Most likely, you have had to adapt your boat dealer operations to respond to the Coronavirus.
As a business who relies on services, it is crucial that you take precautions to take care of your employees and customers.
To help you get through these times, we have created a list of all the things your boat dealership could be doing to keep the business running. You may have already implemented some of these policies, and we wanted to include a comprehensive list of things you can do for your business during this time.
Practice Safe Social Distancing
The first thing you should focus on should be safe social distancing. You should apply this to pickup and delivery of boats, boat showings, boat services, and all the activities that are essential to your boat dealership. Here are some examples:
- Spread out your employees’ shifts so it is easier for them to keep their distance
- Modify the work area to incorporate safe distance between employees
- Limit your boat showings to two people: the employee and the customer
- Offer virtual showings and tours through meeting platforms like Zoom, if possible
- Suspend travel unless essential for business and ask your employees to do the same
- Keep minimal contact between the customer and the employee during deliveries and service requests
- Have employees work from home when possible to minimize interaction
- Spread out your viewing throughout the day so you can limit the number of people at your business at the same time
Minimize Your Expenses
This crisis will most likely affect your business’s revenue and profit. Increase your productivity by concentrating on your boat dealer’s essential activities.
- Focus on the activities that generate more revenue. If selling boats is not generating income as usual but there are still owners who need to give maintenance to their boats, concentrate on being efficient when delivering this service. Market these services as much as possible.
- Offer incentives and other promotions to lure people in. For example, according to MRAA, Norris Lake Boat Center was offering a “Canceled Vacation Sale.” If you showed a receipt from a canceled vacation, they would discount that amount from any new boat purchase.
- Take advantage of free advertising from Google. Google announced that they will be offering small business ad credits sometime in the near future. You can learn more about that here: Facebookhttps://boatmarketingpros.com/google-and-facebook-ad-credits/.
Keep Communication Open
Make sure you update your employees, customers, and prospects on all the changes happening with your boat dealership. Provide them guidance so they know what to expect.
- Create COVID-19 policies and procedures for your employees to follow. This should include guidelines on how to keep the office space disinfected.
- Inform your employees about changes in pay and incentives.
- Communicate to customers the changes so they know what to expect when they visit your location.
- Make the necessary updates to your website to reflect important information such as your business hours and a business statement about COVID-19.
Work on Internal Projects
As a business owner, there are likely a handful of projects you’ve been putting off due to lack of time. While it will be a tough time getting through COVID-19, take this opportunity to work on those internal projects you’ve been putting off.
If one of those projects is your website or digital marketing, we are here to help.
We focus on marine industry digital marketing, which includes marketing for boat dealerships. If you’d like to learn more about our services, give us a call at (888) 928-4587 or click here.
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