Blog Spotlight

By Jim Emmons For more than five years, I’ve been trying to learn exactly how so many people perish while enjoying paddlesports. According to the U.S. Coast Guard’s 2019 Recreational Boating Statistics report, 613 Americans died while boating. Of them, 167 died while participating in canoeing, kayaking, standup-paddleboarding, row-boating and on inflatables. While overall boating deaths have declined for three ...

Last week our team was honored with a visit from U.S. Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt. Secretary Bernhardt, the 53rd Secretary of the Interior manages over 20% of the land in the United States, a huge responsibility, so we appreciated his visit. I had met Secretary Bernhardt previously at a White House meeting, but this visit was the first ...

By Myril Shaw While the times and circumstances require social distancing and limited direct, face-to-face interactions, and while dealers have clearly developed great virtual/no-touch showrooms and selling techniques, one aspect of consummating the sale has not changed for boat dealers. When a customer wants to finance, the compliance requirements (Red Flag and Patriot Act laws) have not been reduced in ...

By Joe Iribarren Facebook Messenger is a tool many people use for messaging friends on the fly – but did you know it's also a secret marketing weapon? The platform has some valuable options that you can leverage to improve customer service, promote your inventory and more. Messenger has rapidly become some dealers' preferred way to connect with existing and ...

By Bill Yeargin It seems unnecessarily obvious to state this but, so far, 2020 has been challenging. First, dealing with COVID-19 and now experiencing the unrest over inequalities in our country. To many, it seems like we should hit a “reset” button on the year. Despite the chaos, people are looking for ways to reconnect with those most important to ...

By Mark Overbye We need a table, but not just any table, for our new boat brand soon to be in production. My wife’s an awesome cook and the prospect of her preparing food on the seat or the gunnel when boating with friends and family isn’t right. You’ve seen it too. Holding a drink between your legs while juggling ...

By Bill Yeargin The past 100 years has seen one crisis after another; WWI, the Spanish Flu, the stock market crash, the Great Depression, WWII, Korean War, flu’s of the 50’s and 60’s, Vietnam War, Oil Embargo, inflation, sky high interest rates, the ‘87 stock market crash, the Gulf War, 9/11, the Great Recession and now COVID-19. You’d think we ...

By David Gee A colleague who works as the editor at a sister publication recently went boat shopping to replace an aging pontoon at the family lake cabin. Since we are all hungry for news about “what it’s like out there” I thought I would share some of the anecdotes from his experience at the first dealer he went to. ...

By David Gee Working remotely isn’t new. But being forced into it in such widespread numbers, and so suddenly, is. “And we are being pushed either over, or right straight through, that learning curve,” says Dr. Mark Mortensen, an associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD. “But in all fairness, the technology is not new. I have been studying remote ...

By Myril Shaw COVID 19 may have forever changed the way F&I is done, and in several respects, perhaps that is for the best! Just as everyone is now learning how to set up virtual showrooms and touch-free sales, as well as safe social distance deliveries, it is time to learn about the best way to maximize F&I effectiveness and ...