Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/601416
TOP 100 www.BoatingIndustry.com 50 | Boating Industry | December 2015 OUR SECOND DEALER to win Hall of Fame status, Galati Yacht Sales, opened loca- tions in St. Petersburg and Tierra Verde this year, and it opened its first international loca- tion at the Los Sueños Resort in Costa Rico. The international location has given Galati in- credible exposure and it has seen a significant uptick in sales of Viking Yachts. "Costa Rica, especially on this Pacific Ocean side, has become an extremely high-profile fishing area as it relates to our sportfish prod- ucts, so the concentration of customers coming from the U.S. to that destination in Los Sueños Resort has been exponential with the economic recovery here in the U.S.," said Darren Plymale, vice president of Galati Yacht Sales. In addition to location expansion, the deal- ership increased its marketing budget in 2014, particularly by increasing the display sizes at its international and local boat shows. "It's paid off exponentially, both in our brokerage dollars and in our new boat sales. The results that we saw at Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm [Beach] this past year has been phenomenal," said Plymale. "And that's not boasting; it's the fact that our in- vestment is paying off." That investment has further paid off as Galati saw double-digit grown in dollars and incremental transactions in 2014. Galati is now surpassing over 450 boat sales annually. Plymale attributes this success to the dealer- ship's incredible customer retention. Retention is a common theme at Galati, as the dealership considers employee retention a top priority. Galati achieves this through internal promotions at every opportunity, 401k contribution matching for its employ- ees and more. The dealership promoted em- ployees to fill its open operations manager and finance manager roles in 2014, and the yard foreman at the Anna Maria location was promoted to service manager. "Our employees are really our life blood to the customer, and they know our commit- ment to customer service and they live it every day," said Plymale. "We feel like promoting from within provides us the advantage to show people that have been with us and have provided us their services for many years the opportunity to grow with us." The dealership also takes care of its em- ployees. For instance, in 2014 Galati had a healthcare increase that would increase costs for the employees. Galati's contributions al- ways covered a portion of it but in 2014 the dealership covered the entire increase "When they were expecting a 13 percent increase, we stepped up and took care of that difference," said Plymale. "We're only as good as our weakest link, and knowing that we've really got to make sure we're putting the best programs out there for them." 2014 WAS A big year for Legendary Marine. At the start, Legendary began the year uti- lizing its Hall of Fame status for the first time, integrating the logo into its marketing efforts and dealership branding. "We have continued to brand the Hall of Fame logo along with the Top 100 dealer [logo]," said Scott Cunningham, managing di- rector at Legendary Marine. It was also a year full of renovations for the dealership and its four locations. The Destin lo- cation finalized plans and started construction on Lulu's Restaurant, which opened in 2015. Legendary is also working on repainting the world's largest flag on its roof, which has been a major attraction for the dealership since it was first completed in 2002. The flag, dedicated to the U.S. military and first responders, is 170,000 square feet and visible from any plane flying in and out of Destin. The original artist, Robert Wyland, began planning stages on repainting the flag and is expected to be finished in 2016. The Fort Walton Beach location moved completely from a rented drystack facility to a permanent location on the Emerald Coast Highway with waterfront access. "It was in the same market but a much better retail sales and service facility that's a standalone highway and water location," said Cunningham. "It enabled us to add a couple of sales people to the staff. We started working on our pre-owned reconditioning facility there that does nothing but the pre-owned side." In Orange Beach, Ala., the dealership began the process of a major renovation to its showroom, gutting the existing facility com- pletely and initiating a $700,000 overhaul. The dealership purchased 2.7 acres of land to build a new 20,000 square foot facility for its Panama City location, which will include a state-of-the-art showroom and service/parts department. Plans to break ground will begin in late 2015. And among all of these renovations came the merger with Singleton Marine Group to form OneWater Marine Holdings, which was finalized in September 2014. The dealership continues to operate under its original name and branding, keeping the same employees that helped propel Legendary Marine to be- coming a Top 100 Hall of Fame dealer. "One of our visions in the OneWater merger was not to change anything that we didn't have to initially. Legendary was a great company already," Cunningham said. "The ability to have the input … and the buying power of the company and the processes that we can put into place felt like we would con- tinue to make the company stronger." GALATI YACHT SALES ANNA MARIA, FLA. LEGENDARY MARINE DESTIN, FLA.