This year, the company’s investment in the stand has been bigger than ever and Richard Whittaker, Business Development Manager explained why: “The business that we’ve done over the year has been dramatic which has enabled us to invest in developing our stand,” he said. “But also we are members of the BMF, we support them in their activities and we are firmly committed to ExCeL. We felt it was right from every point of view to make a major statement which is why we’ve got an increased presence this year.”

The colourful stand is certainly impressive and a key element to how it works is that, for Suzuki, it is all about presenting lifestyle. “To be effective a stand needs to be light, bright and interesting,” Richard continued. “The worst thing for an engine manufacturer is just to display their outboards which do nothing but sit there. An outboard is an accessory and therefore it is important to bring the whole thing to life. This is why we’ve got fishing boats and RIBs fitted out to provide focal points,” he added. “We want to show people how they can go fishing, diving, windsurfing, waterskiing or wakeboarding for example.”

But getting people on to the stand is only the beginning. Once they are there it is crucial that customers enjoy the experience. “In a lot of cases visitors can be confused,” admitted Richard. “They come along and say they’ve seen so many things. But at the end of the day what we want to do is provide the simplest solution for them to go boating. They really need guidance and not in a condescending way, for us no question is too simple. It’s better that visitors are drawn on to the stand where they can be engaged and we provide seating areas where people can sit down and talk. We always try to have a stand where you don’t have a line of salesmen stood waiting to pounce.” As well as answering visitors’ questions, stand staff need to do some gentle probing of their own because it’s about much more than just trying to sell engines. The aim is to find out what visitors’ concerns are - for example, how comfortable they are going to be in the boat. Visitors may also be anxious about trailing, towing or launching. “There are varying reasons why a family may not be too keen on making the investment. Often we need to engage with the wife or the partner and find out how experienced they are. They might not have driven a boat before so then we can talk about RYA training,” Richard concluded. “We want to help them walk off the stand knowing that they’ve got the information they need to make their buying decision.”