Case Study
4X Sales for Freedom Boat Club
Case Study Highlights:
- >50% of sales calls / presentations ran into technical challenges when using Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc.
- Slidecast yielded a 4X increase in sales productivity
- One of the lowest performing franchises became the top performing
Company Name: Freedom Boat Club
Date: Sept 2022
Website: www.freedomboatclub.com
Freedom Boat Club was first founded in 1989 in Sarasota, Florida. It is the oldest and largest boat club in the nation. The vision and purpose of establishing the boat club model were simple and straightforward – to deliver a hassle-free recreational boating experience for its members.
Case Study
The Problem
Freedom boat club was a thriving business with hundreds of franchise locations…that had started running into a major problem, especially as COVID hit.
Their sales staff was struggling with the logistics of selling across the country, with hundreds of locations:
“I was trying to figure out – how do I sell boat club memberships across the state without having to drive three hours to meet them in person?” – Dustin, one of Freedom Boat Club’s top sales managers.
They needed a way to replace in-person sales presentations. At first, their sales staff was using GoToMeeting and Zoom, but ran into constant technical problems. Prospects were not showing up, or were getting stuck and confused and frustrated from being unable to join the meeting
“It wasn’t working and we were about to abandon remote selling altogether…until we started using Slidecast.”
%
50% of sales presentations ran into technical challenges when using Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc.
I was trying to figure out – how do I sell boat club memberships across the state without having to drive three hours to meet them in person?
Case Study
The Solution
Freedom Boat Club needed a remote selling solution that was effective but simple. Something that anybody could use. At first they tried using videos to sell, which didn’t work, as well as several other attempted solutions that completely fell flat.
“Then we found Slidecast…We quickly found Slidecast to be the perfect solution. It was super simple to exponentially increase our sales, and keep selling 24-7 anywhere on any timezone. I’d say it’s easily quadrupled our sales productivity.“
First, they started using Slidecast for the Freedom Boat Club franchise based out of West Palm beach. At first, this was a location that was underperforming, and in the bottom 10 of all locations, to the point where they were going to have to sell it.
Things completely turned around for them soon after they started using Slidecast.
The Results
In less than two years, the first location to start selling with Slidecast has become the #1 franchise in all of Freedom Boat Club
4X
Quadrupled (4x) their sales productivity
The business only had 300 customers total when we started. Now the business gets 300 more customers every 7-8 months
After the trial run at the first location, how many Freedom Boat Club franchise locations have adopted Slidecast into their sales process?
- 21 different franchise businesses
- More than half of all Freedom Boat Club locations (350+)
- And all of the rest have adopted Slidecast
“It wasn’t until I found Slidecast that I could be in 20+ markets across the country at once!”
How are you using Slidecast in your sales pipeline?
Right now the sales pipeline for the business involves taking any inbound lead and instantly bringing them to a self-guided Slidecast presentation.
How do you use Guided Slidecasts versus Self-Guided Slidecasts?
Note to readers: Guided Slidecasts are where you manually guide people through a presentation (they follow along as you present, virtually). Whereas Self-Guided Slidecasts are completely automated sales presentations that guide prospects through using pre-recorded voiceover clips.
“We started off with guided. And then we thought – how do I explain the club to the husband and the wife at the same time? Especially if they aren’t in the same place, or are using different devices. Maybe they can’t make it at the same time. I kept having the customers asking…’Hey, I wanna share this with my wife, with my spouse. Hey, I’d like to share this with my buddy’…all the time.
So then we created something that would allow them to take that information and share it. Using Self-Guided Slidecasts means I didn’t have to personally guide him through it (again). I was able to sell to spouses using this tool. I could sell the people that couldn’t jump on face to face (virtually), and that became invaluable. Now it’s the main types of sales presentations that we do.”
How have you used analytics?
“The presentation analytics have been huge! Because I can see exactly what’s going on throughout the sales pipeline. I can pull those reports and I can see how many new prospects are being educated. And the analytics also show you how to best close them. Slidecast allows you to look for the educated customers, see where they are in the education cycle, and how many sales are likely to come through on the back end of that.”
“And one amazing thing that it lets you do that has never, ever happened in the history of sales…I can instantly see exactly when my customers are engaged down to the second. So I can actually reach out to my customers right when they are going through the education process, based on exactly what they are currently looking at. And then all that info is also synced to our CRM.”
Who is Freedom Boat Club?
Freedom Boat Club was first founded in 1989 in Sarasota, FL. It is the oldest and largest boat club in the nation. The vision and purpose in establishing the boat club model was simple and straightforward – to deliver a hassle-free recreational boating experience for its members.
At the time, the concept was considered revolutionary and break-through. Boaters were either traditional boat owners or friends of boat owners. There were no boat clubs, fractional boating, boating timeshare, or even many boat rental facilities. The exclusive fraternity of boat owners stored their vessels at marinas, home docks or at the yacht club. When Freedom Boat Club launched, this new offering presented an exciting new alternative that opened the waterways to newcomers as well as lapsed boaters.
Today, more than 80,000 boaters call Freedom Boat Club “home,” with hundreds of locations in the US, Canada, and Europe with franchise operations situated coast-to-coast, and growing daily.
Today, Freedom Boat Club welcomes and embraces a broad mix of members to its ranks, from first-time boaters and newbies, to seasoned salts and former boat owners, from young families to active retired. Freedom Boat Club is also actively engaged in developing new and diverse markets. Anyone who loves the water and water-related activities is embraced as a member of Freedom Boat Club!
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