Tag Archives: Columns

By Adam Quandt In 2004, Boating Industry unveiled the Top 100 Dealers program as an effort to independently rank and recognize the best boat dealers across North America. With the industry’s help and support, the Top 100 program has grown to unimaginable heights and celebrated marine retailers across the continent over 17 years. Moving into year 18, our industry continues ...

By Adam Quandt It’s time for some truth. The recreational boating industry is one that is often slightly slow to change. Sometimes it’s because the technological advances found in other industries aren’t quite able to operate in a marine environment just yet, other times we simply look at things and say, “that’s how we’ve always done things.” The latter is ...

By Matt Sellhorst Have your sales become more transactional in the past several years? For many dealers that has become the norm with the flood of demand, the trickle of supply and limited time to get boats delivered.  Maybe you’ve had a few more disgruntled clients because of delays in major unit delivery. Maybe you’ve had a few service clients ...

By Adam Quandt It’s no secret that nature is our playground. Not just to the marine industry alone, but to our larger outdoor recreation ecosystem. Thus, it should be a no-brainer for all of us across the industry to play a role in protecting and preserving that playground for generations to come. According to data collected by the United Nations, ...

By Margaret Podlich Thousands of polite, pulled-together, 16-22 year olds descended on Atlanta during a sweltering week in June. They hailed from high schools, post-secondary technical schools, and community colleges from around the country. All students were required to dress appropriately for their trade, so some were in white double-breasted chef coats, others in pressed Carhartt khaki top and bottom ...

By Matt Edmundson We all know of the skills gap, but is it different for us in the marine industry? What trade other than a marine technician must have such a versatile skill set to be successful? How do we find and train new techs? Compared to similar industries such as automotive or aerospace, the marine industry has historically not ...

By Matt Sellhorst What is one of the first things people do when they are shopping for a new boat? What do they do after talking to your salesperson or seeing a boat listing from your dealership? The answer: they google “Boat Dealers Near Me” or the name of your dealership. What will your potential future clients find when they ...

By David Gee The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create.” Leonard I. Sweet What kind of future is the recreational boating industry working to create? What will power the boats of the future? And what will be at the heart of these next generation propulsion systems? High energy-density Lithium-ion batteries, or something we may ...

By Adam Quandt Prior to World War I, three-fourths of all women employed in manufacturing were making apparel or its materials, food or tobacco products, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. During the war, the number of women in the workforce began to increase, as did their opportunities across occupations. In 1920, 20% of the U.S. labor force was ...

By Wanda Kenton Smith As we celebrate Boating Industry’s Women Making Waves, I can’t help but reflect on my 40-plus-year industry career and the mentors who believed in me and made it all possible. Terry Snow of World Publications gambled on a driven young journalist and launched my career into the marine stratosphere when he hired me to edit World ...