During the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo last month, I was thrilled to hear Joe Verde talking about the importance of marine businesses getting the right people working in their companies and leading and training them well. That is essential if dealerships are to recover from the effects of the recession and grow. Read more >>
There’s no more effective method of education than learning from your peers. You can read about an idea, be taught a strategy in a classroom or take a course online, but it’s not the same as learning about it from the person who thought it up and put it to work in their business. Read more >>
When we ask dealers to write about their employee relations strategies in Boating Industry’s Top 100 Dealer Application, many talk about the “family” atmosphere they try to create. Of course, a good percentage of dealerships are literally family-run operations, so that’s no surprise. But the “family” philosophy has also been adopted by lots of companies without a single blood relative in the bunch. Read more >>
I’ve only spoken to Bing Fishman once. It was January 2003, and I was at the New York Boat Show, interviewing show organizers and exhibitors about the event. While I knew what to do and how to do it by that point in my career, it still gave me butterflies to walk up to an exhibitor I had never met before and start a conversation. Read more >>
Correct Craft has been getting a lot of press recently for its interest in investing in the marine industry (click here to read part one of a two-part special report on its research and stay tuned for part two, to be published tomorrow). And certainly, it deserves the attention for its formal approach to researching the opportunities available in today’s boating market. However, it isn’t alone in its efforts to invest in our industry’s future. Read more >>
Tags: Solutions, Top 100 Dealers
I can be a bit of an idealist sometimes. And one of my ideals is a united recreational marine industry, all of us working together to deliver a boating experience that exceeds customers’ expectations every time and to create a business environment that everyone wants to work in. When I see evidence of that, it makes my day. That’s why I had to share a recent press release I received. Read more >>
Tags: Evinrude, Mercury, unification
When I heard last week that the rumors were true – the International Boatbuilder Exhibition & Conference would be moving to Kentucky in 2010 – I found myself smiling. Now, there’s no doubt I’m biased; my dad lives about an hour from Louisville. But above and beyond that, a once a year trek to South Beach for the Miami boat show is plenty for me. Read more >>
Tags: IBEX, trade show
I read a newspaper story today about a man in his 20s who, after being laid off by Hatteras Yachts, signed up for a N.C. community college computer tech program. In fact, community colleges across the state are reporting jumps in enrollment, due in part to laid-off workers seeking training in new fields, according to the thetimesnews.com. I would venture to guess that’s true across the country. Read more >>
The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) announced this morning that it’s combining its Marine Aftermarket Accessories Trade Show (MAATS) with the fall 2010 International Boatbuilder’s Exhibition and Conference (IBEX). Read more >>
Tags: IBEX, IMTEC, MAATS, MDCE, trade show
I was driving in the car yesterday when a story came on National Public Radio about Columbia, Ky.-based houseboat builder Majestic Yachts. It’s no surprise in this economy that it was a sad story, at least at first. The article began by profiling Faye Womack, a former employee. She was part of a 27-person boat production team until orders stopped coming in last summer and CEO Jim Hadley was forced to lay off every single employee. He and the two other owners spent the winter trying to find odd jobs to pay the factory’s bills, according to NPR. Read more >>
