If you’re a boat dealer like I am, then I’m sure you, too, realize the Covid-fueled growth we’ve experienced has come to an end. Although this year kicked off with a great boat show for my business, the second quarter has seen leads and sales slow.

In fact, many dealers I speak with have experienced a 15% to 20% decline in sales revenue. As if that’s not tough enough, interest rates have risen significantly while inventory levels and turn ratios have normalized, yielding much higher floorplan costs. Net profits are being affected, for sure.

The headwinds are real. I believe that if we, as business owners, are honest with ourselves, we should expect that things are only going to get more challenging in the near term. The good news is that people want to go boating and enjoy the water. Dealers that nurture leads diligently with positive and assertive attitudes will be the winners.

This is where our friends at the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas can help us navigate the path forward. As chairman of the MRAA board of directors, I want to invite you — in fact, encourage you — to become a member and get involved with the programs this important organization delivers. I can tell you that, as one of the 16 board members who steer the MRAA ship, there has never been a dealer organization that better represents our collective interests as dealership owners and operators.

Consider March 2020, for example, when governments sought to close our businesses. It was the MRAA, working with our local associations, that provided clean, clear documents we could use to sway decision-makers. And through the extremely busy past few years, the team of 21 people at the MRAA provided valuable resources that helped us manage.

In my experience, far too many dealers fail to realize that the MRAA exists solely to help dealerships and team members succeed. If you haven’t recently explored how the MRAA can help you, then you should look again. Contact membership manager Sherri Cuvala at [email protected] to learn more.

The MRAA’s nonprofit status means that all of its revenue gets invested back into serving dealerships, as opposed to going into a business owner’s pocket. The MRAA needs your membership because a larger number of members will have a bigger impact on the organization’s important advocacy efforts and educational programs. Those programs allow dealers like us to rely on the MRAA as the source to improve our businesses.

Here’s how MRAA helps my business.

First, the MRAA’s training and education is far and away the No. 1 value. Dealer Week, the MRAA’s annual conference, is just one part of that value. There’s also the online education that you can find at mraatraining.com. A massive amount (240 courses) of dealer-specific education is available to your entire staff through MRAA membership. This content is delivered in a way that my staff and I can relate to. I guarantee that your dealership will see benefits from this content.

But don’t just take my word for it. “Being a member of MRAA has been a huge benefit for our team,” dealer Ed Watkins says. “I can 100% testify that if it wasn’t for the resources, material, the guidance that the MRAA provides … that is a true indicator of the performance and measurables that make Ed Watkins Marine win every year and allows us to grow and open our second location just two months ago.”

The second major benefit the MRAA provides is critical advocacy work. This is something dealers just can’t do on our own. We need an ally to watch out for our best interests. The MRAA performs well in this area, but an increasing number of these issues are coming at us through legislation, regulation and policies that could impede our success. We need more members to further strengthen the MRAA’s advocacy.

The third major benefit, the MRAA Certified Dealership program, has helped raise the benchmark for dealerships of all types and sizes. This program helps our team and hundreds of dealerships across our industry deliver a better employee experience and a better customer experience. From my experience, the anonymous employee satisfaction survey that the MRAA fields has been an immensely valuable part of the annual certification cycle. This benefit alone would be worth participating in the program.

Finally, the networking aspect that comes with being an MRAA member and attending Dealer Week has proved incredibly valuable for our team. The opportunity to meet fellow dealers and discuss thoughts, troubles and ideas has helped our team time and time again. That’s a big part of why I’ve devoted so much of my professional time to volunteering to support the MRAA.

And the MRAA staff has been amazing, making itself available on a year-round basis to fulfill the organization’s mission of fueling dealer success. I encourage you to reach out to the MRAA team and ask for direction or a connection to help you navigate whatever you might be dealing with. That’s what the MRAA is here for.

If you are a boat dealer, the MRAA is working on your behalf every day — whether you are a member or not. It’s an organization I want to support, and feel a duty to support, to know I’ve done my part to grow this great industry.

Our industry has navigated many ups and downs. Whether it was 2008 or 2020 or the slowdown/normalization we’re experiencing today, one of the constants has been the MRAA supporting dealerships at every step. I encourage you to support the growth of our industry through membership. Join me and hundreds of our colleagues at Dealer Week. Use the online training. And make sure you support the advocacy efforts so we can work together to create a stronger boating industry.

See you on the water. 

Jeff Strong is president of Strong’s Marine in Mattituck, N.Y., and chairman of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas board of directors.

This article was originally published in the June 2023 issue.