The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas yesterday opened its annual Dealer Week conference at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. The conference began with a keynote headlined by sales and marketing author and speaker Marcus Sheridan, who shared strategies for dealership marketing in the digital age.

“Eighty-two percent of people who spend time online are watching videos,” Sheridan told the audience of approximately 600 people. “If you are not treating your dealership as a media company and not posting consistent multimedia content, you are going to get left behind.”

Sheridan continued by explaining seven habits that dealers need to be practicing to outperform competitors in their markets, which leads to a more robust customer pipeline. This included the use of artificial intelligence in streamlining marketing and daily operations.

“Artificial intelligence can revolutionize the way you run your business,” he said. “It can create a job description in only a matter of seconds, which would normally take up 30 minutes of your time. It will free you up to concentrate on what’s important in your business.”

The conference this year has drawn more than 130 exhibitors, which resulted in MRAA securing its largest-ever hall space. “In terms of the Expo Hall,” MRAA president Matt Gruhn said, “this is the biggest space we’ve ever occupied.”

More than 1,400 MRAA attendees are expected for the three-day event, according to MRAA, the second-largest ever.

Jeff Strong, president of Strong’s Marine and MRAA board chair, took the stage next to introduce Joe Lewis of Mount Dora Boating Center and Marine, who takes over as board chairman of the association. Strong has served on the board for 18 years.

Next, the members of the 2025 MRAA board were nominated and voted on, with no objections.

Gruhn wrapped up the 90-minute presentation and officially opened the conference. He thanked Strong for his legacy of service and ideas like Dealer Week, the organization’s member levels and culturing strategic partnerships in the industry.

“Jeff has been a dedicated member of our team for 18 years now,” Gruhn said. “He brought us the original idea for Dealer Week; suggested our gold, silver and bronze membership levels; and helped us with strategic partnerships in the industry.”

Gruhn also spoke about the association’s new Dealer Scorecard program, which aims to help set expectations between manufacturers and dealers.

“The introduction of MRAA’s Dealer-Manufacturer Scorecard program marks a significant moment for the marine industry,” Gruhn explained. “For decades, the boating industry has operated with a unique approach to dealer-manufacturer partnerships and has done so with very few examples of the parties standardizing communication and feedback on the partnership’s performance. This scorecard initiative seeks to not only provide a platform for quality feedback to be delivered to dealers and manufacturers, but through the conversations it will create and the performance improvement opportunities it will identify, we expect that these Scorecards will ultimately lead to a better boat buying and ownership experience.”

MRAA identified six key areas in the dealer-manufacturer relationship that impact the customer experience. Through analysis of those areas, MRAA’s board and strategic partners identified 10 performance categories for dealers and 10 performance categories for manufacturers and used them to build out the Scorecards. The pilot program has launched, and an industrywide rollout is expected in 2025.

Gruhn also announced that a new learning management system will come online soon, providing modules for members on topics such as service management, customer service and sales.

Additionally, Gruhn spoke about MRAA’s partnership with the National Marine Manufacturers Association and Discover Boating. “The online dealer finder tool has attracted 93,000 users in the United States and 25,000 in Canada,” he said. “Introductions to U.S. dealers are up 145% year-over-year and 106% in Canada.”

Gruhn closed by discussing a Careers in Boating tool, the renewal of the association’s certified service manager and advisor program, and Aimee, MRAA’s artificial intelligence software.

Dealer Week runs through midday Wednesday.