A cold shoulder cools the marketplace
■ If my recent experiences are anything to go by, it’s a wonder we have a marine industry at all. I have attempted to contact numerous brokers concerning listed vessels, but 90% of my queries have been ignored. Where brokers have bothered to reply, they have been unhelpful or downright curt. For example: Me – ‘Is vessel X still for sale, and if so would it be possible to view it on (date) when we’re in your part of the country?’
The reply – ‘We’ll be on holiday then. Boat is still for sale.’
Or: Me – ‘I’m interested in vessel X on your website: you mention that it now needs some deck repair. The photos on your listing are all date-stamped 2004: do you have any more recent photos, please, especially showing the aforementioned damaged area?’
The reply (from a professional international yacht broker) – ‘No.’ (!)
No ‘thank you for your enquiry’, no ‘unfortunately we’ll be closed on that day, but perhaps we could arrange for the owner to meet you’, no ‘apologies, we don’t have any up-to-date photos, but the damage is...’ In fact, no attempt at all to progress our enquiries, nor indeed any common courtesy.
This complete disinterest was encountered time and time again: if I was the owner of the boat for sale I’d be having kittens if I knew just how badly the sale was being handled. And this lethargy and utterly uncommercial stance is not confined to brokers. Of emails sent to seven yacht designers, only one received a reply – and a total of TWELVE enquiries re moorings went unanswered. Numerous training providers listed on the RYA website seem to not want my money for ICC or diesel maintenance courses either.
I’ve never had such a hard time in getting people to sell me things! I could understand encountering this odd sales behaviour if I was dealing with an auction site or classified ad sellers, but every company I’ve been attempting to deal with has (supposedly) been a professional supplier, and all are registered with their various trade bodies.
This isn’t limited to the UK: I have had similar experiences with firms in the Netherlands and the US. (One US example was so shockingly bad that I’m now using it as a ‘how not to’ example on one of my sales training courses.)
Eventually I did find proper professionals in the areas I required, and they are now enjoying the profits from my not-insignificant purchases.
My experience is a salutary lesson that lots of ads on websites and elsewhere are useless without the right response to enquiries. For readers who are wondering why it’s taking so long for a broker to sell their boat, can I suggest you get someone to mystery-shop your sale? You might be shocked by what you find!