SALES & MARKETING
Three Moves. Ninety Days. More Deals.
BY DAVID GEE
Summer doesn’ t negotiate. June, July, and August will arrive on schedule. And so will the customers. But is your sales team ready to get and keep their attention, build trust and convert it into a sale before the competition does? This is prime time. And prime time rewards the prepared. Here are three things you can do right now to make the next 90 days your best selling quarter.
1. Lead with the product, not the price.
This issue of Boating Industry is packed with Top Products – boats, motors, electronics, screens, and gear that give people more reasons to get on the water. That’ s not just a magazine feature. That’ s your sales story.
Customers don’ t walk into a dealership looking for a transaction. They walk in looking for a feeling. The right hull for their family and use case. The chart plotter that actually makes sense. The motor that will get them to their favorite fishing grounds in a hurry. Top Products give your team specific, tangible proof points to build that story around – features with names, numbers, and real-world relevance.
Train your team to lead with what’ s new and why it matters, not what’ s on sale and how much it costs. Price conversations are easy. Desire conversations are what close deals.
2. Win the first three seconds or don’ t bother.
Behavioral science is clear, and decades of watching salespeople confirms it: customers decide in the first three seconds whether they’ re in or out. Not three minutes. Three seconds.
That’ s enough time to feel welcomed or ignored. Engaged or processed. Trusted or sold to.
So what happens in your showroom in those first three seconds? Is the greeting specific or generic? Does your team make eye contact or finish typing first? Does the customer feel like the most important person in the building? Or like they interrupted someone’ s lunch?
Walk your floor like a customer this week. You’ ll find the gaps faster than any mystery shopper will.
3. Follow up like you mean it.
Here’ s a stat that should make every sales manager uncomfortable: 80 % of sales require five or more follow-ups. Yet 44 % of salespeople give up after just one attempt.
AI GENERATED PHOTO
Read that again. Nearly half your team quits after one try – on deals that statistically need five.
A personal call – not a blast email, not a form text – that references something specific from their visit is worth more than any ad you’ ll run this month.
“ Hey, you mentioned your kids are finally old enough to ski and surf and wakeboard, I wanted to let you know we just got something in you’ ll want to see.” That’ s not a sales call. That’ s a reason to come back. Ninety days. That’ s your window. Lead with the story. Nail the first impression. Follow up like it matters – because it does.
The boats are ready. The products are worthy. Now go have some fun and sell them.
David Gee is a lifelong boater, keynote speaker, founder of the 3 Second Selling™ platform and interim editor-in-chief of Boating Industry.
www. boatingindustry. com may 2026
9