Boat Rental Service Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory
The Boat Rental Service Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Boat Rental Service business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.
Your Business Planning Package will be immediately emailed to you after you make your purchase.
- Bank/Investor Ready!
- Complete Industry Research
- 3 Year Excel Financial Model
- Business Plan (26 to 30 pages)
- Loan Amortization and ROI Tools
- Three SWOT Analysis Templates
- Easy to Use Instructions
- All Documents Delivered in Word, Excel, and PDF Format
- Meets SBA Requirements
Boat rental service companies are fun businesses to run given that most people that own and operate this type of company will frequently enjoy fishing as well as water sports. These businesses are able to generally produce revenues and profits in almost any economic climate given that chartering a small boat is not an overly expensive activity. These businesses thrive in warmer climates as well as in markets that have been affluent population base. One of the best things about these businesses is that they are able to easily acquire the money they need in order to launch operations. This is due to the fact that small boats are a very good form of collateral for bank loan. As such, these businesses are almost always able to get the money they need in order to get their operations off the ground.
The startup costs for a new boat rental service typically run anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 depending on the types of vessels being purchased that will be charted chartered by third party. Generally, the gross margins generated from revenues is around 80% which includes the cost of fuel as part of the cost of goods sold. For smaller boat rental services, it is usually the owner operator that serves as the captain of the ship. However, as these businesses expand they may hire additional individuals that are properly licensed to be the captain of a small marine vessel. This contributes to a higher underlying operating cost; however, these businesses can readily contract and expand as the economy does well or has a recession.
Again, almost all financial institutions, private investors, and lending firms are willing to provide a strong amount of capital support for a new boat rental service. Of course, a boat rental service business plan is going to be required. This business plan should include a three-year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page. It is of special importance to complete and expansive demographic profile of the number of people that live within the target market as well as the number of tourists that frequent the area. Special attention should be paid to the number of toys that come to the target market radius of the boat rental service given that it is usually these people that charter boats during vacation seasons. A further examination of the market should include an examination of population size, population density, median household income, median family income, median household value, number of people that come to the area as a tourist, and the average money spent by a tourist that comes to the target market.
One of the ways that these businesses will frequently develop revenues at the onset of operations is to develop relationships with travel agents, area hotels, and area motels. Many of these businesses will directly place a customer with the boat rental service. This is especially true in the case of travel agents. These firms usually receive a commission of 10% to 20% of the total fees generated by the client. While this is an expensive commission to pay – it is only paid once a customer has reserved a day of using one of the companies small boats. As such, these businesses can thrive if they have a network of travel agents that can place people with the boat rental service. Many area hotels, motels, and other places a hospitality will allow these types of businesses to place brochures directly within the facilities. This is usually outdone at a minimal expense and can generate a substantial amount of revenue for the business during its life. Additionally, some hotels maintain concierge services that can have their customers directly reserve a space on the boat rental service in conjunction with the hotel. The fees are associate for providing the service are similar to that of working with a travel agency business.
A boat rental service marketing plan should be developed as well. This needs to be an expensive marketing plan that encompasses both online marketing strategies as well as the use of print advertisements. Foremost, the ongoing relationships with area travel agents and hotels should be the number one strategy that is used by the boat rental service in order to generate revenues quickly.
As it relates to online marketing, a large-scale website needs to be developed to showcase the fleet of boats available, pricing information, contact information, reservation information, and other notices regarding to the usage of the company’s fleet of boats. As it relates to reservations, most boat rental services will have a website that features e-commerce functionality so that individuals can directly reserve dates and times for usage of a small boat. While this is an expensive upfront cost – the return on investment for having this type of functionality on the website can be substantial.
Beyond maintaining a website that is listed among all major search engines, most of these companies will also maintain a significant presence on FaceBook, twitter, Instagram, and Google+. The use of social media is of special importance to a boat rental service given that many people now use social media platforms in order to find excursions activities for when they travel to a certain area. As such, a FaceBook profile can aggressively boost the visibility of the business from the onset of operations. Also, many social media profiles – especially those on FaceBook and Google+ – allow for individuals to leave reviews once they have experienced the services of the small boat charter company. Strong reviews provided over a significant period of time will further strengthen the brand-name visibility of the business while ensuring a strong reputation for all services rendered.
A boat rental service SWOT analysis should be produced as well. As it relates to strengths, boat rental services are almost always able to remain profitable and cash flow positive and their access to capital is significant. The gross margins are considered to be moderately high and the barriers to entry are considered to be moderate.
For weaknesses, these businesses can have significant underlying costs especially as it relates to storage of boats, marina fees, insurance costs, employee costs. However, and again – these businesses can substantially ameliorate these costs during times of economic recession would not as much revenue is coming in.
For opportunities, these companies can easily expand by acquiring additional vessels that can be used during the course of normal business operations. Also, a boat rental service company can develop additional locations especially in areas that feature a significant amount of access to lakes, oceans, and other waterways.
For threats, there is really nothing that would impact the way that these businesses will conduct their operations moving forward. One of the technological advances that may occur within the industry’s efforts may become electric powered rather than using internal combustion.
A boat rental service can be an excellent small business to own and operate on a day-to-day basis provided that the owner is a very hands-on manager. These businesses, while somewhat simple to run, to have a number of complexities that need to be addressed on a day-to-day basis. Again, one of the best things about these businesses that they will be able to easily expand once they reach significant profitability given the amount of collateral that is held in the form of marine vessels.