Blogs

Joe Cavarretta has sat through enough budget meetings to know that it can be tough to live up to numbers that were put to paper months prior. In today's economy, "tough" can be an understatement of magnificent proportions. But Cavarretta has devised a method, along with fellow managers at Riva Motorsports, a seven-brand powersports dealer in Pompano Beach, Fla., that ...

A few months ago, I contributed to an article Boating Industry magazine published on competitive advantage. The core message of the article is that dealers need to be constantly reassessing their competitive advantages, especially in this economy when the marketplace is changing so fast. Then, they need to go out and tell that story to their employees, their business partners, ...

I spent the earlier part of this week attending the Nautic Global Group dealer meeting. The event was great. There was plenty of time for viewing and testing product, for meeting with NGG team members, for networking with fellow dealers, for a valuable business meeting, a series of awards, great meals, great music and just an all-around good time. This ...

Denny Hecker is widely known in the Minneapolis/St. Paul-area. A long-time auto dealer based here in the Twin Cities, Hecker's career changed abruptly this year when, under the pressure of the economy, his numerous area businesses collapsed dramatically. Over the course of the last few months, Hecker's empire has come crashing down around him in unimaginable fashion. According to the ...

Ever since I visited powersports dealership West Hills Honda last month, I've been thinking about how vital a company's culture is to its success, especially in today's economy. In a recent blog on HarvardBusiness.org, Peter Bregman described a company's culture as "a complex system with a multitude of interrelated processes and mechanisms that keep it humming along." "Performance reviews and ...

When I was seven years old, I spent a lot of time fishing with my brother and our buddies. I would ride my bike about a mile from our house, rod and reel resting comfortably across the handlebars, to an old bridge that spanned a river in the local park. Catching fish seemed incredibly easy back then. We'd fill a ...

You should know, as you begin reading this, that I am an optimist at heart. Problems phase me for only a moment. I look for (and usually find) opportunity in every situation. And I believe that good things will happen to people and companies that make decisions that reflect the best interests of the people, industries and communities they serve. ...

My wife and I are aspiring boat owners. At least, I thought we were - until last weekend when she informed me it wasn't worth the headache.

The nomination process built into the Top 100 Dealers Program is a critical component to the success of the ranking’s creation each year. We receive thousands of dealer nominations, and they help us find the dealers that are regarded as among the best by third-party companies. The nominations come in from boat builders, engine manufacturers, service providers — all sectors ...

Tough times have a way of either pulling people and companies together or splitting them apart. While both can be beneficial when they occur for the right reasons, collaboration has the potential to deliver much more dramatic results.