Charleston, South Carolina, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A sleek, professional look with information that is easy for customers to find. Forms that collect legitimate online leads that convert to sales. Ease of use not only for customers, but for the Longshore Boats team on the back-end. All of these are stand-out qualities that Jill Rumbo, Marketing Coordinator at Longshore Boats, names for her dealership’s Dealer Spike website.
The Charleston, South Carolina-based dealership has been in business for over twenty years and is owned by Chris Meredith, Paul Kammerer, and Tim Clark. The dealership itself was built for the best boat-buying experience with a showroom optimized for large vessels, a service lot with large service bays, and room for boat storage as well. The twenty employees who run Longshore Boats are all passionate about the boating lifestyle – while not all own boats themselves, many of them grew up on the water and take part in water-based activities like fishing.
“Our mission is to deliver an exceptional boating experience,” says Rumbo. “We want to make it affordable, but with great quality. We want it to be possible for everyone to make boating memories.” The team aims to accomplish this with weekly meetings about how to improve the business. Longshore Boats goes above and beyond in customer service, calling other dealerships and doing research on their own to help customers with older boats or parts the dealership doesn’t carry. “We want to make sure you get what you need, even if it’s not with us,” Rumbo explains.
While Longshore Boats places a large focus on enhancing in-store visits for customers, the team aims to deliver the same experience online. After switching from a self-managed Wordpress site to Dealer Spike in January 2015, Longshore Boats found that to be a much easier task. “I really appreciate the easy functionality of our site, for us and for our customers.” Rumbo says. Unlike other digital services and tools that often come with a big learning curve, she finds Dealer Spike’s back-end admin platform simple to use.
When asked why the website is crucial for her business, Rumbo is quick to count the reasons. “If people can’t find you online, they’re not going to do business with you,” she says. “And more than that, you need to keep the website updated so people know what you have in stock – what’s available, and what’s not.”
Rumbo’s team utilizes Dealer Spike’s SEO and SEM services to optimize the dealership’s presence on search engines. In addition, Rumbo uses Dealer Spike’s blog tool through the website platform to pose her dealership as an expert in the industry. “To earn customers, you need to point out the difference between your company and the others in your industry,” she says. “You need to let customers know why they should buy from you. The content you provide on your site helps people make that decision.”
Beyond the benefits that the site provides for customers, Rumbo and her team are grateful for the business that the site brings in with lead forms and other lead-generating tools on the website. “We get so many leads that turn into sales,” she says.
Rumbo also has great things to say about the customer service she has received working with Dealer Spike. She appreciates the way Dealer Spike’s team acts as a partner. Rather than simply making the changes she asks for, team members offer helpful suggestions and guidance. Rumbo raves about her Dealer Spike Client Solutions representative, who she feels goes above and beyond to keep her website running at its optimal level. “But it’s not just him, it’s everybody there,” Rumbo says. “They understand the importance of our website…and they get things done as soon as they possibly can for us.”
A great match in both business goals and customer-facing strategy, Dealer Spike also aims to offer an exceptional experience in digital marketing services. Rumbo agrees that she has had a “wonderful” experience so far.
About Longshore Boats
Longshore Boats of Charleston, South Carolina carries Edgewater Power Boats, Robalo, and Chaparral along with Yamaha Outboards, Mercury Outboards, Volvo Penta, and MerCruiser Stern Drives. In business for over twenty years, owners Chris Meredith, Paul Kammerer, and Tim Clark are active and dedicated to pioneering a new standard for boat ownership. The dealership is a Marine Five Star certified dealer.
https://www.longshoreboats.com/
About Dealer Spike
Dealer Spike is focused on driving online leads and in-store sales for dealerships in eight industries. The company provides powerful and distinctive web solutions and tools to thousands of dealers worldwide. Dealer Spike’s expertise comes from real-world dealership experience and a passion for listening and responding to dealers’ needs.
https://www.dealerspike.com/marine
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