I have preached this sermon for many years in my columns. I have been pleased to see that several boat builders have announced their intentions to introduce 2011 models this fall instead of during the summer. What triggered me to write about this subject again was an article in one of the trade magazines recent enews where the author stated that, “To be fair, you should know that boat manufacturers started introducing new boats in the middle of summer at the request of the dealers.” Huh? He must have heard this from some boat manufacturers! He sure didn’t hear this from any of the countless dealers I have talked to over the years about summer new model intros. They have opposed it from the git-go.
I have been involved in sales and marketing in the boating industry for over 50 years and during that time have called on and worked with hundreds and hundreds of dealers. For many years in my career, new boat and motor models were introduced at the New York Boat show in January…then years later at the big fall trade show called IMTEC. Why then did summer new model introductions start? Continue reading Introduce new products in September!
“Family is everything” was the headline of a recent ad by the S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., makers of well-known products like Ziploc®, Windex®, Pledge®, Raid®, Glade® and many more. The company is located less than 20 miles from where I live in southeastern Wisconsin. The ad included a message from Fisk Johnson, the 5th generation Johnson. He wrote, “Family is everything, a thought that is with me every moment of the day. As a father – as a 5th generation Johnson. For years, we’ve said the SC Johnson is a family company – but I just want to take a minute to explain what that really means.” 
If you are in business for yourself, it is important that you “keep your eye on the ball,” especially in today’s economy. What does this mean? It means watching all aspects of the business closely, particularly the financial end. I just read an article in the TradeOnlyToday’s e-newsletter about a long time employee of a Florida marina who bilked the company out of $243,000. That is a major hit on the bottom line! The employee had worked for the marina for over 20 years and was considered to be part of the family. How sad it must be to have such trust violated by an employee. The employee who embezzled the money was the office manager for the business and she was authorized to write and sign checks on several of the marina’s bank accounts. Huh? Apparently a lot of the checks she wrote over a 7 or 8-year period ended up in her pocket. Where were the “checks and balances” in this situation? I’ll bet the marina owners are monitoring the financial end of the business closely now.