Ididntdoit
Well-Known Member
As a Sea Ray owner and enthusiast I’d like to share some thoughts with you:
· DO NOT eliminate Captain Rusty Higgins position – even if you exit the large boat market – he is a huge piece of what you are buying – you need him
· Sea ray owners are like Harley owners (well, not in all ways) but we share their fierce loyalty of our chosen brand
· In that light, DO NOT move production offshore or to Mexico – keep our boats USA made
· Leave the quality alone……in fact, build them better if you can – quality is part of the overall value and drives our loyalty
· Power options – one of the first benefits I thought of – free of mercruiser (and stern drives in general) let us choose the outboard power that makes sense for us based on use and service availability – again, a huge benefit of breaking away from Brunswick
· Make boating affordable again – clean lines, simple features, capable hulls – a cruiser (or for that matter a bowrider) for a family of four can’t cost more than a “middle class” house! Pare down the offerings - focus
· Factory financing – put a deal together with a large bank like some small automakers do – this is not my area of expertise, but I know its been done in the “toy” market – outboard makers offer repower loans……the aforementioned Harley Davidson had in house financing
· Look at what Formula has done – they own all the inventory “dealers” are really glorified brokers…….Formula then has a “brokerage operation” to sell trades – This is an important 1-2 punch – most of your customers are already boaters looking to move up – make the hurdles (financing and selling current boat) for qualified buyers less extreme
· Regal also has a pretty sanitary operation for buying factory direct – MarineMax is killing Searay – what used to be their premier brand is now an also ran……find a way out – their reputation stinks – we only go there because we have no choice – repeat – they are killing Searay
· You need Rusty Higgins
· DO NOT eliminate Captain Rusty Higgins position – even if you exit the large boat market – he is a huge piece of what you are buying – you need him
· Sea ray owners are like Harley owners (well, not in all ways) but we share their fierce loyalty of our chosen brand
· In that light, DO NOT move production offshore or to Mexico – keep our boats USA made
· Leave the quality alone……in fact, build them better if you can – quality is part of the overall value and drives our loyalty
· Power options – one of the first benefits I thought of – free of mercruiser (and stern drives in general) let us choose the outboard power that makes sense for us based on use and service availability – again, a huge benefit of breaking away from Brunswick
· Make boating affordable again – clean lines, simple features, capable hulls – a cruiser (or for that matter a bowrider) for a family of four can’t cost more than a “middle class” house! Pare down the offerings - focus
· Factory financing – put a deal together with a large bank like some small automakers do – this is not my area of expertise, but I know its been done in the “toy” market – outboard makers offer repower loans……the aforementioned Harley Davidson had in house financing
· Look at what Formula has done – they own all the inventory “dealers” are really glorified brokers…….Formula then has a “brokerage operation” to sell trades – This is an important 1-2 punch – most of your customers are already boaters looking to move up – make the hurdles (financing and selling current boat) for qualified buyers less extreme
· Regal also has a pretty sanitary operation for buying factory direct – MarineMax is killing Searay – what used to be their premier brand is now an also ran……find a way out – their reputation stinks – we only go there because we have no choice – repeat – they are killing Searay
· You need Rusty Higgins