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www.BoatingIndustry.com 36 | Boating Industry | March 2017 MARKET FOCUS SECTION { SPR ING L AUNCH } BY BRIANNA LIESTMAN W interization is pivotal for proper boat care in a seasonal climate. Equally important is getting boats out of winterization and en- suring they run smoothly for customers the fi rst time they are ready to fi nally hit the water. Right now it's time to get your shop ready and stocked now so you can meet those boaters' needs. "Wintertime is the hardest time [on boats], especially this year with all of the snow and everything else. When they stick them away, [customers] think that everything is going to be grand and dandy and ready to rock and roll when we winterize them, but obviously certain things come up where electronics do go out," said Tim Walters, head of the service department at Vallely Marine. It's important to identify exactly when customers will want their boats and cre- ate a schedule based on those needs, so your service department will be able to ad- equately take care of each customer. You may need to call your customers to remind them about the service, as customers may not be thinking about getting on the water right away. "We try planning ahead so we don't get into a bottleneck, because once we get to that bottleneck trying to get boats out the door, then you might miss something," said Paul Terzian, partner at Causeway Marine. "We of course give everybody a comple- mentary check-up to fi nd out other things that they don't know that aren't working such as stern lights and bow lights and other such things they may not know about." Spring cleaning Ready your service department for seasonal launch When you call your customers to schedule their spring delivery, ask if they would like a pre-inspection done on the boat and identify possible work that can be done on the boat. "We do our pre-inspection of the boat, which is check oil levels, batteries, do our maintenance and safety checks and [make sure] everything's going to operate cor- rectly once we get the boat to the water for him," said Steve Chesky, service manager at Dan's Southside Marine. You can promote these pre-inspection services to customers through email blasts and other marketing as well. At Causeway Marine, the individual who manages social media for the dealership repurposes email blasts into social content that promotes the service department offerings. SPRING SHOPPING Before you start contacting and market- ing to your customers for spring, identify what issues are likely to arise when you de-winterize the boat and have those items stocked in your service department. That means having enough spark plugs, gear oil, carpet cleaning materials, engine oil, cleaning materials for non-fuel injected engines, ring free cleaner for fuel-injected engines and props. Customers typically don't think about changing props when they winterize their boat, but often they need to be replaced come springtime. "Typically we recommend throwing a new prop on and sending the other one out for reconditioning and keep it as a spare," said Terzian. Other make-ready products to have on hand are water pumps and water pump kits, zinc anodes, thermostats and out- drive bellows. A large stock of batteries, which typi- cally have a shelf life in a marine application of three to four years, will also be useful, as well as any tools needed to repairs electron- ics like radios, gauges and more. "That seems to be one of the most common items that we go through after storage, is the batteries have reached their shelf life and it's time to replace them," said Chesky. PHOTO: ©ISTOCK.COM/ GASPR13