Usually, I don’t look back. To me, life is more exciting looking forward. Still, 2008 will end tomorrow night and I’ll be glad to see it go. It sure hasn’t been much fun for boating. Actually, it sucked! (Read More…)

It was a typically negative day. The news was filled with words like “tanking,” “meltdown,” and “recession.” I needed a lift. So I went to see Santa. (Read More…)

Is he freaking serious?

TradeOnlyToday reported earlier this week that New York Governor Paterson might propose a luxury tax on boats when he unveiled his 2009-10 budget plan. He did exactly that on Tuesday in Albany. (Read More…)

Poor people need low prices. Rich people love low prices. Either way, everybody loves a bargain. It can even make us all spend more than we planned. (Read More…)

For more than 50 years now, major market winter boat shows have featured strictly new boats. In fact, until the early 1990’s, the rules at most big shows barred even new non-current models from the floor. To talk about displaying some used boats would have been called sacrilege! Apparently, no longer. (Read More…)

I wish I could report sales were booming at the St. Petersburg Boat Show & Strictly Sail that closed on Sunday. Unfortunately, “booming” didn’t apply. But, while sales appeared to remain hard to close, interest evidenced by good attendance and serious discussions were welcomed signals. (Read More…)

It’s virtually here – the winter boat show season. It opens even earlier than usual as the New York National Boat show kicks things off with new dates, Dec. 13-21. To my knowledge, this is the first time a major market winter boat show has ever run before Christmas and it could give us an early hint of what the big winter shows around the country will do in January-March. (Read More…)

Jim Collins, author of the best seller “Good to Great” recently said: “Great companies are distinguished by their relentless willingness to confront the brutal facts of reality.”  (Read More…)

Earlier this month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its Most Wanted Transportation Safety Improvements and I gotta say that recreational boating is looking pretty good! In fact, boating safety has “come a long way baby” (to steal a phrase) in the past decade and, today, dealers can confidently tell prospects that boating is the safest it has ever been. (Read More…)

Many dealers are using e-mail as a marketing tool, and appropriately so. But as much as people love e-mail these days, there is evidence they’re cutting down on the number of e-mails they will actually click on. (Read More…)