How to sell my yacht? Promoting a yacht for sale takes great care and attention to detail, an excellent working knowledge of the nautical market and communications trends and long-standing professional experience.
So what do you need to know to ensure your boats enjoy the position they deserve on the market? How can a yacht broker help you with the sales process? Let’s take a look at both questions together.
1
CONSULTANCY ON SELLING PRICE
Setting the selling price for a yacht will be one of your first tasks – and a hugely important and delicate one too. Setting the correct price, i.e. one that reflects current market rates and the actual value of the boat itself, can make a significant difference to how long your yacht will take to sell.
The broker will draw on their own experience and knowledge of the market to guide you in selecting not just the selling price but also the lowest price they will accept in the event that the former isn’t offered. Several factors are involved: the age of the boat, its condition, engine hours, the yard that built it. But that isn’t the end of the story either: market conditions will also influence the decision.
2
PRESENTING YOUR BOAT
To really impress potential buyers, your yacht will have to look its absolute best. So it is no holds barred with it comes to its visual and technical presentation.
It is essential to enlist the help of a sector professional in this as they will not only be able to ensure that all the onboard equipment works but can coach the crew on how to present the boat. A neat, well-kept boat makes an excellent first impression, stimulates the purchaser’s curiosity and makes them want to investigate closer.
(Les Bruxellois: a 34.10 mt luxury motor yacht, built by the renowned Sanlorenzo yard)
3
PHOTO SHOOT & VIDEO
Never before has the first contact between potential owner and boat been so important.
Descriptions, specifications, details all come later. The first impact is usually emotionally-driven and largely aesthetic.
Aside from their ability to capture visitors’ imagination, high quality photographs also provide invaluable technical information about the boat. So photographs play a two-pronged role in both describing the boat and involving the future owner.
All this aside, a web page featuring quality visual content will be prioritised by search engines and given greater visibility.
So what are the benefits of professional visual communications?
✔️ attracting attention
✔️ boosting the readability of the page on search engines
✔️ making the yacht more memorable and impactful
✔️ involving potential buyers by creating ambiences and emotional overtones
✔️ communicating technical details about the boat through various different angles, views and close-ups of details.
(Heritage 9.9, a luxury day cruiser for sale with EYI)
Videos are no less important than photographs. We advise combining your photoshoot with a videoshoot as this will boost the benefits of your visual communications – and everyone knows just how important visual communication is. Recent studies have shown that users remember 80% of photographic/video images but just 10% of text.
As with photographs, it is important to put yourself in capable, skilled hands for your video. The latest trend amongst yachting sector specialists is using drones as this allows them to get very exciting shots from various different angles, delivering a genuinely dramatic impact.
4
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Your broker will work with the crew to draw up an accurate list of your yacht’s technical specifications. Your boat’s presentation needs to be as through as possible to ensure that any technical explanations the potential purchaser requires can be provided promptly.
5
GETTING ONLINE!
Having an online presence is now absolutely essential if you want your yacht to be visible and easy to find. The marketing team will work closely with your broker to advise you on a results-focused global dynamic marketing strategy. The aim? To guarantee your yacht a vast presence and optimal visibility on the web. It will also be included on all the most authoritative and renowned nautical portals like Boat International, Yatco, Yachtworld and many others.
6
ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS
The broker will work with the marketing team to design an integrated, vertical communications strategy that will involve regular personalised, targeted information newsletter shots. Social networks are playing an increasingly important role in yacht promotion too and are pivotal to creating active, interesting engagement.
7
OFFLINE COMMUNICATIONS
The digital side will also be supported, of course, by traditional marketing: print brochures, promotional material to use aboard the boat to guarantee potential purchasers the best possible welcome. Getting the boat prepared for future visits plays a key role too in the long build-up process to a sale.
8
BOAT SHOWS
Attending boat shows is another essential way of showcasing your yacht and attracting potential buyers. However, it also demands excellent organisational skills. Otherwise you can run the risk of finding yourself ill-prepared and projecting the wrong image of your boat.
The broker will assist the owner and his/her captain with all the organisational aspects involved in attendance, from entering the yacht for the show to pinpointing logistical support to promote it and even an appointments diary for onboard visits. Nothing can or will be left to chance!
(Silandra V, a stunning custom ocean-going sailing yacht built by Nautor Swan)
9
ONBOARD VISITS
Working with a broker on selling your yacht means being able to count on an industry professional willing to travel regularly to present your boat to potential clients and provide them with all the support they may require. The broker will be acting for you and so knowing the boat and everything about it is hugely important.
10
REGULATED CONTRACTS
Being a member of the world’s leading and most authoritative organisations is a guarantee of reliability and professionalism for the owner. Regulated and official documents provide a solid basis for a relationship of trust between broker, owner and purchaser.
It is never easy to decide to sell your yacht. The emotional side of the decision has a very strong impact on managing the sale and oftentimes people lose sight of the ultimate goal.
At other times, they simply don’t have the skills to negotiate such a delicate and complex journey which involves juggling bureaucracy, organisation, unforeseen circumstances and expectations.
Entrusting the sale of your yacht to an expert broker like EYI means being able to count on professionals that know every aspect of their profession inside out and can provide an efficient targeted service.
Sales, technical, legal and managerial abilities are just some of the skills that Equinoxe Yachts International brokers have honed to a T in over 30 years in the yacht brokerage sector.