Keys to inventory control

At Seattle Boat Co., president Alan Bohling knows there are several keys to successful inventory management.

In his perspective, those keys include maintaining a great relationship with manufacturer partners, including shared trust and respect; a precise annual history of inventory levels at a specific date; set annual unit and model goals that involve every sales team member; a precise ordering plan for the entire year ahead, complete with a week-by-week delivery schedule; regular reviews of inventory and production and no fear to make adjustments, providing ample advance notification to manufacturers; and substantial pre-sold activity with sales programs designed around special order offers.

While all of these things have contributed to an incredible year for the third-ranked dealer in Boating Industry’s 2007 list of Top 100 Dealers, one program stood out as a best practice among all of this dealer’s inventory management efforts: it’s Order Smart Fall/Winter Layaway program.

With Order Smart, Seattle Boat Co. allows its customers to order their favorite Cobalt or Sunseeker boat and receive the best discounts for the coming year. And it guarantees those boat buyers with an additional 5-percent discount compared to January boat show prices.

By putting only 10 percent down, customers are guaranteed delivery with no payments until April of the following year, and the program protects them from any year-end factory increases.

For Bohling and Seattle Boat Co., the proof is in the purchases. This program, which was formally named after years of standing on its own simply as a layaway program, now accounts for 20 to 25 percent of the company’s annual new boat sales. The dealer focuses all of its Fall events on this sales program and has realized myriad other efficiencies including taking customers off the market before boat show season and providing additional income for sales reps during a traditionally down time.

And that is ordering smart