JUNE 8TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
Jan Kelly, president of Kelly Enterprises — This past week we received notice that the Red Flag Rule implementation date was delayed for the fifth time. Many of you reading this may think this is something to ignore, and those of us in education and compliance are feeling as if we have been living in the story of “Peter and the Wolf.” Rest assured the wolf will be knocking one day, and it is our hope that each dealership will be prepared. Read more >>
MAY 24TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Christopher Kourtakis, director of sales and marketing, 360° Industry Solutions — As I stood in a local dealership the other day, a customer who just purchased a boat from the dealership had a few questions and looked a little lost. So, I went up to the gentleman and asked him if I could point him in the right direction. As we started to talk, I realized that the only person in the dealership that he knew was his salesmen. Read more >>
MAY 18TH, 2010
By LIZ WALZ
I had a dream a few nights ago that I was working a boat show for a dealer. It’s not unusual for me to dream about work these days. When we’re on deadline, I often find myself trying to write articles or headlines in my sleep. It’s too bad the outcome is never as brilliant in the light of day. Read more >>
MAY 14TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — Before history gets rewritten, I wanted to offer a glimpse into why new boats were introduced in July rather than September. Read more >>
MAY 11TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
Cam Collins, President and CEO, DockMaster Software — I anxiously awaited the arrival of my new iPad. It was the first time I pre-ordered new technology, ever! In anticipation of its arrival I was thinking about “focus” (one of my three words for 2010). The iPad can only do one thing at a time. You can’t surf the web while checking e-mail. It’s one or the other and there are advantages to this single-threaded interface. Read more >>
MAY 4TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
Jan Kelly, president, Kelly Enterprises – Many dealerships have downsized their personnel to the point of not having a dedicated F&I manager. Is that department just as profitable without the dedicated person focused on the task each day? Who is presenting the ancillary service policies, and working with the lenders to secure the customer financing? Read more >>
APRIL 23RD, 2010
By MIKE DAVIN
By Mike Davin, online editor, Boating Industry — Last year, Brunswick was one of several companies that decided to push back the introduction of its new model year to give dealers more time to sell the previous year’s inventory. At the time, the company said it would allow dealers to liquidate inventory in the heart of selling season, prevent inventory from being devalued by new product, reduce the risk of retail lenders lowering available credit on existing inventory and alleviate customer confusion with new model year product during the selling season. Read more >>
APRIL 21ST, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Jeff Scherer, Associate Partner, Callbutton LLC – Unless you live in a cave you have probably been over-exposed to Burger King’s ads that actually feature McDonald’s in them. Last quarter the focus was “BK’s Double Cheeseburger vs. Mac’s Double Cheeseburger.” This quarter they are running an ad that actually shows “the King” physically stealing Mac’s recipe for the Egg McMuffin. (Okay, note: Having two teenagers in our house means I have an unwarranted intimacy with these companies.) It would appear that by including Mac’s products in their ads, BK has resigned themselves to a “me-too” marketing message. Read more >>
APRIL 13TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Jeff Scherer, Associate Partner, Callbutton LLC – Many years ago, before the Internet was “cool,” I was the Internet sales manager for one of the largest automotive retailers. This was a very interesting time because prior to this, no auto entities had really stepped out to try to market vehicles through this new budding medium known as “the Web.” To say that many of the old-school general managers in our dealer groups were skeptical would have been a tremendous understatement. They said over and over that this Web thing was a fad, and would never work to sell cars. Our team was often looked at as the “geek squad,” (no offense to the Best Buy’s guys) and as competitors to the retail sales team. Much of this doubt and fear was understandable as we were jumping quickly into territory that was undefined and unknown. Read more >>
MARCH 16TH, 2010
By LIZ WALZ
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 >>
