Went to the boat show today... scary. I've always dug boats, but generally I felt they were a hole in the water that you threw money into. I've often said - "I will rent a boat everytime I have the remotest desire to go out"... the theory being that renting a boat, even a dozen times in a year, will be far cheaper than owning. Last summer was the first time that I actually did rent a boat on a whim. I determined a couple things; 1) rental boats suck, 2) renting a boat sucks. The whole process of renting is frustrating, and the quality of the boat you get (at least in the powerboat range) was pretty mediocre. Since that incident, I've been thinking a lot about getting a boat.

Today I went to the boat show... I had done some boat research already, in fact I thought I had found "the" boat. After the boat show... wow! A lot of boats that fit my needs. Which brings me to the real point about this post... professional shopping.

I've heard terms like "Prosumer" before, typically refering to that anal retentive friend who does amazingly detailed analysis of purchases. I like "professional shopper" better. Or, at least "high end shopper". I believe most people are amatuer shoppers. Pros start with the basics (just like a product plan!):

1. What do you want the product to do? (scenarios)
2. What do you want in the product to accomplish this? (features)
3. What are you willing to spend? (resource allocation)
4. Does the product being considered meet 1-3 (quality assurance)
5. When do you want it? (schedule)

Most people skip basically all of these phases. I know I have way too often skipped right to #5 and purchased the thing. A lot of these steps require some brutal honesty, or to quote "Good to Great", you must face the brutal facts of your situation. People like to lie to themselves - "I want a house in Seattle because I want to be close the bars"... but it turns out they actually stay in every night watching reruns of Bewitched. I know that I lie to myself - "I really need a high performance sports car because I want to go to the track"... but I actually drive 10 miles to and from work in rush hour traffic.

I have a group of friends that practice professional shopping. When I purchased my truck recently, I was "encouraged" to do all of this analysis. By the time I was done, I can tell you the exact reasons why I wanted a truck (scenarios and features) and what I did and didn't like (QA) about the truck I bought. I feel better now, because I'm completely confident in my decision.

I'm finding it harder with my boat purchase. Their are so many variables, and so many possibilities. I'm really having trouble even figuring out the scenarios - will I water ski behind the boat? what about cruising? will I want to spend the night on the boat? how about scuba diving? I've decided to do the "hundred dollar" excercise - pretend you have a hundred dollars to spend on scenarios, and then you list them and allocate your money. It's not perfect, but at least it will help get me some clarity.