Power Profiles

All Action Water Sports, Inc. – Marmora, NJ – Sept. 29, 2003

CONTACT
611 Roosevelt Boulevard
Marmora, NJ 08223
609/390-2303

OWNER
Ray Leps

BUSINESS PROFILE
Dealership founded in 1994; Leps has been in the industry 21 years. Includes a showroom, shop, office space, and rack and in-water storage. Carries Yamaha personal watercraft and jet boats, plus Cobia boats (with Yamaha outboard motors, built by Yamaha). “Taking on Cobia was a natural transition,” says Leps. “Having a Yamaha superstore is my big goal.” Largest-selling segment is PWC. “I rented watercraft for 15 years, but don’t anymore. People sue you at the drop of a hat.” 16 employees.

GREATEST CONCERN
“Safety is a big concern,” says Leps. “(But) the big issue now is water closings. Non-riders look at WaveRunners and say, ‘I don’t want to be involved with that — it’s a bad sport.’ (Actually,) PWCs open up the water to for everybody.”

WHAT’S HOT?
Hot sellers at All-Action? “The GP1300 two-seater and the FX140 three-seater are smoking this year,” says Leps. “The 230 sportboats were all sold before I even got them in the door, and I am not a light orderer.” Leps says the average PWC customer spends $400 on accessories at the time of vehicle sale.

CUSTOMER BUYING TRENDS
“We’re in a tourist area,” says Leps. It’s an island, with the bay on one side and the ocean on the other. These are heavily populated islands. We have Atlantic City, so the economy is really hanging tough.” Leps calls his customer base, “big-time, adult taxpayers — anymore, kids can’t afford to buy our vehicles.”

ANTI-POWERSPORTS ISSUES
“Manufacturers don’t do enough to bring their case to the forefront in representing dealers who are on state-owned lakes, and the state or local municipality can regulate them,” says Leps.

PARTS AND SERVICE
All-Action’s service department includes four technicians plus four forklift operators who bring watercraft to the techs for repairs and launch PWC for customers. “We’re an EZ Dock distributor and have 30 in the water. Customers ride up, leave their craft on the EZ Dock, and go home — then come back and ride off again. It’s a mini-marina for watercraft,” says Leps.

WORDS OF ADVICE
“We love what we do,” says Leps. “We provide people with a dock, pickup, delivery —anything they want, we’ll make it happen. Service, service, service — make the customer happy, period, end of story.”

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