By Bob Schwartz, Performance, Inc.

In tough times, dealerships need fewer employees to step up and carry the load. To do that, they need motivated employees — which is partially about hiring the right people, and partially about putting the right pay plans in place.

There’s no question that there’s a delicate balance in there, and marine industry veteran, Bob Schwartz of ADP/Performance Inc., will focus on the how to succeed in this area with his topic “Pay Plans That Work,” the culmination of the Powering Profits educational track at the 2010 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, scheduled for Nov. 14-17 in Orlando, Fla.

“All things being equal, you want a pay plan that brings out the best in your employees,” Schwartz explains. “You want a plan that encourages employees to maximize the potential of the business. That’s what this session is all about.”

In this session, Schwartz will spend a few minutes discussing pay plan theory, cover the relationship between job satisfaction and a pay plan, and review the way people are paid today in most dealerships, marinas and boatyards. Schwartz will provide not only the theory but a worksheet of practical pay plans that help add to the profitability of the dealership.

To learn more about “Pay Plans That Work,” make plans to attend the 2010 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, to be held in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 14-17. With three concurrent educational tracks and more than 20 individual educational sessions, this event has been designed to help dealers return to the growth phase they knew prior to the economic downturn.

Schwartz’s “Pay Plans That Work” is the final session of the Powering Profits track, the newest track at MDCE, geared specifically toward dealer principals. It’s preceded by presentations on how dealers could have been better prepared for the economic recession, how to adopt best practices, how to (re)build your dealership’s culture, best ideas from marine dealers and fact-driven dealer management.

Other MDCE offerings include the Sales & Marketing track, which is perfect for sales managers and marketing managers and includes topics such as how to make more money by discounting less and charging more, high-impact, low-cost marketing tactics, the keys to succeeding as a 24/7 marine dealer, converting online leads into sales profits, immediate results using search engine marketing, and closing sales in a difficult economy. The Service Department track will be held concurrently, with a focus on how to be a successful service advisor, solving your most troubling service problems, Web strategies for service profits, operational excellence and financial management for service managers and more. The event will also feature a general session and two keynote sessions, as well.

“We’ve covered all the bases with the education this year, making quality content, specific to service managers, sales managers, marketing managers and dealership principals alike, available in an unprecedented format,” explains Matt Gruhn, publisher of Boating Industry magazine, which partners with the Marine Retailers Association of America to produce the MDCE. “This will, without question, be the best line-up of education this event has ever produced.”