According to reports from Sea Tow, we’re in for rather busy boating activity over the next couple of summers.
As predicted, people are dying to get back out there and invest some time at sea and within the countless marinas that are fully open for business.
This is great news for the industry, but it brings its own challenges, chief among which is the need to juggle the responsibilities that come with running a marina business while simultaneously providing a great customer service.
The solution to this lies in effective time management, and we’ve got five brilliant tips to help you become the master of time this season.
Tip 1: Rely on mobile tools wherever possible
You’ll inevitably spend a large portion of the day on your feet, which is why mobile technology is essential.
This extends throughout the business. For instance, why not give you tech service team the ability to schedule labor from the palms of their hands and eliminate time consuming paper-based processes?
You have your smartphone with you constantly. Make it do more of the legwork for you.
Tip 2: Make your to-do list achievable
If you always finish the day with a to-do list that’s only 30% complete, your to-do list is trying to tell you something. You’re expecting too much of yourself. Those actions are, clearly, unachievable in the amount of time you have available.
That’s ok – it’s not indicative of failure. It simply means you need to make an achievable daily to-do list that’s correctly prioritized.
Do this by scanning it first thing in the morning or last thing at night and reschedule anything that you know won’t get done. Only keep the top priorities which you know are achievable.
Tip 3: Delegate, delegate, delegate
Such an important tip, we named it three times.
The art of delegation is a tricky one to master, but the more tasks you pass on which can legitimately be undertaken by someone else, the better.
It’s all about letting go and trusting others to do an equal (or better) job than you. The reward is lots of time you can reinvest elsewhere in the business.
Tip 4: Try out the Pomodoro technique
In the marina sector, your time is often governed and influenced by customer demand, and when you have special projects you need to undertake, devoting yourself to them can be challenging.
One way to overcome this is to adopt the Pomodoro technique, which was developed in the 1980s. It works on the principle of breaking down your work into chunks of 25-minute bursts, interspersed with five-minute breaks. There are some great apps out there to make this as easy to follow as possible.
The next time you have a report that needs writing, or a big marketing strategy that needs planning, try the Pomodoro technique – you’ll be surprised by how it enables you to get more done in a shorter amount of time.
Tip 5: Master the art of communication
Communication is as important as delegation when it comes to running a marina business.
You see, all of the tips in this post will fail if your team doesn’t master the art of communication. And there’s no excuse not to; beyond traditional face-to-face communication, there’s now an abundance of chat and collaboration tools at your disposal.
Use them. Schedule regular but short meetings. Ensure everyone knows that the business operates from a culture of communication; nothing should be left to fester, and there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
Wrapping up
It’s wonderful to once again be looking at a busy calendar, but the tips above will be vitally important as you navigate your way through the 2020 boating season.
It’s time to make a success of this year!
Learn more about DockMaster
If you want to find out more about DockMaster’s marine software programs and our range of products, just get in touch with us here.
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DockMaster Software is an industry leading management system for marinas, boatyards, and boat dealerships. DockMaster includes Unit Sales, Prospecting and F&I with fully integrated financial management and numerous integrations with CRM applications, dealer websites and text/messaging services. The Service module includes estimating, labor tracking, and complete parts management with ordering/receiving, subcontractor fulfillment and invoicing. DockMaster Mobile allows technicians to clock on/off jobs from any mobile device. Visual Marina™ management includes storage & billing, occupancy tracking, reservations and dry stack management, including integrations to leading consumer applications for boat rentals, online reservations, concierge/launch scheduling and our new Fuel Integration with FuelCloud. DockMaster also includes Point of Sale, Order Entry with eCommerce and a complete accounting system. Learn more at www.DockMaster.com and follow DockMaster on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Or email info@dockmaster.com
