Brunswick adds to Dealer Advantage offerings

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Brunswick Corp., introduced several new benefits this week for members of its Dealer Advantage program, including reduced pricing for Web site, lead management and lead generation services and discounted Internet classified listings and advertising.

Qualified participants in the program may now take advantage of reduced pricing for Web site and lead management solutions through Channel Blade Technologies, Brunswick said in a statement Thursday.

“Boat dealers have enough to do without having to be Internet experts,” said Brunswick chairman and CEO Dustan E. McCoy. “By providing them with more affordable access to professional Web site solutions, we are introducing yet another advantage to help their businesses succeed. Combined with the lead management solution, dealers will have powerful tools to generate more leads and to convert more leads into sales.”

Channel Blade’s Web site solutions include content management functionality enabling dealers to make changes to their sites instantly. A dealer can update photographs, add models, modify and distribute inventory to third-party classified portals and more.

“Channel Blade’s Web site solutions make managing your online business easy,” said Channel Blade’s Founder and Executive Vice President Charles Lewis. “Our Web sites directly contribute to the success of the most profitable dealerships in the industry – more leads in less time drive more profits.”

Dealer Advantage participants also will have access to discounted pricing for Channel Blade’s Footsteps lead management solution.

“Industry experts approximate that 60 percent of Internet leads currently go completely unanswered,” said Dealer Advantage Director Betsy Lazzara. “If even a small percentage of those leads can be converted to sales it’s a significant source of potential revenue for our dealers.”

Brunswick said all participating Dealer Advantage dealers would have access to significant savings on Web site and lead management solutions. Dealers achieving the gold and platinum levels will benefit from additional products and services including reduced pricing for on-site education as well as lead and inventory integration with IDS
– Brunswick’s dealer management system.

In addition, platinum level dealers will have access to product data for all Brunswick brands they carry. By registering with Channel Blade as a Brunswick Dealer Advantage dealer, current Channel Blade customers also may be eligible for these benefits.

Internet classified discounts
Brunswick Corp., has also reached an agreement with BoatTrader.com to provide qualified marine dealers discounted pricing for new and used online boat listings.

“The Boat Trader name has long been recognized as a powerful resource for boat buyers, as is evidenced by the strong traffic on the site,” Lazzara said in a release on Wednesday. “Many of our dealers already have a presence on BoatTrader.com. This agreement is designed to make it even more affordable for our dealers to reach more customers in both the new and used boat markets.”

Current BoatTrader.com customers also have the opportunity to take advantage of Brunswick Dealer Advantage reduced monthly pricing by registering to participate with BoatTrader.com as a Brunswick Dealer Advantage dealer.

All qualified dealers will receive the same rate discounts from BoatTrader.com regardless of their level of participation in Brunswick Dealer Advantage.

To ensure inventory accuracy, dealers have access to a pass code protected inventory management tool which allows them to input changes to their inventory listings from any computer, day or night. Each account is also monitored by a dedicated dealer support specialist to ensure optimum marketing effectiveness.

Lead generation, advertising discounts
And in a press release this morning, Brunswick Corp., reported that is has reached an agreement with iboats.com to offer qualified Dealer Advantage members lead generation capabilities and discounted Internet-based advertising.

“Statistics show that three out of four retail customers are researching their boat purchases via the Internet,” McCoy said in the release. “Our goal is to team up with the best partners in that medium to provide information, while promoting and preserving the dealer-customer relationship.”

The iboats.com site features new boat and engine data for one-stop consumer research. Combined with its new and used boat search capabilities, iboats.com boasts up to four million visitors per month and an online forum community in excess of 90,000 members.

Current iboats.com customers also have the opportunity to take advantage of the reduced monthly Dealer Advantage pricing if they register to participate with iboats.com as Brunswick Dealer Advantage dealers.

Dealer Advantage
Brunswick Dealer Advantage features three levels of participation – silver, gold and platinum – each based on the percentage of the dealership’s retail business dedicated to Brunswick boats and/or Mercury Marine engines. The stronger the partnership with Brunswick, the higher the dealership’s level of eligibility and the more benefits they can access through Dealer Advantage.

All U.S.-based marine dealerships that are in good standing and carry a Brunswick-owned boat line or Mercury Marine engines are eligible at the baseline silver level. There is no cost to participate and dealers may opt to participate in all or some of the benefits depending on their unique business needs.

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