2018 Editor’s Choice: Nautical Ventures

Nautical Ventures

Dania Beach, Fla.

Offering everything from kayaks to literal cruise ships, Nautical Ventures of Dania Beach, Fla. continuously pushes the envelope of what a marine dealership can be.

The Nautical Ventures Group has three dealership locations around southeast Florida: a flagship store in Dania Beach, a 26,000-square foot showroom and more in North Palm Beach, and a Riviera Beach store. Between the three locations, Nautical Ventures features ample showing space, service and storage, office space, and much more.

Earning its first Top 100 accolades in 2016, Nautical Ventures has used being a little different than the traditional dealership to launch itself into success.

“We believe our efforts to maintain a position within the Top 100, with a goal to become a Top 20 dealer, make us a better dealership year-round,” says Nautical Ventures CEO Roger Moore.

One of Nautical Ventures’ biggest attributions to its continued success is not being afraid to take a chance on something or fail, Moore says.

“Rather than poke holes in an idea and talk about how it won’t work, we take an idea and figure out ways that it will work,” he adds.

The combination of selling top-tier boat brands such as Axopar and Schaefer Yachts alongside “boat toys” like NautiBuoy inflatables and SeaBobs, has brought some judgment upon Nautical Ventures from others in the industry, but the dealership’s growing numbers each year prove success.

On top of more than a 24 percent increase in revenue over 2016, Nautical Ventures spent 2017 pushing itself further to be bigger, more efficient, and recognized more than ever before.

Throughout 2017, Nautical Ventures made multiple renovations to various facilities including its service building and yard to streamline service operations, and an upgraded parts department.

With facility upgrades, Nautical Ventures tacked on a 20 percent increase in staff, allowing the service department to greatly increase its efficiency, and the dealership to bring on a dedicated event coordinator to better implement the dealership’s growing list of organic events and boat shows.

Also new for 2017, Nautical Ventures implemented a new dealership credit card program that offers customers on-the-spot financing for a purchase as low as $500. Nautical Ventures Director of Marketing Frank Ferraro says the new financing opportunity has given the younger buyer a way to get involved with the dealership even if he or she isn’t not buying a new boat just yet.

No matter the results of the previous year, Moore and his Nautical Ventures team are looking to the future, to improve on themselves, and push the dealership forward together, all while serving the customer with the most superior of service.

“We have a public positioning line of ‘Customers first is our first order of business’,” Moore says. “We honestly do what we say we will do and this breeds satisfied customers.”

Nautical Ventures’ commitment to its customers shines in an average CSI score of 97 percent for 2017, based on CSI scores from 12 different brands.

“Our mindset is not to sell a boat to a customer, but to fulfill a customer’s dreams or needs,” Moore says. “We take on more of a consulting role, not a sales role.”

In looking to its future, the dealership is currently in the bidding process to purchase additional land at its flagship location, with plans to expand the retail showroom and build a new, state-of-the-art service center.

On top of expansion at its flagship store, Nautical Ventures has its sights set on further expansion into new areas of Florida and beyond.

Within the next year, Nautical Ventures is also looking to add to its already impressive list of organic events, including its first-ever Nautical Ventures Owners Rendezvous, which will take place in Bimini.

However, Ferraro says that one goal Nautical Ventures has the biggest eyes for in its future is cracking the Top 20 in the Top 100 list.