AUGUST 24TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Jeff Scherer, Associate Partner, Callbutton LLC — I was fortunate to have the opportunity this past week to visit the famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. You may be familiar with the “Fish Philosophy” that has been the focus of many books, videos, and articles. This place is where it started. The philosophy extols the benefits and importance of having FUN at work, but really goes far beyond that. It examines the impact of what instilling a positive culture can do to revolutionize the lives of the employees, not just their business. Read more >>
AUGUST 3RD, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Karin Gelschus, Associate Editor, Powersports Business — With skeleton crews working overtime to keep dealerships’ doors open, social networking sites are often at the bottom of their To-Do lists. Here are some tools to make managing the sites less time consuming: Read more >>
JULY 27TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — Does success follow a company that decides to replicate or assimilate someone else’s products? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but will it be competitive? Every time a company elects to take the easy way out and copy a someone else’s idea, aren’t they forced to compete on price alone? Read more >>
APRIL 30TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Christopher Kourtakis, director of sales and marketing, 360° Industry Solutions — Never let a customer out of your dealership mad or without a solution to their problem. Read more >>
MARCH 29TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
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 >>
JANUARY 25TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Chris Kourtakis, Owner, H20 Limos Marine Service — As the marine dealership community enters a new decade, it will be looking back on the worst year of business in at least the last 50. Looking forward, dealers and OEMs need to share more information so they can do more with less. Read more >>
JANUARY 21ST, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
Gary B. Druckenmiller, Jr., TheOpenSea.com — Forget the introduction. No more hand-holding. There are default steps you should be taking right now to either dive-in or prep for the onslaught of social marketing in the months and years to come. Many of you are trying to avoid it. You can’t. It’s time to join the party. Here’s a quick hit-list … from start to finish. Read more >>
AUGUST 18TH, 2009
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Terry Grapentine, Principal at Grapentine Company LLC — In a recent Sunday New York Times’ column (“The Inflection Is Near?” March 8), Pulitzer prize winning author and journalist Thomas L. Friedman suggests that the U.S. economy has finally reached an inflection point in its ability to sustain growth. We have reached a point where we can no longer support the growth that our economy has experienced over the past 50 years at the expense of increased environmental waste, insufficient financial market oversight, and indiscriminate credit lending. “We simply can’t do it anymore,” Friedman says. Read more >>
AUGUST 14TH, 2009
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Peter Granata, President, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — There’s a new bandwagon pulling into town, and if you’re too busy ducking bullets you may not notice it. If you hang around the boating industry long enough, you’re bound to experience a cyclical downturn. This most recent version has to be the worst since 1980, and many agree that this one is the worst, period. Nonetheless, the point is that it is cyclical. The industry will come back, although it’s probably going to look different than it was. Read more >>
JUNE 8TH, 2009
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Chris Kourtakis, Owner, H20 Limos Marine Service — With the recent announcements of Chrysler closing up to 800 dealers and GM a possible 1,500 dealerships, will this hurt of help the marine industry? More people keep focusing on the negative, but as we all know there is a silver lining to everything. Read more >>
