Customer Care

captured from http://us.m3n4.com

Happy New Year, dear yachtsmen, dear readers! Before continuing with more yacht brands, they are more than one hundred, I chose as my first post this year, another "chapter" for brokers, related to customer care. In a previous article, I've said something about assessing the virtual customer from the beginning. I've read advertisements saying that a certain broker offers lodging and leisure to any customer ready to accept his offers. Such a guy overplays. Rich, very rich people aren't looking to this kind of "lodging". I knew a guy once, who built a sort of a pension on his inherited land near the sea, and pushed a few more dollars by renting it's four apartments to foreign tourists by day, in the Mediterranean season, which maybe you've heard, could be as long as six months in Turkey and five in Greece, Italy and Spain. It wasn't bad, before all that, he acquired three wooden boats, selling initially another piece of land. With the revenue from chartering the three boats, he built the "resort", which has a pool as well. He was challenging a pretty known "exclusive" British holiday network in the meantime, network with a hotel less than fifty meters away put in such a position to offer him some kind of partnership for "helping" them. But the main acquisition he made, was … [Read more...]

Yacht Economics

Boating in Turkey

A yacht is in fact any type of vessel, other than a dinghy, propelled by sail, power or both and used for pleasure cruising or racing.Depending more on your budget, and less on your pleasure, you can determine what kind of yacht you can afford. A yacht is an expensive toy, and not everybody is made to possess one. (You know, if I want to sell a boat to anybody, I can pretend the contrary, and be quite believable). If you buy something with less than € 20,000 the thing you bought is not a yacht, is something else. A masted dinghy is cheaper. The rough wood price is between $ 500 and $ 1,500 per cubic meter. Some skills are required to maneuver a yacht, some papers and certificates, brevets and licenses, exams passed and so on, even if someone, a former client, told me that in France you are allowed a lot or funny things if you keep some limits, to have one means a lot more responsibility than having a car. In Turkey for sample, the Coast Guard (Sahil Güvenlik) is prosecuting everybody if they don’t present the required papers, I mean the dinghy owners as well. Formed in 1982 as the maritime wing of the gendarmerie, the coast guard is now separate but also reports to the Ministry of Interior. The coast guard is responsible for maintaining the security of the … [Read more...]

Next 7 Questions on Purchasing

Turkish Gulf

This post is actually a list with the next seven questions to put yourself in case you want to purchase a yacht. 7. Is it better to try the boat before buying? This stupid question, "top" question, I found on the net recently, mingled with the process of buying a yacht. You, what do you think? Is it better or not? In some beliefs, especially in the Muslim world, it is not recommended for the groom to try the wife to be, before wedding. One might be shut, or open up if so. But a yacht? You have to trip it as long a distance as you can buy (metaphorically speaking) from the "broker". A free tip. It’s strongly advised to check the boat without other clients on it. I’ll explain later. 8. Are the brand names important or not, when buying a yacht? Only if you are in the "over 10 Mil" Category. Depends on what you’re ready to throw the money on: the label, or the guarantee coming with the label. Anyway, everything is limited. 9. How to find a good crew? One can find a good crew by searching it. There are forums, there are specialized sites, you can web chatting them and if you like them, you can call them. Referrals work too, but you need to test them. If they can figure what is what, they have potential. Why? The real good crew, is already employed for Johnny … [Read more...]

6 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying

Speed Boat

Following a dream or a social requirement if you don’t suffer of seasickness, may be mesmerizing, but can turn into a very unpleasant experience, due to the complex process of mixing brokers and owners, sometimes of boat builders, or the future maintenance and crew. If you have hundreds of questions about it, arrange a priority for the following ones. I’m trying to answer them based upon my own experience and the one of a lot of other people in the yacht business. 1. What kind of yacht would I like, a sailing one or a motor-yacht? That depends of what kind a person you are, and the purpose of the boat you want to buy. If you are the dynamic type, you’ll prefer a sailing yacht, speedy and ecological as it is, thrilling as any adventure one can imagine at sea. Dynamic or not, if you can afford luxury at sea, want to feel a superstar, the power yacht or motor-yacht will be the choice. 2. What PRICE are you ready to pay for the desired yacht? On that answer can depend as well, the type of yacht you’re going to have, sailing or motor-yacht. 3. How big a yacht do you desire? It’s simple. If you got enough, the length may be 100-150 ft. Enough means over €10 Million. Of course, there are boats for every budget (almost). One can buy with €100,000 … [Read more...]