This past Saturday was my five-year-old’s birthday party. Nine boys and their parents had pledged to join my husband, son and I for a two-hour romp at a warehouse full of inflatable slides, rock climbing walls and even a basketball court. Read more >>
By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — If you’re a boat dealer and you’ve managed to survive this downturn, now is the time to consider what you must do to thrive. One question you will have to ask yourself is, “Do I, and will I, have the right product at the right price?” Read more >>
Tags: Guest Blog, small business, Solutions
Last summer, in the midst of one of the toughest selling seasons anyone can remember, Boating Industry published an e-white paper on inventory management. The final article of that 30-page document was written by Peter Houseworth, director of client services for Info-Link Technologies.
In it, he suggests the marine industry would know a corner had been turned, and the dismal inventory situation had begun to improve, when “a consecutive three-month downward trend in days in inventory was tracked.” Over the last few months, Info-Link’s numbers show that is exactly what has been happening. Read more »
If you take a look at this blog’s archives, you’ll notice that they go back to March 2009. Specifically, our first post — in which Matt wrote about “Going Girly” — was published on March 27, 2009. Read more >>
Tags: blog, social networking
By Gary Druckenmiller, Jr., co-founder, TheOpenSea.com – In marine marketing, retaining loyal customers has always been a hard thing to do. And in the age of media fragmentation — as hundreds of technologies and thousands of Web sites compete for audience attention — the traditional siege-mentality approach to marketing is giving way to a new paradigm known as “engagement.” This approach uses technology as the centerpiece to establishing and maintaining continual connections and conversations with key customers. Read more >>
A few weeks ago, a former boating industry executive contacted me, asking about the state of marine business in the U.S. He is a friend who left the United States a few years ago to take a position within a different division of his company based in another country. Since his e-mail, I’ve been thinking about how to answer him. Read more >>
By Mike Davin, online editor, Boating Industry — One lesson at last year’s Marine Dealer Conference and Expo that I think surprised a lot of dealers was the importance of getting back to online leads immediately — within minutes if possible — when they ask a question. Read more >>
By Jeff Scherer, associate partner, Callbutton LLC – I’ve been involved in lead management heavily for some time and continue to work with OEMs, dealers, CRM vendors, ad agencies, and lead providers on a daily basis. Each one of them has a particular desire for how, where, and what they want to do to generate leads. Most of these businesses have a formal process for gathering these leads and most have a way to get the interested prospect’s information to the right party who can take action. Read more >>
Tags: lead management
Last week, I received a press release from BoatU.S. with the following subject line, “The Shocking Truth: More Recreational Boaters Having Battery Problems.” And I saw an opportunity. Or at least one I’d jump on if I was a boat dealer, marina operator or boating supplies store manager. Read more >>
Tags: Marine Dealers, Marketing
By Mike Davin, online editor, Boating Industry magazine — We highlighted an interesting article from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in our e-newsletter the other day. The article reported on the difficult decision facing Florida’s Manatee Technical Institute, which is weighing whether to cut its boat-building curriculum. Read more >>
