Marina Dock Age

What better way to retain customers than by offering them incentives to stay at your marina. Here’s some tips on what some marinas have done to retain their boaters.

Jefferson Beach Marina in St. Clair Shores, Mich., faced the prospect of dwindling fuel dock sales in the summer of 2008 due to high fuel prices. How could the marina get customers to use the fuel dock for their fillups? Semo Post, the marina’s general manager, came up with this idea: raffle off a 42” high-definition television( HDTV) to any customers who purchased fuel at his dock.

During the boating season of 2008, customers would receive one raffle ticket for every $100 of fuel they purchased at the marina’s fuel dock. If a customer filled up his boat with $500, he received five raffle tickets.

The program proved so successful, that Post raffled off four HDTVs during the summer of 2008. With the price of fuel down to a manageable price this past summer, Post discontinued the raffles, but is offering a discount of 10 cents a gallon off the stated fuel price to all marina customers.

Realizing that word-of-mouth advertising is the cheapest and best form of advertising, Post instituted a marina referral program for 2009 and 2010. If a customer refers a boater to the marina and that person stays the whole season, the customer would get $200 in coupons to use for fuel, service, or food at the marina. The amount ($200) would increase as the number of referrals increases.

Bill Munger, owner of Conanicut Marine Services, which operates a marina at Jamestown, R.I., has a long-standing incentive program for his customers. He offers a 10 percent discount on year-round storage rates to all customers who reserve their marina spots by January 15. He also encourages his customers to use his mechanical services by inserting some “marina money” inside every invoice sent to customers. Munger added that one of his most important incentives is free pumpouts for boaters. “It’s not only the right thing to do, but boaters really appreciate it,” said Munger.

Nick McGinty, marina manager at The City Marina in Charleston, S.C., which has the world’s largest single fuel dock, offers transient boaters a fuel discount if they return to the fuel dock. Hoping to attract yachts and megayachts, City Marina has one of the fastest fueling stations in the world, filling these large boats up in minutes instead of hours. The technology and the discounts have allowed City Marina’s fuel dock profits to increase this year over last year.

Jerome A. Koncel is the editor of Marina Dock Age. He can be reached at 847/647-2900, ext. 1309 or via e-mail: jkoncel@marinadockage.com.