"Brokerage Sales Dip In January"That is the title of an article that was just emailed to the boating industry at large. Like many industries, we have a few magazines geared toward industry insiders. I once had a friend who wrote articles for a magazine dedicated to the floral industry, so I know all other industries must also have their trade magazines!This article is in Trade Only Today:See the actual articleActually, our industry has two major magazines but that's not the point of this article. Back to the story.So, brokerage sales are down. Bummer. Wait, how can brokerage sales be down for January if sales for POP Yachts are up? Well, how "up" is POP? Big time up. Below is a list of our January sales for the past 3 years:January 2012: 23 unitsJanuary 2013: 43 unitsJanuary 2014: 76 unitsOur own brokerage sales were up 76.7%. That's right, big time up. We're so "up" that when I read the title of this article, I looked around to see if someone was pulling a prank on me. No one there - must be real. Let's dig in a bit further to see what's going on.To recap, our industry is reporting that brokerage sales were down 5% overall this January (2014) compared to last January (2013). Specifically, they reference 1,635 sales this January compared to 1,728 in last January. 76 sales out of 1,635? Does that mean POP's sales (in units) represent 4.65% of the total brokerage market? Basically. At least that's how we do the math, too.Amazing! How can POP be doing so well when the industry as a whole is barely treading water? And how does POP account for more than 4% of the total US brokerage market when there are thousands of brokers? if you're headed to the Miami Boat Show this weekend, you might even think there are thousands just in South Florida ;)At my request, our Marketing Department scribbled down a couple of noteworthy items responsible for why we're doing so well:- POP Yachts is spending when others are cutting back. In fact, our marketing budget has increased more than 400% at BoatTrader.com, compared to last January.- Our inventory is growing while others is shrinking. Of course, if you have inventory, you get sales leads. We can't sell without leads; therefore, inventory sells boats.- Why is our inventory growing so well? We're still the only broker who allows you to sell your boat on your own without paying us a commission. It's that simple - we only get paid if WE sell your boat.That's great and all, but how does that account for nearly double the sales? I mean, POP must be doing something else behind the scenes.I was curious and I wanted to dig a little deeper. According to our Research and Data department (by the way, that department is in the basement and it's truly creepy down there), most of our Key Performance Indicators are through the roof right now.But isn't the buying season just starting now? Yes, but we are comparing our performance for this January (2014) to January 2013, which was the very start of the boat buying season last year. Ok, so how good exactly are we doing this year?First, you have to know and believe that POP Yachts is a data machine. We track everything we can about our business, mostly so we can spot areas for improvement. Like any good business owners, our owners know that continued improvement is the key to business success.The list below is an actual list of what we call Key Performance Indicators and their relative value this January compared to last January - i.e. how good we are doing:Positive Online Reviews: Increased by 1,100%Time to Present Offers to Sellers: Improved by 89.03%Buyer Conversion: Increased by 65.46%Time to Fully Publish Seller Advertisements: Improved by 58.87%Advertisements Needing Attention: Improved by 47.02%New Listings: Increased by 46.84%Listings with Video: Increased by 45.87%Response Time to Buyer Questions: Improved by 43.44%Deals in Contract: Increased by 40.62%Listing Conversion: Increased by 38.93%Time to Engage Buyers: Improved by 33.26%Unique Sales Leads: Increased by 31.68%Deal Fallout Rate: Improved by 14.28%Staff Retention: Increased 11.6%Days to Fully Close a Sale: Improved by 11.05%Inbound Seller Leads: Increased by 10%Total Time on Market for Sold Boats: Improved by 7.3%Percentage of Inventory Sold: Increased by 6.01%Wow! With a list that large of things going right, I had to ask if there is anything going wrong. The truth is, I wanted to ask but I also wanted to get out of that creepy basement as quickly as possible!Candidly, there are some measurements we're not proud of. While we think we can always improve in EVERY aspect of our business, there are in fact 7 measurements which we absolutely need to work on right away. But that's not the point of this article - this is supposed to be a happy article. An article about beating the industry averages, a small company making it big, helping children who have fallen down a well...I digress.There literally is nobody doing better than POP Yachts right now. That is simply undeniable. In fact, according to this trade article, it would appear almost everyone is doing worse! What does this mean for you?If you're a seller, you'll want to get your hat in the ring fast. There really has been no better time to sell...ever. It's the very start of the season and boats are flying off the lot. We don't actually have a lot - your boat stays with you and we come to your boat - but you get what I'm saying!If you do want to wait, one thing is for certain, we are planning an even bigger January next year. In all seriousness though, don't wait. Sign up to get your boat sold today.How? Why not pick up the phone and call. We like phone calls! (941) 257-0111If you don't have time for the phone right now, fill out this short form instead:Sell My BoatWe're never resting at POP, no matter how good things are going. As a seller of ours, you can rest assured that now is definitely the time to sell - the numbers don't lie.UPDATEWe have been asked about our sales in previous years. We're a transparent company and we certainly don't mind providing. We began operations in August 2009, so the first January we had was in 2010.January 2010: 3 unitsJanuary 2011: 4 units