A boat is a hole in the water into which one pours money..

This past summer I was hired to help out with yacht sales at a local marina.  I had been working on the docks before this, and befriended a few of the sales guys and eventually they hired me on to help out during the busy months.  In a matter of days I picked up off the lingo and sales techniques used by the sales guys who had both been in the business for 20+ years.  Boat sales were at an all-time high during the months of July and August, as the tough economic conditions coupled with the realization of the true costs of boating led to boats being handed off at virtual fire-sale prices.

I had a sit down with my boss who outlined the keys to successful boat sales.  His main point was that selling a boat is about pitching a product that the customer essentially doesn’t need.  A car salesman has the benefit of selling a product that the buyer is actively searching for, and most likely needs relatively soon.  Boat sales, on the other hand, is about selling a product that the owner will eventually be pouring money into on a monthly and sometimes weekly basis  (the yearly expense for a boat is usually around 20% of the purchase price).   The saying in boating goes that, “a boat is a hole in the water into which one pours money.”  Plus, most of the people I would be showing boats to are just tire-kickers (hull kickers in this case?), who are not seriously considering buying a boat and are mainly just looking for a nice stroll down the docks.  Therefore (finally bringing this back to marketing), boat sales is about recognizing the customer and matching their needs with what a boat can offer.  The customer’s need will vary from person to person, but in the end it is about enjoying the beautiful climate and scenery that BC has to offer.  The way to successfully reel in a first time buyer is to let them experience the wonders of boating first hand by taking them out on the prospected boat on a beautiful day.  The boat will sell itself…