By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
OCTOBER 12TH, 2011
Bob McCann, Director of Education, ARI – You just got back from a great show but despite your best efforts, some meetings with prospects didn’t lead to a sale – not so unusual, is it? You also realize that you didn’t see some potential buyers that you were sure would visit your booth over the weekend. Now what do you do to start or continue building a relationship with these two pools of prospects? It’s time to organize a post-show open house, ideally within a couple of weeks, to extend the opportunity for a deal. This special event offering boat show pricing could be the nudge visitors need to take action and become buyers. Read more »
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2011
Bob McCann, Director of Education, ARI – We find that most new prospects who visit a dealer’s booth at a boat show for the first time aren’t ready to commit on the spot. In fact, most sales are closed with prospects that dealers have been working with for quite a while, even as far back as past shows. Boats are luxury purchases that often require a long-term research and buying process, so this first visit usually marks the beginning of the sales process rather than the sale per se. Read more >>
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2011
By Dan Coughlin, The Dan Coughlin Co. – People are often categorized into groups by things like their gender, race, height, year of birth, and nationality. Then all sorts of assumptions are made about each person based on their combination of these labels.
Those labels mean nothing to me. They don’t tell me anything about the individual because the individual had no choice over any of them when he or she was born. Each person was just given those labels. Read more »
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2011
By Christopher Kourtakis, director of sales and marketing, 360° Industry Solutions — According to recent statistics, in the month of June, 14 million U.S. mobile phone users used their smart phones to scan QR codes or barcodes that were found in newspapers, magazines and product packages that could be found in a store or at their residence. Read more >>
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
SEPTEMBER 12TH, 2011
By Bob McCann, Director of Education, ARI — Boat show season is right around the corner and winter will be here before you know it. What plans are you working on to build your own display traffic? Read more >>
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 2011
By Jeff Scherer, Lifestyle Integrated Inc. -
When I started in marine marketing over 10 years ago, we preached the message that businesses should be less concerned with the dealership down the street, but more about the recreational activities (sporting events, vacations, etc) that all compete for that recreational spend. While there may be no argument that is still true, today’s dealers may want to be cognizant of some additional outside influences that also shape the perception and expectations of today’s boat buyer. Read more »
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2011
By Dan Coughlin, The Coughlin Co. – Pride has gotten a bad rap over the years.
First, it got lumped into the seven deadly sins, and then it was labeled a negative as executives and managers went in search of humility. It became the in-thing to say, “I was just lucky to be surrounded by good people, and I really didn’t have anything to do with our success.” If humility means focusing on the good of the organization and not pounding on your chest about how great you are or how your organization’s results happened just because of you, then I agree. If humility means putting yourself down in every situation just so you appear to be humble, I suggest you stay away from it.
Read more »
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
AUGUST 24TH, 2011
By Jim Ackerman, President of Ascend Marketing — Don’t you love it when someone walks into your dealership and says, “My friend Alex told me all about you guys and I wanna buy a boat.”? Read more >>
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
AUGUST 10TH, 2011
By Jim Ackerman, President of Ascend Marketing — What does it cost you to acquire a new customer? It’s important to know, it’s easy to figure out, and it’s a good bet that not one boat dealer in 20 knows the number. Read more >>
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
JUNE 29TH, 2011
By Dan Coughlin, The Dan Coughlin Co. — On January 9, 2001 Steve Jobs explained what would become one of the most famous business strategies of all time. He called it The Digital Hub. Here it is if you want to see the speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9046oXrm7f8 Read more >>
