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TOP 100 www.BoatingIndustry.com 52 | Boating Industry | December 2014 Innovation in the yacht market didn't just buoy Galati Yacht Sales through the reces- sion: it helped the company thrive through brutal economic conditions. That ingenuity earned Galati Dealer of the Year honors in both 2007 and 2008. Since then, the company continued to in- novate and change how it did business, always focusing on its customers. "Galati Yacht Sales was started with a phi- losophy handed down by Michael Galati Sr. who said, 'take care of your customer and they will take care of you,'" said operations manager Gayle Niedenfuer. "We continue adhering to this philosophy by listening to our customers' wants and needs. By making a specific effort to engage with our customers in the yachting life- style, we gain our greatest insight and knowl- edge for developing our marketing strategies." To that end, Galati pushed into new mar- kets to follow its demographic and continued to enhance its facilities, strategies and offerings. The biggest project for 2013 was the opening of a new international sales office in Costa Rica. "Our Galati International Yacht Sales office in Herradura, Costa Rica, is located within the beautiful Los Suenos Resort and Marina. The resort is designed as a total rec- reation destination, including a large marina, retail shops, restaurants, condos, and resort hotel," said Niedenfuer. Creating a welcoming atmosphere at its Anna Maria, Fla., facility was another major project with construction continuing on a new seaside restaurant. "In 2013, the construction continues at our Anna Maria facility on a new high-end water- front restaurant," said Niedenfuer. "Above the restaurant will be a state-of-the-art sales offices and meeting rooms for brokers and clients." Drumming up new clients is always a daunting task, but Galati found new avenues to consumers by finding local partners who shared similar demographics. "In 2013, we sought out new ways to get in front of potential boaters by partnering up with a local marina, a real estate developer and another boat dealership to participate in local events," said Niedenfuer. "We turned a marina opening and a new waterside condo develop- ment open house into weekend sales events." Galati is also training brokers to sell bet- ter on the road. To bring great sales stars into the fold, the company created a sales apprentice program. The top-to-bottom program taught ap- prentices everything they needed to know to broker yachts and manage the office processes from out in the field. "In late 2012, we released our first broker into action after completing our two-year ap- prentice program. We are proud of his per- formance: In 2013 he was one of our top unit producers. In 2013 we hired another apprentice to go through the program," said Niedenfuer. The year 2013 also saw the development of a robust new website that saw 1.3 million new visitors in just the first four months in op- eration and the addition of a new boat line. GALATI YACHT SALES Legendary Marine is the latest inductee into the Hall of Fame, joining the three other members at this year's Top 100 gala. The 2012 and 2013 Boating Industry Top 100 Dealer of the Year continued to grow and improve over the last year, making plans for a new restaurant and other expansion at the company's flagship Destin location. As it had for the last several years, Leg- endary invested in a host of creative events and other marketing efforts. Leveraging its Dealer of the Year status through digital and print outlets was a key part of that plan from billboards to extensive signage to email blasts and custom magazines. After holding focus group meetings with the service department's non-management employees, managing partner Fred Pace also implemented a series of improvements to the department, beginning in late 2012. No mem- bers of the service management team were in attendance, in hopes that full disclosure and open discussion would ensue. Multiple areas for improvement were identified, documented, addressed and implemented. For example, in the past, the service bays at Legendary Marine's Destin location were open. Focus group feedback recommended that the bays be enclosed on three sides and to maximize efficiency, that all needed support functions be fed to each of the bays. Focus group feedback also noted that a "clean room" would be desirable for work on highly sophisticated engine rebuilds, coolers, heat exchange work, etc. A climate-controlled 1,000 square foot room was constructed within the existing service area, utilizing a for- mer work bay. Insulation, air conditioning and brighter paint and lights were added. Special tools and an injector cleaner were purchased and integrated into the clean room operations. The technicians also requested that an outside cleaner be retained so that the service technicians could spend 100 percent of their time on service work vs. general cleaning. Technicians have expressed appreciation for management support of this recommendation, which ultimately allows them to focus their efforts on revenue-generating work, and to be more productive on their jobs. This year, Legendary Marine embarked on a new chapter, as the two-time Dealer of the Year merged with fellow Top 100 company Singleton Marine. Along with Phil Dill Boats and SMG Wake Houston, two dealerships already owned by Singleton, the companies in September formed the new, Atlanta-based OneWater Marine Holdings, LLC. All of the locations will con- tinue to operate under their existing names. LEGENDARY MARINE