Boating Industry Insider Podcast

For years, pontoons were one of the recreational boating industry’s brightest success stories - drawing new buyers, expanding well beyond their traditional family-cruising roots and delivering strong growth for manufacturers and dealers alike. But lately, that momentum has slowed. So what happened, and more importantly, what happens next? In this episode of Boating Industry Insider, David Gee sits down with Polaris Marine President Ben Duke in Lake Wawasee, Indiana, in-between the company’s annual Bennington, Godfrey and Hurricane dealer meetings. We'll look beyond the latest model introductions to examine the bigger forces shaping the pontoon market - from affordability and changing consumer expectations to innovation, demographics and the challenge of giving today’s buyer a compelling new reason to get on the water.

What does it take to become the best marine retailer in North America? In this episode of Boating Industry Insider, David Gee speaks with FJ Frazier, chief operating officer of Gage Marine, the reigning Boating Industry Top 100 Dealer of the Year. We explore the culture, training, employee benefits and operational discipline behind the company’s success, along with the value of participating in the Top 100 program. FJ also explains how the application process forces dealerships to measure what matters, identify opportunities for improvement and create a meaningful return on the time and effort invested. He calls in their "annual report." Find out why.

Let’s discuss opportunities for women in the recreational boating industry, the importance of mentors and champions, and how today’s leaders can help grow and support the next generation of marine industry talent. David Gee’s guest on this edition of Boating Industry Insider is Christine Carlson McKone, Vice President of Marketing for Volvo Penta. She has built a career that has taken her from marketing communications to industrial sales, back into boating as marine marketing director, and ultimately into her current leadership role. In our conversation, we talk about her boating background, what she loves about the recreational marine industry, her career ascension at Volvo Penta, and her perspective as a Boating Industry Women Making Waves honoree.

In the marine market right now, the top-performing dealers aren't just doing a little better - they're doing a lot better. The gap between the best stores and everyone else is widening, and it's not about budget or market size. It comes down to a handful of operational habits that high performers execute consistently - and how smartly they spend their digital marketing dollars. The dealers winning right now aren't doing anything exotic. They've built a foundation, layered the right tools on top, and run it with discipline. In this edition of Boating Industry Insider, David Gee is joined by Hayley Hollen, Head of Brand & Client Marketing at Dealer Spike, and Bill Koehn, Director of Digital Marketing, to discuss the State of the Dealer Report and to get specific about what winning habits look like.This episode is sponsored by Dealer Spike.
 

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way customers research, compare and buy. So why are so many recreational boating dealers still reluctant to use it? In this episode of Boating Industry Insider, David Gee talks to Anthem Marine founder and CEO Mark Overbye to unpack the boating industry’s hesitation around AI, the mistaken belief that it automatically makes communication feel fake, and the very real risk of falling behind in a soft market. The conversation also covers a brand-new AI-driven sales and marketing app called Leopard Logix Mark is developing exclusively for marine dealers.