Guest Blog

By Mark Overbye I recently called a service business and was greeted by a gruff “Hello.” This was followed by, “Hang on,” when they paged the right person. Their harsh and uninviting tone was hardly the recipe for building a relationship. They didn’t know me; I was simply a first-time caller inquiring about their services. This presents the proverbial fork in the ...

By Mark Babbitt At one point not too long ago, it seemed an economic recovery was inevitable. But, COVID variants combined with politics-as-usual—along with what many people believe to be a labor shortage —stopped many businesses and industries from regaining momentum.  While we can’t solve the COVID crisis as quickly as we’d like, we can beat the labor shortage. At ...

By Myril Shaw The Senate recently narrowly approved President Biden’s pick, Rohit Chopra, to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. News outlets say the confirmation gives the bureau a director who is likely to embrace an aggressive “watchdog” role as a consumer advocate, and one who favors stiff penalties for bad actors such as predatory lenders. Like it or not, ...

By Stephanie Vatalaro To build a pipeline of future participants, we must start engaging younger, more multicultural audiences now. That could be said about any number of things, but we know it to be true about fishing and boating. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, for the first time in history, the white population has decreased and our country is ...

By Myril Shaw A new form of identity theft known as synthetic fraud is on the rise. And you won’t like what we have to say about it. With traditional identity theft, someone will normally notice something amiss or unusual or inflated on their credit report, credit card statement, or bank statement. With synthetic fraud, there is nothing to notice. ...

By the Water Sports Foundation All over the country this upcoming holiday weekend, boaters will be cruising to popular gathering spots for watersports, to raft up, drop anchor and swim, enjoy barbecues and cap off festivities with spectacular fireworks celebrations.  “After a year of Covid restrictions, boaters are out on the water in force, soaking up plenty of sun and ...

By Steven Graham Ensuring a loan package is funded quickly is important to your dealership’s business. It takes all three parties – you, your customer, and your F&I team – working in step to make it happen smoothly. Yet, every loan is unique in some way, and requires specific instructions based on the customer, lender, and dealer. So, how do ...

By Wanda Kenton Smith With new and used boat sales soaring to record highs in 2020 to first-time boat buyers, boating safety stakeholders are taking extra measures to communicate and promote safe boating practices in advance of the busy summer boating season. “The pandemic literally saw hundreds of thousands of newcomers join the ranks of first-time boat owners, so we’re ...

By Ezequiel Arredondo Are you struggling to connect with your online audience? Does it seem as though even the most carefully crafted ads fall short of achieving your marketing goals? If your ad campaign ROI isn’t where you need it to be, take a long, hard look at who is seeing your ads and whether your ad content fulfills the ...

By Frank Peterson I started my career in sales, spending over 13 years at Mobil Oil Corporation, before opening my own business. I know, personally, the importance of hitting quarterly and annual sales goals and turning a profit. But I also learned how important it is to plan for the long haul. In fact, it was that long term planning ...