Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/416199
16 | Boating Industry | December 2014 [ 2014 Top 100 ] www.BoatingIndustry.com "The feedback we have received from our Live the Legend program is incredible," Dewar said. "We believe that giving the opportunity to all Leg- end team members to use our products to create their own memories has increased employee en- gagement, loyalty and truly created strong brand advocates that realize that what they do every day truly does have the potential to positively affect the lives of others." In the past year, Legend had one of its team members' son use his Legend Boat for his wed- ding proposal and the operations manager use a pontoon for a wedding. "We are excited to be able to offer these op- portunities to all of our Legend Team members," Dewar said. "It feels amazing to see our team creating these experiences. We are so proud to see our team living our mission, creating their own Legend memories." Brand building When BMC Boats created its new vision statement in 2013 – "BMC Boats Creating The Best Boating Experience Possible" – the Longwood, Fla., dealer wanted to make sure it built all of its marketing and branding around that idea. "By branding, our goal in marketing is to distinguish BMC boats from the other boat dealerships in town by creating a boating experience to- tally different than anyone has ever experienced anywhere else," said vice president Paula Fulton. "No doubt, the business model we are creating will overwhelm the visitor with the WOW factor. We believe we have more avenues to offer than any other dealership in town, cruise club, ladies training classes, guaranteed trade-in protection, fi shing seminars, electron- ics classes, top notch certifi ed technicians, a beautiful facility and the larg- est inventory selection of new and used boats all priced to meet the needs of our customers." BMC wants customers to easily identify its name with extreme recognition for high quality, high value and top notch service and become "Raving Fans." "By creating tremendous value from our product sales and offerings, we strive to provide our customers with hassle free en- joyment in their experience with us," Fulton said. Internal sale contest One of the most effective sales strategies for Haga- done Marine Group in 2013 was a year-end sales contest. This new incentive proved to be a pow- erful tool that boosted 4th quarter revenue to a record level for the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, dealer. "In September, we could see the business was going to fall short of budget by a large number," said Paul Nielsen, director of sales. "Because of this, we developed a sales contest. We increased sales goals for each person with incentive programs and contests. It gave us a huge close to the year." The contest was designed to eliminate older inventory and reward the salesperson for getting boats paid in full before the end of the year. The con- test ran from October 1 through the end of December 2013. Each brand of boat was assigned a point value, with non-current inventory being awarded double points, versus current 2013 models or 2014 pre-order boats. The contest included pre-owned inventory as well. There were also additional points awarded for having the sold boats paid for before the end of Decem- ber. When a deposit was taken, the boat was awarded its point value. The object was simple: earn the most points. The way to go about that was to sell non-current boats and have them paid in full before years end. There would only be three winners out of the six sales people, so there was incen- tive to stay on top of the game to qualify in the top three. The cash prize was staggered for each place, with $5,000 for 1st, $3,500 for 2nd and $2,000 for 3rd. "This contest was a great way to motivate the sales department in a nor- mally slow time of the year," Nielsen said. "It was also a huge benefi t to the dealership, as it helped eliminate older inventory. It created the momentum needed to achieve our year-end goal and it kept morale very high during a traditionally slow time of year." Pumping up turn rate Hampton Watercraft and Marine takes a detailed, aggressive approach to managing its turn rate. "We establish our cost lines and then utilize liquidation trend charts to determine when to lower our cost lines so that we are aggressively selling before inventory gets to the aging point where the odds of liquidation are low," said Anthony Villareale, president of the Hampton Bays, N.Y., dealer. "We meet with our fl oor plan manager to get feedback on our account as compared to our history (number of units and dollars aged compared to previous year) and compared to their average dealer." In addition to manage inventory turns, the sales team discusses the old- est inventory at weekly sales meetings and brainstorms strategies on how to sell the old inventory. "We do so by providing special pricing, moving the boat around the property or to our other location, or increase our advertising efforts on that specifi c boat," Villareale said. Tactics such as featuring boats in the monthly e-newsletter, placing an additional ad in the newspaper, making a custom banner ad for the com- pany's website and other sites and increasing the commission on older boats have all proven to be effective strategies. Hagadone got the entire sales team involved with a year-end sales contest.