to get into a show where they can see, touch and talk boats with you. Talk about a qualified audience!
Economists and others are now on record as expecting slower growth in 2023. In times when there’s likely to be little, if any, market expansion ahead, every marine dealer’s goal must be to maintain market share. It’s also why manufacturers must make sure their product lines are represented at boats shows. Dealers and manufacturers who are not in the shows are literally giving up their share to others who are there and happy to take it.
Dealers who haven’t signed up for their local winter show should start living in today’s realities or risk losing sales and profits. I urge you all — don’t pass up your local boat show this winter.
