Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/173871
BOAT SHOW SALES SUCCESS How top dealers ensure positive ROI on big-ticket shows o BY LIZ KEENER nce late fall hits, and boats head for storage, the sales season has basically been put to rest. But instead of spending all their time focusing on the past, many dealers are looking forward because as winter hits and the new year begins, boat show season will be upon us. Though boat shows aren't the grand events they were prerecession, many dealers are still pulling in more than a quarter of their annual new unit sales from these events. The key to doing so, they say, is careful preparation, great performance at the show and immediate follow up. Pre-show That preparation begins long before show time, while the regular selling-season still holds a pulse. Many dealers start making considerations for their January and February shows in July or August of the year before. And some start even earlier. Kevin Roggenbuck, president and owner of Lake Union Sea Ray, with four locations in Washington state, starts looking at his next year's show strategy as soon as the current year's show season is complete. "We talk about what we did wrong, what went right and what we're going to do," Roggenbuck explained. Though intensive training doesn't start until November, that sit down shortly after the shows end allows the staff to share their thoughts while the last show is still fresh in their minds. Then they can wait until late fall for BoatCamp, Lake Union Sea Ray's month and a half of boat show training for sales staff and managers. BoatCamp begins with the group determining goals, deciding what to sell at the shows, considering special pricing and studying effective sales strategies. Each of the dealership's three or four teams is then assigned a certain aspect of the show strategy to research and present to the group at the end of camp. "We believe that three-quarters of the people that end up 34 | Boating Industry | October 2013 P34x38-BI13OCT-BoatShows.indd 34 www.BoatingIndustry.com 9/5/13 11:47 AM