Showcase: Boatcity making a splash with Mariner Insurance

Boatcity, based near Paraparaumu on the Kapati Coast, offers an impressive range of new and used trailer boats, ribs and jet skis, plus accessories, electronics and water sports kit. 

They also shine when it comes to selling boat insurance, so they have their customers’ backs once they leave the showroom. We recently caught up with Nic Butler of Boatcity, to get the low down on the secret to their insurance successes.

Here’s what he had to say. 

Nic, you sell a lot of Mariner policies with your boats. What’s your process, and why do you think it works so well for your customers? 

We introduce customers to our insurance cover at point of sale in the store, plus we feature a hero banner with a link on the home page of our web site, which takes customers direct to Mariner’s quote engine and automatically connects that lead to our agency with Mariner. This really helps drive enquiries and ensures that sales are connected.

Every customer who purchases a boat will have insurance offered as an option to them at that time. Given the cost of a boat, plus the value of the insurance option via Mariner, it’s a no brainer for most.  

When we’re communicating via email, we also include a pre-written blurb about the benefits of Mariner Insurance. We can provide an approximate premium price too, which helps with getting them over the line. It’s easy for the customer – they just follow the link in the email to get an official quote. 

What do you do in the showroom and your boat yard to promote Mariner Insurance? 

When we have it, we display Mariner Insurance promotional material. We’re looking forward to receiving the updated point of sale assets with the new logo as soon as they are available! The branded Mariner merchandise is also helpful whenever we have it in stock.  

Do you get any feedback from customers about the process, the insurance product or your approach, and how has that impacted what you do? 

Many of them don’t know we offer insurance at the outset, so making it part of the conversation is key. They appreciate our assistance when we advise them we can set up their policy. Uptake is good, especially from those buying higher value boats. We’re pretty happy with the feedback we get. 

Have you tried other tactics to help promote insurance, such as social media promotions and the like? 

We used to be more active in this area. We’re looking to step things up again, so any help with promotional assets for this space would be appreciated! 

What do you find unique and beneficial about Mariner’s offering for your customers?   

The fact that we can offer a specialist policy – a marine-only policy – is key. And, of course, as a Mariner authorized repairer, at claim time we can facilitate with a quick and quality repair. Customers also value Mariner being an NZ-owned marine insurance specialist.  

Supporting insurance sales for our commercial partners

All leads from Boatcity are tracked automatically via our back-end systems. Whether a Boatcity customer comes via a link on their website, via an email link, or a call via promotional material, we provide detailed sales reports back to Boatcity so they can know what is working.

If you are keen to get set up to sell Mariner actively to your customers, talk to us about becoming a commercial partner.

With the recent Mariner Insurance rebrand, there is now a range of marketing materials, merchandise and more available for order. Click here to see what is available and get in touch to talk to us about how we can support your promotional needs.