Tag Archives: Boat Dealer Profits

By Matt Sellhorst If you’ve studied successful companies and businesspeople, you may recognize this story. Back in the earlier days of Amazon, founder Jeff Bezos shared the following when talking about how he plans the direction for the company who at the time was focused on book sales (remember those days?):  I very frequently get the question: “What’s going to ...

By Matt Sellhorst With an unprecedented busy season behind us and an unpredictable 2021 ahead of us, it’s time to focus on the fundamentals and utilize proven technology for a successful 2021. Here are seven fundamentals to focus on during this off-season: Improve interview portion of the sales process One of the most overlooked and most impactful portions of the ...

By Matt Sellhorst The data is coming out and the 2020 season has been an enormous success so far, especially considering the state of the world, upcoming presidential election and overall uncertainty. It’s great to celebrate, then, ask what’s next? Virtually every dealer has added new clients and generated a ton of new leads. So, in addition to the huge ...

By Matt Sellhorst Have you ever watched a YouTube video while researching a major purchase? Video is one of the best tools for those early stages in the educational spectrum of a boat buyer.  Now, what if you could show your video ad to those people watching videos that are likely in boat shopping mode? With more and more people ...

By Matt Sellhorst Words have power. The power of words can change over time. For example, if I said Corona just a few months ago, what would pop into your head? A sandy beach, a lime and a beer, right? Now, what pops into your head? As a write this, even my 6-year-old girl Emery would say “the virus.” This ...

By Matt Sellhorst Let me tell you one of my favorite stories to illustrate the impact of attitude and expectations. A man who was traveling came upon a farmer working in his field. The man asked him what the people in the next village were like. The man responded, “They were kind, friendly, generous, great people.” “You’ll find the people ...

By Matt Sellhorst The past several years have been what I call “boom” years for most dealers. Sales volume is up, units are up in most segments and times are pretty good. But, could they be better? What happens if there’s a slowdown? Or what if the election cycle triggers the typical uncertainty that could impact sales? If your dealership ...

So, last time we talked about quality lead generation and I gave you a simple challenge.  Did you accept it? I hope so.  And, congratulations if you did take action. Now that you’ve taken action on the lead generation opportunity, let’s turn our attention to converting the leads we do have to face-to-face sales opportunities. Once you have a quality ...

One of the services we offer our clients is to mystery shop their competitors. When traveling, I typically stop at a dealer or two to shop them in person and attend multiple boats shows each season. It's part market research for my clients and part industry research for my team and me.  One of the biggest areas of opportunities I've ...

On a recent three-day boot camp, I asked my photographer to drive around the area getting photos of various local boating destinations, including the waterfront down town, the signature bridges, local marinas and a few other specific requests. After her adventure, she told me the story of meeting a man at one of the marinas that told her he was ...