It’s full-on summer now, and in many parts of the country temperatures are reaching triple digits. While our motorcycle riding customers are reaching for those mesh jackets, it’s prime selling time to our customers who take to the water. The good news is that there is much more beyond the PWC vests to draw customers into your dealership.

Mid season is a great time to re-evaluate your offerings. How are your displays holding up? Are they neat and uncluttered or are they picked over? Do they show your stock to the best advantage and are they well lit? The visual displays in your dealership need to be working as hard as your sales people enticing customers to buy.

Ensembles are a great place to start. Stock entire matching outfits, making it easy for your customers to find items that go together, rather than having to wander to different parts of your store to collect the items they want and need. (Ever wonder why the dips are right next to the chips in the grocery store?) By showing your customers the whole lifestyle picture at one glance, it’s easier for them to imagine themselves in that outfit.

Showing your customers how much fun they can have with their PWCs is more effective than relying on boring words on signs to get your message across. Dress up your mannequins, and better yet, use compelling pictures to demonstrate all the fun that can be had on the water. When customers can envision using your product, you’re more likely to make a sale because it gives them an immediate point of reference.

According to Alex Fox, brand manager for Slippery Wetsuits, the trending colors this season based on sales are the traditional black and charcoals. Hi-vis neon yellow/black vests follow, so if your racks are languishing full of other colors, order up some product in the trending colors. Slippery’s entry-level Hydro vest is one of best-selling vests they offer, and it comes in adult, youth and even child sizes and can be worn both by men and women.

Offer a range of products, with the heaviest investment in entry level. Make sure you’re also selling the bits that go under the vests, like the popular lightweight Lycra, nylon and polyester watersports shirts. These are stylish on and off the watercraft, and can dramatically dress up your displays with style and color.

Are your displays dynamite and your customers just not getting to your racks? Switch up the lighting on the displays and watch where the customers are drawn. Try appealing to the five senses: smell, taste, sound, sight and touch. Very often displays focus on just creating visually engaging products, forgetting about the other four senses.

Creating a multi-sensory experience in your store might sound difficult, but brainstorm a bit and see if you can incorporate more than one sense. Have fun creating your displays, get your most enthusiastic sales people on the project, then sit back and watch how people react. Your customers might just feel the fun themselves and your displays might become first-rate sales tools.