Applications Sought for Kevin Lodder Scholarship

The MRAA Educational Foundation is seeking applicants for the 2014 Kevin Lodder Scholarship. The Kevin Lodder Scholarship Fund, which was founded in memory of Kevin Lodder of Lodder’s Marine in Fairfield, Ohio, provides a full scholarship to attend a week-long Spader Business Management Total Management 1 Workshop to an employee of a Marine Retailers Association of the Americas retail member.

The Total Management Workshop details skills that will increase profits, stability and growth for the dealership. Attendees will leave the workshop with a clear set of principles, processes and tools to take their company to new levels of performance and profitability.

They will leave knowing:

· How to make faster, better decisions based on proven principles and ratios for business management

· How to achieve a highly profitable and adaptable business by effectively structuring a right-sized operation

· How to achieve excellent margins and competitive pricing

· How to create simplified score-keeping with a profit plan that connects the financial goals of the company, each department, and individual employees

· How to achieve rational inventory planning, higher margins, lower risk, more robust adaptability

· How to improve employee and customer communication, improve attitudes, and reduce conflict by mastering the four basic human styles

"The workshop provides simple and straight forward concepts to help analyze the performance of your dealership,” says Travis Hayes of Hayes Marine, a past recipient of the Kevin Lodder Scholarship. "Coupled with Spader’s decades of data and metrics, we could break down our business to the smallest department and then allocate costs and labor to find our true profit centers in the business. It didn’t stop there: Spader provided examples of how to correct the problem areas, tools to complete our own analysis and to help our employees understand where Hayes Marine needed to focus, and strategies to help hold our employees accountable.”

Any employee of an MRAA dealership member is eligible to apply for the Kevin Lodder Scholarship, which is valued at nearly $3,800. The scholarship includes the registration fee for the workshop ($2,995) and a travel allowance of $800. The 2014 recipient will be announced at the upcoming Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, taking place Nov. 16-19 in Orlando, Fla.

For more information and to apply, click here. The deadline for applications is Oct. 10, 2014. Please contact Liz Walz with questions at 315-692-4533 or liz@mraa.com.

About MRAA Educational Foundation

As part of its mission to create a strong and healthy boating industry, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas is committed to offering training, education and professional development opportunities to its members and the entire marine dealer community. In 2004, the association launched the MRAA Educational Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 corporation, to provide financial support for education, training and professional development in the recreational marine trades. For more information, visit www.MRAA.com and select "MRAA Foundation.”

About Marine Retailers Association of the Americas

At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the companies that interact with the boater in their community must thrive. Those businesses determine the boater’s experience and are the leading factor in the industry’s success. The MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those businesses, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit www.MRAA.com.

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