It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again, the boating industry needs to speak out loudly against permitting regulations being proposed for recreational boaters. (Read More…)

Three to four times a week someone from the news media calls our association office to ask the same questions: “Are boat sales off because of the economy?  Or, Is the price of fuel going to impact boating this summer?” (Read More…)

President Bush and forty state governors have declared the month of June great outdoors month and this week is great outdoors week.  A very fitting time to spend the last two days in Washington, DC, attending meetings of the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) and the American Recreation Coalition (ARC).  I serve as the Chairman of both organizations. (Read More…)

There is a big concern going on at this time about sales being down in the boating industry.  There are a variety of factors that are reported to be contributing to this concern. Regardless of floor traffic being up, down or flat there is one single common denominator that remains – without salespeople understanding what constitutes a professional understanding of selling the likelihood of a sale commencing is drastically reduced.  All the kings men and all the kings horses cannot mend a broken sales process. (Read More…)

During these difficult economic times it’s easy to focus on the negatives rather than the positives.  Though total industry sales of products and services was down 5 percent in 2007, we estimate the industry sold $37.5 billion of boating products and services last year.  (Read More…)