Boat Boss " Frictionless Marine

Kim Sweers " Boat Boss" of FB marine is on to talk conversion and the great comeback story just featured in the marine world of a Top 100 dealer. Randy and Kim Sweers are making it happen with a CXP and 1 API.  saving time and money pre-COVID had a big lift in business and continued into April with PPP challenges and a successful run into the biggest growth in FB history. Now with a major Pivot and focus tune in to hear the comeback, conversion, and focused family with a Why! 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Bye.

Speaker 2: 0:09

Um, alright, so the boat boss, you're at frictionless and we're so excited because you've been so busy that, um, great things always you have to wait for. And I want to introduce Kim square of FP Marine and the boat boss, top 100 Marine dealers for several years. Um, yeah, an awesome story. And thank you so much for joining me today on frictionless, uh, dealer and talk about, um, the market, uh, some things that are changing, you gotta pivot to tell us about, um, I want you to make sure we talk about, uh, the great story of the comeback of not only Kim swears, um, but some of the things in your family, like your son chase, what he's done. So, I mean, the first thing kinda opened it up. Um, I want to boat box you're like finally branded perfectly as your husband is the Paul Newman of Marine. He is the racing product knowledge, dynamo that knows more about boats and how to take care of people that want one, but tell us about BOPA.

Speaker 3: 1:12

All right. Well, it was, it went through many name changes at first because, um, I actually love, uh, love the show cake boss. Love it. I love cake. Cake is cake and I should be married. It's like cake and coffee. You don't need anything else in life. And so I, you know, I was like, I don't want to copy the guy, but, um, I was looking at different names and I kept going back to boat, boss, boat boss, and then, you know, it was one of those things when a client says they want a cigarette and you're trying to sell them a Nortek and then, you know, they just say, listen, I want a cigarette and you're trying to sell them a Nortek listen, you just got to open your ears and listen to the message. And that is one thing that defines my life is I listen to my message, whether it be my faith, my gut, my customer, what are you being taught? Every situation has a message. And that message was just go with it. Cam go with both boss. You've been thinking about it since day one, since for many years, when I went to Hoboken and I saw a, you know, cake boss live in person like candy Creek to have a show boat boss, or to talk about a lifestyle around the image of boat boss. And so here we are four years later now with it trademarked. And, uh, and now it's coming into fruition. I'm really excited about it.

Speaker 2: 2:30

Well, it's so cool. And I've got to see your team in action. And so, and I, I did watch cake boss, so I see the synergy of like, get it done. And also there's nothing we can't do if we all work together to get it done. So you're, you're like, uh, you know, top 100 dealers, you're actually the fixed ops side too, besides, you know, uh, Paul Newman, Randy, uh, front selling and bringing people's dreams to life on the water, I've you and got a chance to like see the operation. But literally when boat boss comes to life, Mike, much like cake boss, it's about literally the client's experience in fixed ops and what you do, not just from selling them a boat, but you know, the life style that you provide afterwards. Tell us a little bit about, um, you know, the success of you and Randy building after the Marine. And literally you're a leader in the industry. People I can see it on your social. I can see it from the business you do, but you dominate in a certain niche and Marine, and yet the service side of it as well from seeing your multiple facilities and what you guys are doing.

Speaker 3: 3:37

Yes, well, it started, I'll make a very long story short. Um, so Randy started the business in 1994, uh, under the name of Florida powerboat brokerage. And it was basically a high performance brokerage, uh, house, and then enter, uh, Kim, uh, Kim Phillips at the time, which was my maiden name. I came into the picture in 1999, five years later. And, uh, and saw a lot of things that he could be doing better. I'm a big, I was big in corporate America. I was a vice president for a data company that built networks around the world. I'm an, I'm an it person, a very techie person and, um, never stopped thinking my brain is always going. And so when I was at his office, I saw a lot of things that I would do differently if it was my business. And, uh, and then we started analyzing numbers. Um, okay. So how much do you make on your brokerage boats and how much do you, if you were to buy a boat and resell it, fluff it up, put some lipstick on the pig, as they say. And so the margins were a lot better, uh, as a brokerage, as, as a, actually a boat that the dealership owns versus a brokerage boat, consignment boat. So I became an investor at that point. We weren't married. And so I invested a lot of money into, uh, into the business. And we changed the names from Florida powerboat brokerage to fast boats.com, which was the name of our website at the time. And so that just took off. This was a.com, crazy. Everything was fast, boats.com. We, everything we did had had that logo on it and it went viral and it was great. Um, and then enter 2001 in 2001 was a big pivotal year for us. We were having our, uh, our best years ever. And then when it was a very unfortunate, uh, thing that happened to America when obviously, you know, the twin towers, um, you know, and that whole attack. So we pivoted and went away from a sales entity and became a service business. And we've never looked back since service has become the foundation of our business. And sales is really just something that you do. A customer comes in and out of your business to buy something. If they stay in your house because of service, parts, charter management, whatever it might be. And that's what I actually am in charge of is the retention side of the business and the operations side. And Randy handles the sales side. So I have a very big group of people behind me that helped me, uh, run the sales administrative side of the business. So Randy and his salespeople sell, sell, sell, and then it comes into my team. And then we make sure that everything is done correctly, legally, and that the customers are happy and then moves on to the fixed ops department if they are a local client or somebody that knows a season for him. So, um, yeah, so that's our story. We'd grown from three employees to now. We're almost 30. We actually were 48, uh, many, uh, like a few years ago, but through attrition and through retirement and people just obviously leaving because of whatever situation, um, we decided to work smarter, we've cross trained people. You know, we, we, I believe that you should never wait to train somebody in an emergency. You should always have your team trained, um, on everyone else's position and it's not a threat. And a lot of people take it that way. If you want to have a great vacation alone with your family and not have a million people calling you, then you see the value in training, somebody to take over when you might be sick or on vacation, or have them, you know, whatever in a family emergency. So I always related it that way to my team and said, it's not that someone's going to replace you. It's just that when you're having a bad day or you want to go see your kid's recital, this person will be your backup. And so that's what we have done is we've created a great team culture, a family culture, and so much so that I trademarked teamwork makes the dream work and we own that. And I'm so proud of that because when I first heard that many years ago, I was like, that's the most amazing thing I've ever heard. Teamwork makes the dream work. And so I called my, um, you know, my IP attorney, my intellectual property attorney, which I'm big on that. And if I can give anyone a piece of advice, you have to Mark, you have to protect your Mark, protect your name, protect your logo, because in this day and age, it can be taken away from you. So I called them up and I said, you know, Hey Mark, is this available? And he's like, can you believe it it's available? And like, you, you are not going to go to sleep tonight until that Mark is registered. And so it really is the core of what we do mostly didn't work. And if your team is happy, your internal customers happy your team, your external customers they'll be even happier.

Speaker 2: 8:34

Well, that's the boat boss like take unfair advantage because you did come from the data industry. So when it comes to data driven, marketing, social, and your presence in, uh, it's perfect that you did trademark that being Kim swears, that I have got so blessed to know, but it literally you've built a brand and is a promise. And that brand has energy and teamwork, and it really flows through. And the, and the presence of your brand. Like, you know, I know a lot of Marine dealers on LinkedIn, um, really admire not only the, the knowledge that you share and the articles that you write, but the extension of your brand for professionals, because with that data-driven experience, like you just came into an era where you said, Hey, we're doing more with fewer people doing a better job over time, working smarter. And now you came into being introduced to a CXP customer experience platform, right? Pre COVID, um, you and Randy got to go from several API, three or four, actually five widgets with one name to now one CXP one API. Tell us a little bit now about like, even during the volume with COVID and the great American, um, you know, Marine rush, I would say, uh, you guys have really picked up the pace even, um, you know, pre COVID and now there's a whole new, um, velocity going on during COVID.

Speaker 3: 10:01

Yeah. Well, Kobe was a big thing for us. I'm in all my years of life, I've never experienced that. None of us have. And so I remember when it all happened and, you know, I think, I think you've seen this, this photo, this photo is my why this photo sits on my desk and it's a picture of our entire team. And I know this is an audio podcast, but this is my team. And this is, these are their kids and their, um, and this is why, um, you know, people say, what, what gets you motivated? Um, we have been in business 26 years and we've been through many recessions and what got me through and pulled me out of bed. There's a difference between pull and push. Uh, and so what pulls me out of bed is the fact that I have 29 people and those people have people, little people and parents that they care for. And if you think about it, every leader were to think about that versus just cutting, cutting, cutting, or, you know, it's, there's people, these are real life stories. These are people that if you let them down, you know, and, and, um, you know, sometimes you do have to make cuts, but, um, we are all about keeping the family intact. And that's what gets me out of bed is my people. And I'll tell you what. So when COVID hit back to my story, COVID hit, I did not sleep. I think I slept three hours a night for like two weeks straight because why I was eight, we had to act quickly. I had to pivot, how are we going to stay in business? How are we going to stay open? And, um, I knew what it took, every dollar. I know how much we have to produce in order to make the business work. And we weren't making those numbers. And we were in trouble. I knew we didn't have a lot of time if we were going to continue on this. So, um, I was looking at the news. I'm like, okay, what, what is it to be an essential business? I had to make myself in a sense of business. And then all of a sudden it hit me, you know, when Romney and Obama were in their debating stages many years ago, and they were always talking about women, women, women. I said to my husband and business partner, let me take over as majority owner, I'm going to run with the government aspect of, of, of service work and, um, contracting. He thought I was crazy. He was like, you know, he, and he does it a lot. He thinks I'm crazy all the time, because I do think my mind never stops. And so it was like, whatever, just do it. And so I did it and, um, read a lot about government contract work and through becoming a major contractor for local government agencies. Uh, in the South Florida, we had become deemed an essential business. We were allowed to stay open when all the other dealerships, um, were closing. So we had a reason to be at the marinas. We had a letter printed and all of our contracts with us. And so we were able to survive even well before the Tiki, you know, the PPP money came out. And so when that finally hit, and then that was the second part of COVID was okay, now that we're an essential business and we're trying to make it work. Now we have to go after the funding and it was so

Speaker 1: 12:58

Money cutting the Gates.

Speaker 3: 13:00

And so we had already set up a very complex, um, you know, for most people, but everything is, is touchable frictionless, as you say. So we have online, all of our systems are integrated. And you know, when I did this 10 years ago, my people were like, why are we doing this? Why do we have this? And I was like, believe someday, you're going to get, you're going to see the why to this. And so, and they got it whenever they had to take a day off or a week off. And they were able to work out of their house easily. And, but when they didn't really see the true value of it until COVID hit like that, all of a sudden they had to pick up their stuff and work out of their house. It was like clicking switch. It was like nothing ever happened at FP. I was able to not only, but, you know, submit my PPC application extremely quickly. Like the big was like, I've never seen somebody submit paperwork so quickly in my life. Why? Because it was all integrated. It was accessible. Just don't have that, that organization. And, um, so, so here we are now and sort of central business, we're all organized. And so now we're all about, you know, selling, you know, selling to the other customer. What does that other customer look like? So have retail in government and now with the human capital shortage, you know, we all, um, I said to my business partner and husband again, another crazy thought, well, how do we work smarter? Uh, and so what I did was went out and talked to a lot of the manufacturers and the dealers and, and other, uh, companies that we have, the people they needed a service component that we now are a provider, uh, behind the scenes and also in front of the scenes for a lot of manufacturers and dealerships, don't have human capital to, uh, to provide a fix solution.

Speaker 2: 15:00

You are the boat boss, you are the leader of fixed ops of what I've seen, and I'm the only experience. And now that you're down to one API, uh, with the customer experience platform for retention, you're ready. You got, you had a big pivot going on that you shared with me, and I'd love you to share why, um, when Randy showed me these blueprints of this awesome FB Marine retail center, and now it lasts eight to 12 weeks, it's, uh, introduced a new pivot. Can you share with us what that is

Speaker 3: 15:31

For sure? Well, definitely the integration of the system that you helped us implement, you know, going from five APIs to one, I was always like out there and so much time wasted, uh, looking at other, you know, the APIs who was doing what, and now, um, you go forward. It's so much more time for me to grow the business. So that included, um, looking into a new facility, our forever home. And so now this facility, um, and growing it from, um, from many locations now consolidating back down into, um, to sort of like where we were before, but more digital rolling. I have maybe two or three locations versus four or five and, uh, a lot less people, but we're going to use the tools that are out there. Like, you know, obviously, you know, having one API and having a defined, we've always had a defined customer experience strategy before it was even cool. We've had our, that whole system integrated and retaining and wording and tracking our customers for a very long time. When I first introduced that position and that strategy to Randy, Randy was like, are you kidding me? We're going to hire somebody. That's going to handle customer experiences. I'm like, I got this, don't worry about it. And now, you know, that was in 2016 and four years later. Now we're customer 2020s here. So back to what I was saying, what you were asking is what our next pivot is our facility. And by having all this free time, now, we're now we're ready to hit the next chapter, which is building the dealership of the future, the dealership of customer 20, 30, and 2030 is a big thing that I'm researching right now. What's the difference between 2020 and 2030 customers, big difference. And like you said, it's the Uber customer, you know, it's the grub hub. It's, you know, all these, Milkar saber, all these great, you know, apps and companies that have that, get it, and dealerships have to get it. And they have to pivot quickly. And we're pivoting even, you know, in the last few weeks and last few months to change our entire model and our entire existence. And that includes changing the brick and mortar our dealership away from an indoor facility. The more one that is, um, digital and, you know, um, frictionless and outdoor light and, and, and you know, that sort of thing.

Speaker 2: 18:02

Well, that's, you were actually[inaudible] because you got it, you know, data, you understand the customer experience, but when it can be automated and instead of having one person, maybe having all the pressure of execution to have it go to technology, it was easy working with a great team in FB. And yet when you look at the pivot that you're talking about, it's really important because time is so valuable, right? And Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, Amazon personalization, uh, for retention, um, you know, why are you going to treat the customer? Who's funny with the, uh, you know, the same as somebody who's never met you before, right? Like we gotta keep people when they log into their cell phone, on their banking software, 13 times a month, they kind of expect it, especially when they're spending the kind of money for the products that you represent. And the boat boss is looking 10 years ahead. That's why you're a 1% or Kim, because you're already looking at 2030, right. There's some dealers who are with you and they're going to laugh and chuckle, but then they're really not. And there's a few that are going to listen to this and go, wow, I haven't even thought about it, 20, 25.

Speaker 3: 19:12

Yeah. And, you know, you brought up a really good point about, you know, the QR codes. And that was so five years ago for us, you know, what I did at the boat show five years ago, Randy was like, what the F are you kidding me? What are these little things? No one's ever going to open them. And literally Todd, no one did no one even knew what they were. And we were so far ahead of our time in that respect. And that's the beauty of an it person like myself, and very technique. I just read everything and technology is, is my passion. And so we were a little ahead of the curve. Now

Speaker 2: 19:42

You're an innovator, right. Who would have thought, and now your inventory tool has a QR code on every boat. That's an inventory, right. And today keeping your customers safe and employees safe. That's huge. Like if you had to, I had a dealer had to close their dealership for 30 days. And then again for another 14. And when they asked to found out that they had the QR codes and their inventory tool, they were like, get out. Uh, we could have used those in the whole process of, uh, you know, um, uh, face time walk through the product. So you don't even need to be 10 feet from the customer you're in the building they're outside. So yeah. You know, baiting's unbelievable. And, and, um, Kim, uh, literally the boat boss had adversity. And I think one of the things that I just enjoy being around you and Randy, that, um, you know, the electricity of we can overcome whatever is put in front of us. We work together as a team. Tell us a little bit about, um, bullet boss's journey and how literally, uh, Don got some tough cards thrown on the table, really, you know, when,

Speaker 3: 20:48

When you are at the pinnacle of your life. And I really was, I was, uh, this was fun at five, uh, five and a half years ago. And in the best shape of my life, like literally working out like crazy, um, eating right. Everything was perfect. And, you know, I have what I call AOIs in my life. And if you're, if you read a lot, you know, it's areas of interest. And so these are the eight balls that I had going everything from philanthropy to business, to family, to, you know, there's all these different things that were important to me. And as my AOIs, I had them all perfectly, you know, you know, juggling in the air. And then, um, and then I had a few signs. There were some people that, uh, would walk up to meet the gyms woman, walked up to me at the gym and said, you know, you shouldn't wear your cell phone in your, in your, in your shirt like that in your bra and your sports bra. And I was like, what the heck? You know? And then I was like, that's weird. And then, um, and then I was at, you know, my, my father-in-law's like, you look at this photo, you've got this big Brown spot on your, on your chest. And I was like, what the heck? So there's another sign. And then the last time was when I was, um, at, uh, at a spa and this woman was doing like, you know, a facial. And then I got my cancer up really high. It was up, up towards my collarbone and she was doing her massage and she goes, what is this bump here? And so I was like, I believe in three signs. And when it's three signs, it's like legit, it's, don't mess with it. And so I, um, I made an appointment and to see the doctor, you know, outside of my normal, uh, annual checkup. And he said the same things, don't worry about. It's not being. And I was like, no, I believe in threes. And I believe in signs and messages, and you have to take this further and look into this. And, and another thing was, is my finger. One of my fingers, actually my middle finger, I ironically, was turning purple for no apparent reason in the middle of the day and stuff. I was like, what the heck? And so, um, I said, there's something sells is going on, went to the doctor. Um, and then they did a few tests and they found a mass in my, on my chest close, uh, on top of my, you know, upper chest lung area. And so, uh, we didn't know what was cancer yet. It looked suspicious, then they have to do a biopsy, remove it. They had to remove it. And then through that, we found out I had cancer. Um, and when you hear those words, that cancer and your life is like going Slauson, you know, you're like wide open throttle, WLT. Your life is perfect. And all of a sudden you're like what? Um, it was like juggling eight balls and my whole life just fell. And I cried. I cried for, uh, for a few, for like two days. And then I'm like stop crying. You know, I, you know, I'm going to get through this and I'm gonna be strong. And, um, and that was the last time that I cried and I got up and I took it like a champ. And to this day, um, there was one person that was really instrumental in my life and it was Marty Hazinga. Wayne is, um, both of them are, are, have left us. They were passed on, but, uh, both died of cancer, but both of them, especially Marty had taught me one thing, look for the silver lining in everything every day, every, you know, experience. And so Marty taught me to find the silver lining in cancer. And what that was was I had a voice, I had a voice, I had a story and because my cancer would have never been detected being where it was at, you know, it's, what's so important that now changes have been made in how they detect cancer. Now they do cancer screening all the way up to the, um, to the collarbone. And so, so cancer now has become my, why it's become our, uh, our guests are here at FDA Marine group. It's our community, uh, social responsibility, uh, strategy, focus on it. We promoted, um, I S I love it so much that I sit on the board of Moffitt cancer center in Tampa and anyone that has cancer or a parent or a friend or anyone I urge them to call me, um, because it does help to know somebody that can get in and didn't even quickly and make things happen. And so I love the hospital so much. I love everything they do. And, and so, yeah, so that's my why. And it really has made me a much stronger person in life and in business.

Speaker 2: 25:03

Yeah, well, you are, uh, like we talked about and, and the synergy of being touched by cancer, um, the people that, um, take it on with positive, great attitude in the Y are the ones here to talk to the rest of the people so that they can have faith over fear, take it on and work with it. And I think one of the most inspiring things of that story, uh, that you and Randy had shared with me previously was, um, tell us about, uh, that perfect, uh, that actually pay close attention and what chase did when this journey went down, because I think it,

Speaker 3: 25:41

Yeah. So, um, so my assistant had moved back to, um, to Brazil and left, um, left me to, you know, care for chase when I was, um, going through all my treatments and surgeries. And that was hard. It was hard to talk about. One of the hardest things in my life was to come home from treatment and you're exhausted. And your kid is, Randy was out of town and I'm like, it was on the couch sleeping. And I'm like, just play your video games. It was all day, you know? And so all day meant like the poor kid didn't eat lunch or dinner practically sometimes. So, um, yeah, but it's a, it was a long day after one of my treatments, Randy was out of town and chase, you know, I finally woke up and it was like six o'clock and I fell asleep at like 10. He said, what do people do that, that don't have no family? And I said, I don't know. I mean, they probably just, um, I w I can't answer that. And he goes, why, you know, he was really sad by, Chase's a very philanthropic, very empathetic kid. He all wants to help the world. And I love that about, he gets that from me, of course. And so, you know, he's like, well, what can we do? What can we do? I'm like, so what, what do you tell a kid? That's, you know, I'm eight years old on what to do. And so I finally said, you know, why don't you do something with your coins? You have a ton of coins that, you know, you saved. Cause we always gave chase our coins. You had this massive five gallon jug of coins. And so I'm like do something with that. So he came up with the name coins, curing cancer, which we shortened it, C3 for change. And the website is C as in the letter, C three, isn't a number for change.com. And so that org, sorry, C3 for change.org. And so he now raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for support services and sometimes research because if the chase chooses who he wants to give the funds to, and a hundred percent of what he raises goes back to the community because, uh, his foundation is now managed by the community foundation of Broward, which I sit on the board of, and there've been so generous to help chase out and guide him to be a young philanthropist. And today he's raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, just, you know, raising through coins and through online donations, frictionless, frictionless philanthropy. And I've always said that all these events and stuff are great, but there really are friction. Do you think about all the money that you have to put into an event to get how much out of it, when really we should all just be giving and not getting, and that's what Chase's charity is all about. It's deprived. It provides gas for people, blessed tickets, wigs, you know, all that stuff, uh, support services for people that are going through.

Speaker 2: 28:32

That's awesome. Uh, chase is obviously, uh, you know, exceptional person and he gets that from two people that I got to meet and get to be around. And, uh, his mom, the boat boss, top 100 Marine dealers and chase is going to be top 100 humans, uh, in his, uh, fortitude for helping people after that adversity. It just shows that, you know, you and Randy, um, I heard that story. I see you doing a lot of philanthropy around cancer myself. Um, it was so touching and it's such an incredible thing to be able to be around your family who literally took that card and ran with it. And now your business with, uh, you know, um, you know, for, to, to, to invest in technology during these times, you guys are doing great. And I really appreciate you coming on frictionless to some of your space, just a little bit of history about boss. Cause I think people want to know more. I mean, anytime something's, uh, tremendously successful, um, you know, most of the time people don't literally get to get a piece of that story and you never know. So I think this is been awesome for the Marine industry and definitely for all the women in the Marine industry that look up to you as someone who's not only come back from adversity, but you know, a great mom you're, you're married to the Paul Newman of fast boats and, uh, you know, literally a great story. So thank you very much, Kim swears and I look forward to, um, my journey with care camps is now in the Marine industry because the forest we're being in the Marine industry. So I'm on my road show. And my goal is to get that bus in the swears I way. And, uh, and, and have you, I can get tips case to help care camps because we're not just, uh, in the RV side where the kids in camping are now going to use the force river Marine side as well. So it's exciting. Let us know how we can help for sure. Oh, you got it. Thanks for letting us hear your story and thanks for everything and being a part of your team it's fired off at a level five, for sure. Thanks again for all you do for us boat boss. Wow. Top 100 boat dealers, hard to top that, but we're going to make a run in it. Cause next week we got one of the hottest companies in all industries when it talks about fly. And if it floats, if it drives, if it glides is probably getting financed over 82% and that company is offer logics, we're going to have the man, the myth, the legend executive vice president, and general manager, Aaron Bickert. He's going to be talking to you about why an OEM, a tier two association or a large tier three dealer groups should listen in. Because when we talk about conversion and the frictionless environment, you need bank data, residual values, and you need Aaron Baker right now. We'll see you next weekend. Frictionless. Can't wait.