BOOMER BASICS
For Boating Manufacturers

Call Generation Transitional Marketing to find out how our complete Boomer Basics System can increase the effectiveness of your marketing and advertising by as much as 90%, call, mention the web site, and discuss your options, at: 800-238-0357.

The following are the major factors that affect how Boomer prospective owners, former owners and current owners are attracted to or dissatisfied with current industry practices and marketing.

1. Boomers are more time starved then ever. The time required to make a purchase decision, to get repairs completed, or to travel to use the boat, affect Boomers attitudes about boating as a leisure activity and ultimately their propensity to buy or upgrade to larger boat. Boomer families are in schedule overload, which makes it difficult to allocate family time to use the boat.

· According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association surveys, prospective buyers typically take as much as 6 months to visit boat shows, have demonstrations, and evaluate the massive amount of technical product data so that they can select just the "right" boat.

· Many former boat owners, as reported by NMMA, explained that they could not justify keeping the boat because they could not allocate enough time to use it.

· The NMMA also reported that based on their surveys, boat owners are very dissatisfied with and baffled by the length of time for boat repairs, and the lack of service parts, compared to their experiences with automobiles.
The lesson here is that manufacturers who understand Boomers time pressures, could

a. Focus on how to simplify the decision process and provide reliable and helpful selection information
b. Take lessons from the automotive industry to reduce the repair cycle time and frequency
c. Consider joint ventures with resorts near marinas which creates an enriched family experience around boating.

2. Boomer Women are not only key influences in today's buying decisions, but have the power to make or break the purchase altogether. According to NMMA's surveys, as much as 90% of new boat buyers are married. Boomer and Generation X women are highly educated and savvy about business and money. Over 75% of them work in businesses in or outside of home. They make the decisions about 80% of household purchases, including travel and leisure. If your dealers and advertising ignore the wives as partners in the decision process or women in general as primary purchasers, you will seriously hamper your sales opportunities.

3. Boomer's children (and grandchildren) are also powerful influences. NMMA's surveys show that as many as 53% of new boat buyers have children under 18. Their surveys also show that new boat buyers were introduced to boating at a young age (12-14), so they desire to give their children a similar experience. Some surveys show that children under 12 are the de facto decision makers on as much as $500 billion of household purchases. Today more then ever, you must sell the families on the excitement and benefits of owning a boat. It's not just a male head of houseold decision.

The lesson learned here is that if you include women and children as partners in the decision to buy, you will attract more Boomers and begin to build future business through positive boat attitudes among the Boomer children and grandchildren.

4. Boomers are picky and sometimes cynical customers: price counts, service counts, features count, looks count. Brand names are meaningless to Boomers until and unless they trust and believe the brand delivers the features and benefits that are important to them individually. Boomers are skeptical of advertising in general, but they rely a great deal on opinions of friends and associates they respect.