What A Good Yacht Broker Will Do For You

By Matt Howard | Posted On Apr 10, 2017

So you’ve decided to sell your boat. You’ve also decided, wisely, to employ the services of a yacht broker. What should you expect a good yacht broker to do? In short – alot!

The good yacht broker will do the homework: No doubt, one of the first things in your mind is, “what is my boat worth?” Good yacht brokers use a variety of information to determine this number. Proprietary ‘sold boats‘ data is but one of the tools in the toolbox. Other factors that come into play include the geographical location of the boat, its age, amount of use, and how well it’s equipped.

The broker will prepare a first class listing: Let’s be blunt. A quick tour through the various multiple listing sites will show many poor examples of boats for sale. Poor photography, incomplete specs, and a crappy write-up are all too commonly seen listing defects. Fortunately, your good broker has shown you examples of previous or active listings with staged, high quality pics, complete specs, and a full ‘bio’ of the boat, and will do the same for your vessel, breaking it out from its competition. Ideally the listing will also feature video which presents more exposure opportunities, which brings us to the next step.

The broker will promote the listing via multiple channels: There are a number of listing services out there and your boat should be in as many of them as possible to increase its exposure. But he won’t stop there. Besides the yacht sales MLS sites, your broker will push the listing out via social media. Posting the video to youtube and other media channels will put more eyes on your boat which in turn will produce more leads. Ads in national and local print magazines are also in play.

The broker will keep you informed: Because you have a good yacht broker you won’t wonder how your boat is doing on the market – your broker will let you know! Good brokers routinely track ‘hits’ on the various websites to gauge the level of online interest, and respond quickly to phone and email inquiries, keeping you up to date in the process.

The broker will aggressively follow up with prospects: Good brokers are organized: they have a system. Some use CRM programs to log and track every lead, ensuring follow up is done. Whatever the method, that broker will track your leads with a near fanatical attention to detail.

The broker will shepherd the deal through closing: Once under contract with a buyer, there are many details that must be aggressively managed. The best yacht brokerages keep up with state of the art industry practices particularly in the technology arena. These brokers can conduct all transactions from mobile locations using tablets/laptops and custom software applications, making them agile and responsive. The good broker will run all of the details to ground and keep you informed every step of the way. Approaching survey/trial run day, your broker will have worked with you to ensure your boat is ready.

Brokers can also help you with ordering a new boat or yacht through the factory. It's a common practice to go to your broker to help keep an eye throughout the build process, have them negotiate with the factory, and be an extra pair of eyes on the boat during survey. For example, if you were to order a new Valhalla Boatworks center-console from the factory in New Jersey, a United broker would periodically go by the factory and ensure that your interests are being met. There is no cost to you as the buyer in this relationship as the broker is generally paid a commission by the factory.

All of the actions called out above cumulatively represent many ‘man hours’ of work on the part of your broker. This is in part the answer when you rightfully ask “what value am I getting for your commission?” In sum, in return for this commission, a good broker is protecting your fiduciary interests, while professionally marketing, showing, negotiating, and closing the deal on your yacht.

If you are looking for a professional yacht broker contact United Yacht Sales here.

Written by Matt Howard – Professional Yacht Broker