Bring BoatShows to Buyers - Hunting for customers

by Bob Wonders on 11 Nov 2008 If the customers don’t turn up, go out and find them. That’s the thinking behind last weekend’s Summer Boat Show staged at and by the Gold Coast City Marina, which attracted several hundred visitors to the Coomera facility.

Gold Coast City Marine managing director, Jeff Leigh-Smith was the driving force behind the boat show, saying simply that it was an opportunity to attract prospective buyers.

Admission and parking to the exhibit was free.

'We’re in an industrial area here, with no passing trade, so if there’s no visitors around we have to provide a reason for people to come here,' he explained.

Leigh-Smith invited participants from marina clients, local manufacturers and nearby marine dealers.

The end result was a broad range of craft on display, ranging from Gemini inflatables through Stacer and Quintrex ‘tinnies’, Sea Ray and Haines Hunter to million dollar-plus rigs from Maritimo, Hatteras, Hampton and Alaska.

Exhibitors included Maritimo, Sunrunner, Broadwater Boating, Nitro Marine and Geoff Lovett International, which displayed the impressive 68’ Hatteras sportfisherman.

Maritimo displayed its Cabriolet 55 for the first time at the show, while Leigh-Smith Cruiser Sales staged a grand display of Alaska and Hampton motor yachts.

Leigh-Smith Cruiser Sales sales manager, Keith Cogzell, felt the show could become a regular event.

'I’d be happy to see it staged, say, every six weeks or so,' he said.

'The weather has not been kind to us this weekend, but there have been people here to talk with and to show boats to and that’s the point of making an effort like this,' he added.

Organisers spent about $15,000 on advertising for the exhibition and made sure it was visible from Waterways Drive by placing a Sunrunner sportboat on an elevated stand at the marina entrance.

For further information contact the Gold Coast City Marina, Coomera, telephone (07) 5573-1311.