Insights from Boating Industry’s Top 20 Dealers: Atwood Lake Boats
Off the beaten path, thirty minutes East of Interstate 77 in Ohio, sits Atwood Lake Boats – on both the East and West sides of the lake. After a drive on the backroads, customers meet Boating Industry’s number 12-ranked dealership on its 2024 Top Dealers list.
Taking the reins from his father and mother, Michael Valot runs the dealership today alongside his wife, Holly. “We can’t say enough nice things about Michael and Holly, and Brian and Chris before them, and how they got us in this direction,” said Jon Poulson, business manager of Atwood Lake Boats.
The Valot family consists of the entire Atwood Lake Boats team. “We are all part of that family,” Poulson said. “Most of the employees are pretty tenured here. We have one that’s been here almost 30 years, we have one that just celebrated 25, there are 20-year employees…”
With a committed team, Atwood Lake Boats offers customers familiar faces and consistency, from its showrooms to its marinas.
“We have not had a lot of turnover in any major positions in the last six or seven years. We’re dialed in,” Poulson added. “We’re just lucky to have great people. It really comes back to the culture, where we all feel like family.”
The owners are available to the team with an open-door leadership style. Poulson is also in tune with employees. “If you’re having a rough day, we see it,” he said. “I’ll tell them to go for a walk, relax, give it a minute, give it fifteen minutes… It’s not run by a corporation. It’s run by a family business and that’s why we thrive.”
The two locations are made up of 25 full-time employees. “We have a bunch of young employees that work in the summertime seasonally, so we’re always trying to be good mentors for them,” Poulson said. “We had two of our dock boys come through who now hold full-time jobs here; one is in sales and one is a manager at our East marina [location]. They’re building careers at 22 years old, which is just phenomenal.”
Poulson got an early start to his career at Atwood Lake Boats, too. Having been around the Valot family since he was a pre-teen, then bartending at the restaurant next door throughout college, he was always near the business. The Valot family approached him after he graduated from college, and he joined the team as a salesperson. This year, he was recognized as a Boating Industry 40 Under 40 honoree for his outstanding leadership and dedication within the industry.
Sales status
Today, like all dealers across North America, Atwood Lake Boats is working harder for every sale. “This year has been challenging,” Poulson said. “We’ve had to dig deep, we’ve had to find new ideas, we’ve had to continue to follow up with the customers daily, weekly, monthly – whatever we can do.”
He explained that customers lack urgency. “I would say this is one of the most challenging years we’ve had, sales-wise. I don’t remember it being this hard to get somebody over the edge of the purchase.”
Despite this, the dealership is not far behind its sales goal. While the team is working harder with less return, Poulson said they are up for the challenge. “The sales staff doesn’t stop, and the service crew understands that if we don’t have the sales coming in, they make sure we’re getting more work. They’ve been doing more tune-ups, add-ons, things like that to offset the sales whenever we’re down.”
On a lake with a 25-horsepower restriction, the dealership has been strategic about its OEM partners. Atwood Lake Boats carries Barletta, Harris, Viaggio, Rossiter Boats and StarCraft.
OEM and customer relations
“My concern right now is probably the saturation of boats and pontoons,” Poulson said. “With that saturation, it’s hard to have a great year because we need to clean up that product before all of us can move forward. And that’s the industry as a whole.”
Although OEMs are facing their own headwinds, he shared that inventory shouldn’t be pushed onto dealers right now. “We’re lucky enough that our OEMs are doing that,” he added. “They’re not as concerned with big commitments as they are with us getting clean for model year 2026. That’s a concern. Hopefully the industry can all get on the same page.”
On the dealer level, he said it’s up to them to attend boat shows, stay up to date on training and continue building relationships with customers.
The team regularly uses AI to respond to emails and text messages. “You can instantly see when we text back that you’re talking to a person,” Poulson added. “That has to be authentic. It can’t just be AI talking back to a customer.”
They respond to leads through emails and text messages, typically within a minute, between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Poulson shared that customers have voiced their decision to work with Atwood Lake Boats because of the quick responses.
“That is our main focus at all times – make it easy on the customer, and we will get them year over year over year,” Poulson said. “And keep the friendly faces when they come in. It’s always the same people when they come in; we don’t have a huge turnover, so people have become accustomed to that. But capturing the new customer, they’re blown away by how easy it is to work with us.”
As a Top 20 Dealer
“If you would come to Atwood Lake, you have to get off a major interstate and travel backroads,” Poulson said. “It’s out in the middle of nowhere, and then [customers] get here and they see our showroom, our lake, our setup, and they can’t believe it… [To] be in this small area and be a Top 20 Dealer, it’s phenomenal.”
Atwood Lake Boats always has its foot on the pedal, and Pouslon shared that the team is proud to receive recognition outside of its own community.
Boating Industry invites dealers to apply to be recognized as one of the 2025 Top Dealers in North America. Applications are due September 8, 2025.
Meeting and exceeding rising consumer expectations is no small feat in today’s competitive market. Yet, these challenges have become second nature for professional dealerships, seamlessly woven into their daily operations. They recognize that true success lies not just in selling boats, but in delivering the full promise of the boating lifestyle.
If your company:
- Displays a consistent and clear understanding that the profitability of the organization is directly related to the extent that it focuses on customer satisfaction;
- Provides customers with an experience worth returning for and recommending to others;
- Prepares for future success with sound planning, marketing and training initiatives;
- Ensures an exceptional boating lifestyle…
