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 ...
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Making the most of your online dealership profile
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 ...
Read More »How will you handle a slow down in demand?
By Matt Sellhorst As a dealership owner or marketing expert, are you monitoring Google Trends for “Boats for Sale” or “Your Style of Boats for Sale.” This can be an outstanding tool for seeing demand trends in the industry and it’s obviously slowing. We knew this would happen, the question is, how will you and your team respond? With this ...
Read More »Is your sales team prepared for success?
By Matt Sellhorst Going to boat shows is something I’ve done since I was a kid back in Nebraska. This year I’ve already attended four and plan to sneak a few more in by the time boating weather arrives. Mystery shopping at the shows, I’ve seen some good, some bad and some ugly in my interactions with salespeople, as well ...
Read More »My favorite leverage points in sales and marketing
By Matt Sellhorst What is one thing we all need more of in this industry? Time (though I would also take skilled labor and technicians too, but that’s another article). There just isn’t enough time to do all the things that need to get done at the dealership. The staffing is forever tight. Everyone is doing multiple jobs.You know the ...
Read More »A few random thoughts as fall approaches
By Matt Sellhorst With summer winding down, school back in session and so on many of us are getting back to more “normal routines.” Hopefully we are getting back to a more normal life all the way around, because these past 18 months I know I’ve felt out of sorts at times. Maybe you can relate, if you’ve had the ...
Read More »Are you delivering top-notch customer service?
By Matt Sellhorst Your sales are through the roof. Margins are up due to insane demand and stunted supply. Your service department is busier than ever, even if some parts and materials are harder to come by. The question is, are you doing an outstanding job taking care of your clients across the entire dealership to ensure they continue as ...
Read More »Inventory is low, low, low…Now what?
By Matt Sellhorst Here’s a conversation a serious boat buyer shared with me the other day: He was searching for a 22- to 24-foot tri-toon with 150hp in a few of the mid-price range brands in the Midwest. As you can imagine, his search was coming up empty in an effort to get on the water this summer. A particular ...
Read More »How to start planning for 2022 and beyond?
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 ...
Read More »Focus on fundamentals and proven technology for 2021
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 ...
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