Business View Magazine - March 2016

76 Business View Magazine - April 2016 Business View Magazine - April 2016 77 While the other two stores have been sold, the San Benito location has about 15 employees. In addition to sales of both new and used boats, The Sportsman also provides service, maintenance, parts, and boat storage. Youker says that there are six other boat deal- ers in his immediate market area, but The Sportsman differentiates itself from the local competition by at- tending to the details. “The biggest thing that sets us apart is the fact that it’s not the one or two big things that we do real well it’s the thousand little things we do, real well,” he explains. “It’s like a wonderful play you go see; the actors are wonderful, and the story line is good, and the props are beautiful, and the light- ing is great, and the writer did a great job and it looks so easy. Well, we do the same thing, but it’s also all the things we do behind the scenes: our facilities are spotless, our grass is green, our windows are clean, and it’s how we greet you like you’re a best friend who just came to visit. And if you do enough of those little things, it’d be silly not to get a boat from us.” Youker says that when prospective customers come into the store, they can already feel the company cul- ture at work. And part of that culture is exhibited in the way a Sportsman staff member will interview those customers to ascertain their boating and fishing expe- rience, as well as their present needs. “When we get through the interview process,” Youker says, “we might take you to only one or two boats – not fifteen, which might confuse you – that focuses on the needs you just told me about. We constantly work on our culture. That takes time, energy, and effort. First, you’ve got to hire the right people. We’re very particular about that. We have to find people with good character and impec- cable integrity, because you can change the mind of a teachable, new employee, but we can’t change the heart of a person. And we know if that’s not in place, they’re not going to work in our culture. We retain them by consistent training and making them feel part of the success of the company.” Happily for Youker, when people do buy a boat from the Sportsman, they often become an intricate part of the store’s marketing strategy. “We create relation- ships,” he states. “We are a relationship-based selling machine. Our number-one marketing tool is our exist- ing customer base. It starts with ‘wowing the custom- er’ every chance we get. A ‘wow‘ moment is one where a customer will literally go out of their way to tell some- body about their Sportsman. We want to ‘wow‘ you so you become a member of our army of loyal advocates. You’re a third-party endorser and the best advertising we can ever have. Nearly half of our sales are from direct referrals.” Another way in which The Sportsman connects with its current and future customers is by taking part in various fishing tournaments in the area. “The Shallow Sport factory has an owner’s tournament once a year down on South Padre Island, and we’re a major spon- sor,” says Youker, citing an example. “Most of our em- ployees go down and volunteer for those three days. It allows us to be amongst about a thousand customers that own Shallow Sports already, and that’s a great tie-in.” The Sportsman’s excellence has been recognized by Boating Industry Magazine as one of the top 100 ma- rine dealerships in North America and the only exclu- sive shallow water boating specialist among the Top 100. The dealership consistently gets superior ratings from its manufacturers, and is the exclusive Yamaha Five-Star Service center in South Texas. Its reputation brings flats fisherman from all over the Gulf Coast. Gruff, old “Dutch” Youker may have preferred fishing to selling, but he might have been pleased to know that his heirs have built a business that, today, allows many other anglers to enjoy the same pastime to which he undoubtedly spent many happy hours pursuing.