There is a curious parallel between selling boats and having sex.
I know, for some people selling is truly a pleasurable activity, but beyond personal enjoyment the two activities have many things in common. Let’s see why.
The perfect outfit: how you present yourself to the market
Promotion. When you prepare the communication for your shipyard, your charter company or any other nautical business, it is the moment you are deciding how to dress before going where you think there are interesting people to court.
This is the moment when, if you are a bit careful, you decide which garment to choose, whether you want an elegant or more sporty outfit.
You will choose garments that highlight your strengths and hide your weaknesses or shortcomings.
Just as it makes little sense to wear a tracksuit to a wedding of relatives who “care about appearances”, it makes little sense to talk about your adrenaline-pumping performance if you are presenting a boat you want to sell to a family with small children.
Choosing the right consultant (the corporate color analyst)
And just as in everyday life the most savvy people also choose the color analyst, the specialist who uses tests and various colorful fabrics to tell you which colors drag you down and which ones enhance you.
So the wisest companies choose specific consultants to help them define what works for them in order to find more partners, meaning clients.
If you sell a 60-foot bullet traveling at 60 knots, focus on the idea that if you are still at Cala Galera in Argentario at 7:00 PM, you can have dinner at 8:30 PM in Marciana Marina on Elba.
If instead you sell displacement trawlers, you tell them that at 16 knots they arrive at Elba consuming 1000 liters less than the guy speeding at 60 knots.
The first contact: boat shows, dealers and the “stroll”
Advertising and communication are how you let yourself be seen “from afar”.
How friends talk about you (or detractors in the case of negative articles, for example, although to tell the truth I have read very few of them in nautical magazines: a few yes, but very few).
The boat show and the dealer represent the moment you get in touch with “who you like”, the potential partner. It could be seen like this: the boat show is the party, the dealer is the “stroll” down the main street of the city as it used to be done or today’s aperitif.
We get to know each other, we talk, we joke, in short: we sniff each other out. And if we then consider ourselves pleasant enough, we decide to go out on a one-on-one date.
From courtship to orgasm (the sale)
The long commercial negotiation is the actual courtship. And finally, when you get to define the list of accessories that the client would ideally want on the boat, you can say that we have reached heavy petting.
Then there is the sales contract: the actual relationship is where it is decided how to move together: you do this for me, you give me that.
If this type of embrace pleases both, it leads to the next phase, the confirmation of the relationship. Something that once might have been the “I do” at the altar today is the definition of being together in a couple’s relationship: the signature at the bottom of the contract.
Finally then comes the orgasm: for the seller the balance of the payment, for the buyer the launch and the first cruise.
Do not forget the cuddling: the after-sales
Finished? No, because now comes the cuddling.
That part which is fundamental for most women and is foolishly underestimated by a good number of men.
In the nautical sector it is the after-sales service.
It is here that from a seducer you transform into an unforgettable lover.
It is true, your goal is achieved, you have sold the boat, but your partner still wants to feel showered with attention by you.
Think about what happens in bed: (and here I address the men) once you have reached the supreme ecstasy that accompanies the climax, after a handful of seconds in which you catch your breath you want to turn over and dedicate yourself to something else.
For a woman it is not like that, especially if it is not just sex but there is also some feeling (and I want to point out that the two things can live and have dignity even if they do not coexist).
So if we replace feeling with money, the emotional involvement of the client becomes clear.
The weight of silence: the risk of betrayal
In fact what happens: if you do not cuddle afterwards, at best your partner rightfully complains from her point of view and “makes it weigh on you”; if instead you give her the attention she expects, it is very likely that the next morning she will be the one bringing you coffee in bed.
And even more importantly: she speaks well of you to her friends, which could be very useful to you later.
For the client it is the same: if when he expects something from you, even after your mutual orgasms (yours the sale and the collection, his the boat) you do not give him what he considers right for his well-being, not only will he not bring you coffee, not only will he speak badly of you to friends, but it is certain that he plans his next mating with someone else.
The cost of neglect
One of our clients, who we can call BeautifulBoats lost two practically concluded sales because one of his clients had not received an answer for more than a month on a trivial problem.
Obviously he told his friends who were considering buying a BeautifulBoats and they went to LessBeautifulBoatsButTheyAlwaysAnswer.
If you want to understand where your shipyard is making mistakes in the ‘seduction’ of clients, write to us.
Also because, remember, retaining a client costs 5 times less than acquiring a new one.
