Day 13: Talking to Boat and RV Dealers Before You Buy Anything

Howdy folks, and welcome to day 13 of the Boat and RV 100 Series. I am Joe Downs with the Storage Moguls, and today I'm going to show you one of the best ways to get some market intelligence in this vertical, and you can get it for free. And it's been sitting at every boat and RV dealership in your target market the whole time. A 30-minute conversation with the right dealer could probably tell you more about local storage demand than 3 months of Doing desktop research, and this isn't theory, folks. This is how we validate markets before we underwrite a single deal. And if you want the full market intelligence framework with AI-powered tools, you should probably head on over to storage mobiles dot ai. It's our free-to-join community where you can level up at your own pace, consume what you want to consume on your time and your dime. We've got. Free GPT tools. We've got multimodal learning. We've got content across every storage vertical or niche, whatever you prefer to call it. And then we're a community that's made of real people, actual operators just like you. We're a network that actively evaluates real deals because we're about real results. Members in our community are becoming storage moguls every day before your eyes. Not someday. It's not a, we'll get around to it. It's happening. It happens every day. So again, you can start for free and advance at your own pace. So I highly recommend you go to storagemobiles.ai when this video is over and just register. It takes a minute. There's no credit card. We don't ask for a credit card. Just, just get in the community. It's going to launch in 2 weeks. You're going to want to reserve your spot. But back to today, because most investors out there doing their homework on boat and RV facilities Never make this call, and that's their mistake and your opportunity. So why do dealers know so much about local storage? Well, because they talk to boat and RV owners every single day. When a customer buys a boat or an RV, the one of the very first questions they ask is, "Where am I going to store this thing?" And dealers hear the answers constantly. They know which facilities are always full, and they're probably making recommendations. They know which ones have waiting lists and which ones their customers. Customers complain about and which ones fit the right size for the right vehicle. So they know which operators have been running facilities for decades too, and which ones are just getting tired maybe and old. And here's the part most investors miss. Dealers are motivated to share this with you. A well-run storage facility near their dealership is a competitive advantage for them. Their customers can store nearby. That's good for them. They get their vehicles easily and keep trading from the same dealership as well as Referring friends and probably using them for their service. So if you build a great facility in their market, that's good for their business. They want to help you succeed. That's not a coincidence. It's a structural alignment of interest. So you should use it. But not every dealer is equally valuable for this conversation. So here's what you want to target. You got mid to large volume dealers, and higher volume means more customer conversations, which means more storage intelligence. A dealer selling 5 units a month sees more of the market than one selling 1 unit a month. So dealers near waterways, for instance, their customers will be actively using their boats and RVs. Storage is a real ongoing conversation, not a theoretical one. They hear the complaints and the compliments, but the complaints more often. Dealers selling Class A RVs or premium boats, these customers have the income profile that supports Class A storage rents. That's what you really want. If you're evaluating Class A market, you'll want to talk to the dealer whose customers are the tenants you're trying to attract. Such long-established local dealers, they're going to know storage operators personally, maybe even for 20 or 30 years. They know who's thinking about retiring, who built a great facility, and probably who's struggling. One bonus angle: the dealer's floor plan financing lender. Ask who does their floor plan financing. These guys operate like car dealerships. They're selling vehicles. The community bank, maybe, that knows the outdoor recreation market in ways that matter to your loan. They might have a warm introduction from a dealer you've built a relationship with, can open a door that a cold call to a banker never will. Here's 5 questions you need in your arsenal, and you want to write these down before you walk in. Question 1, where do your customers typically store after they buy from you? This tells you which facilities are currently serving the market and gives you a starting list just with your research. 2, which facilities are always full or have a waiting list? This is going to help you with the supply and demand signal. See, you probably might not be able to get it as accurate from desktop research. A dealer who says Riverside Storage has had a waiting list for 2 years Just told you something that no county registration data can. Question 3: Where are you sending your overflow customers if, for instance, Riverside is full? When a facility is full and customers need storage, where does the dealer point them to? That's the gap in the market. If the answer is, well, I tell them they got to drive 45 minutes to the next county, you might have just found an opportunity. Question 4, which facilities are well run? Which one do your customers complain about? This will help you separate the operational quality from location quality. A full facility that tenants complain about is a value-add opportunity. Maybe a new operator with better service can displace the incumbent. Perhaps a full facility with great reviews, that might be a stable asset. Number 5, do you, do you know of any owners who might be thinking about selling? This is where the off-market deal intelligence lives. A dealer who has a personal relationship with a 72-year-old facility owner who's mentioned retirement, that's a lead you can't get anywhere else. Here's what you do though. Walk in. Don't email them. An email to a dealer It ends up in an inbox that— or gets routed to an inbox, somebody who might not know what to do with it, or frankly just delete it. Person who walks in, introduces themselves professionally, and asks to speak to the general manager, not, not any sales rep, and asks for a 15-20 minute meeting, they're going to get the meeting most of the time. Your timing matters. You probably want to go midweek, mid-morning, not Friday afternoon when they're getting ready for the weekend rush, or Or Saturday when the floor is full of buyers. But you want to ask for the general manager or senior sales manager. Again, the floor salespeople, let them stay focused on selling units. The GM or the senior manager, they've got the institutional knowledge of the, of the market you're looking for. Introduce yourself directly. I'm an investor evaluating the boat and RV storage market in this area. Can I get 20 minutes of your time to understand what storage looks like from your perspective? That's it. It's not a pitch, no ask, just a clear, honest statement of what you want. And respect the 30-minute rule if that's what you asked for, or 20 or 15. What did you— whatever you asked for, when you hit that mark, politely wrap up. They're busy people. Ending on time, it helps you build credibility and leaves the door open for a follow-up. Dealer intelligence doesn't sit in isolation either. It directly changes your analysis. So if 2 facilities have year-long waiting lists, your occupancy assumptions for any new or acquired facility in that market should go up. The market is demonstrably undersupplied. Your ability to push rents is higher than a supply gap calculation alone would suggest because the demand signal is, is live and it's current. If a dealer tells you customers are always complaining about a specific specific facility— maybe it's gate problems or security issues or poor response times— that facility is a potential acquisition target. Bad operations in a strong location is the value-add story. A competent operator who fixes the service standard and raises rates to market can move the NOI significantly. If the dealer is sending overflow customers 40 minutes away, there's a gap in the market. Now that gap is either an acquisition opportunity or maybe it's a development opportunity, depending on what the supply gap calculation shows and what land is available. If an owner is aging out and their kids don't want to run the facility, add that to your direct outreach list immediately. That's an off-market lead with a natural transition story. Approach it with respect, not urgency. And if nobody does covered storage in a market, And the market demographically seems to support it, that might be a phase 2 opportunity with no competition. Price it accordingly. The dealer— the first dealer conversation is valuable. The ongoing relationship is more valuable. So send a thank you note within 24 hours. Not a generic thanks for your time email. Write a handwritten note, a specific note too that references something that they told you, like Hey, that waiting list situation at Riverside was exactly the kind of insight I was looking for. I appreciate you taking the time. What does that take? 2 minutes and sets you apart from everyone who never follows up. Check back in 90 days with something useful, a market update, a question about a development you've heard about, or anything that shows you're still paying attention and still value their perspective. If you acquire a facility in their market, tell them first. Give their customers a preferred rate or a priority spot on the waiting list. Make the relationship tangible. A dealer who's referred a customer to your facility and heard that customer say, I got in because of you, will remember that. Offer to refer buyers to them in return. If someone— if you know someone in Storage Muggles community or any community that you're a part of asks about buying a boat or RV in a market where you've now established a dealer relationship, Go out of your way to make the introduction. 2-way relationships outlast one-way ones every time. And when they call you with a lead, respond the same day. A dealer who heard that an owner is thinking about selling and thought to call you first is doing you a significant favor. You need to honor that. Here's how this fits into your market entry sequence. Before you spend time on desktop research, talk to the dealer. The intelligence they give you tells you which supply gap data to prioritize, which zip codes to focus on, whether the market is actually as strong as the county registration number suggests. Before you start visiting facilities, talk to the dealer. They'll tell you which ones are worth your time, which ones you can cross off your list without even driving there. Before you reach out with direct mail, talk to the dealer. They may hand you an off-market lead in the first conversation. An owner who's been mentioned as thinking about retirement, a facility that's had operational problems, or a situation that Desktop Research would never service— that's invaluable. The dealer conversation isn't a step in your process, it's the first step. Build that habit. It'll save you time, sharpen your analysis, And it'll surface deals that nobody else finds. All right, next up on day 14, we're going to dive into— we're going to drive and dive into drive aisles. I know it doesn't sound that sexy, and it's the unsexy feature that makes or breaks a facility though. So please like and subscribe so you never miss a sourcing advantage that costs you nothing but 30 minutes of your time. And share this with someone who's been analyzing boat and RV markets from their desktop. Without ever having a conversation with someone on the ground. And remember, the best market intelligence in this vertical is free, and it's been sitting in dealership showrooms the whole time. Make the call, walk in, build a relationship. The operators who do this consistently find better deals in less time than anyone who just sits behind a computer. If you want full market intelligence framework and deal— and the deal analyzer that we're offering to give away for the first 500 people that join Storage Moguls community, Just go register and join, and it's yours. It's free. StorageMoguls.ai. StorageMoguls.ai. If you join Storage Moguls, we will transform you from someone interested in boat and RV storage to a storage mogul. That starts with the mindset shift. So join us and start today. All right. Again, tomorrow we shift from sourcing to site evaluation, and we start with the single most important. physical feature you need to measure any facility visit. See you tomorrow.