Boat retailer steers new sales course

Proshop Motorsports and Marine hit choppy waters in 2008, when the recession took the wind out of the Henderson retailer's boat and personal-watercraft sales.

Consumers fretting over job security and dwindling home equity tend to eschew big-ticket purchases of inessentials such as $7,500 personal watercraft and $90,000 motorboats.

"We are a very discretionary purchase," said Dan Boyle, who owns Proshop with his brother, Matt Boyle. "People's economic sense of well-being affects their decision to buy personal watercraft and boats."

But Proshop has taken measures to survive the recession, expanding in some areas and avoiding layoffs among its eight wintertime employees. From expanding its hours to slashing prices to striking an exclusive sales and service agreement with a major manufacturer, Proshop has pursued an aggressive strategy to bolster sales in a downturn.

Business came more easily to the Boyles in 1997, when they bought Proshop.

Before purchasing the store, the brothers lived in Utah. Dan worked as a certified public accountant and a controller for car dealers, while Matt used his marketing background as a national training manager for outlet stores belonging to clothing retailer Nautica. Buying Proshop fulfilled the brothers' longtime dream of owning a business, and it let them escape to a climate warmer than that of their native Salt Lake City.

For three years, the Boyles ran Proshop as a wakeboard store on Boulder Highway. In 2000, they bought a building on West Lake Mead Parkway, just east of U.S. Highway 95. They added personal watercraft and boats to their line of merchandise and eventually expanded the store from 7,000 square feet to 13,000 square feet. Today, about half the company's revenue comes from parts and service, which makes for a "better business backbone," said Dan Boyle. That's because sales experience ups and downs, but customers will always need service.

Proshop posted its best sales year in 2006. The economy was strong, consumers had money and they wanted to spend on goods and services the entire family could enjoy. Sales in 2007 were "pretty good," Dan Boyle said. In 2008, things slowed noticeably, with a big sales drop in the summer. Boat sales languished through the rest of 2008 and into early 2009.

Sales have improved in recent weeks, though.

"People are coming out of hibernation," Matt Boyle said.

The Boyles partly credit the uptick to warmer weather, which turns boaters' thoughts to new purchases.

But they've also taken steps at Proshop to secure the boost in business.

First, Proshop has offered discounts to move inventory, including deep price cuts of $30,000, or as much as 30 percent, on big-ticket boats. The move hurt revenue, which is off 20 percent compared to its 2006 peak, but the store makes up for the sales hit by reducing carrying costs on its inventory.

The store also added new lines of products. The Bombardier Spyder, a three-wheeled roadster that retails for $16,000 to $19,000, came to Proshop's floor in June. The Spyder proved so popular, it had a waiting list by fall.

And while thousands of businesses across Southern Nevada cut operating hours to save payroll expenses, Proshop expanded its work week from five days to six days, opening on Monday and keeping Sunday as its only day off each week. The move gave the store an extra sales day that's helped Proshop avert layoffs. The goal: to keep the best full-timers on staff so they're still around when business picks up, Matt Boyle said.

Thrift has come in handy amid the recession, as well. Both Boyles say they're conservative with their finances, and when the economy boomed, they squirreled away their earnings and held onto their lean lifestyles.

Finally, the Boyles landed an exclusive local sales and service agreement with Yamaha, one of the world's biggest makers of boats and personal watercraft.

Three local stores sold Yamaha boats and watercraft in 2008. But Yamaha approached Proshop in late 2008 and asked the Boyles to consider an agreement to serve as the sole local retailer of Yamaha water-sports products. Proshop would also enjoy exclusivity on parts, service and warranty work for the manufacturer. The brothers weighed the deal and decided it could help stop the slide in sales and keep revenue flat. The contract went into effect in early 2009.

"If the pie was shrinking, then this was a way to get more of the pie," Dan Boyle said.

Nick Eaton, the California-based district sales manager for Yamaha, said the manufacturer carried out "extensive prospecting" to peg a dealer that could market the company's brand to the maximum. Proshop's customer service, customer satisfaction, location and name in the industry won over Yamaha officials, Eaton said.

It's too early to tell whether the agreement will yield better sales, Eaton said, but he added that Yamaha executives expect "huge gains with the product line and customer satisfaction."

The Boyles say the deal is already helping, thanks to gains in traffic from Yamaha's rebate program. The agreement could boost Proshop's personal-watercraft sales by 40 percent, and it could improve service orders by 25 percent to 50 percent. And though it might not take sales back to 2006 levels, it should double Proshop's floor traffic and keep sales from falling further, below 2008 levels, the brothers said. Between Yamaha and Seadoo, a personal-watercraft brand the store also sells, Proshop can tap into 75 percent of the market for boats and watercraft.

For now, the Boyles plan to stick mostly with their niche of personal watercrafts, boats and wakeboards, because they believe it's important to focus on what they know best. It's worked for them thus far.

"They love the products for sure," Eaton said. "They know how to talk it, sell it and give the customer an exceptionally good experience."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.