Want to sell more boats? Well, here’s a story that’ll show you the secret to “catching” more customers.
It’s the amazing and true story about a man named Captain John Rade.
He’s a master fisherman with a great secret you can use to catch more customers than your competitors.
When fish migrate south in the cooler months or north in the warmer months, they must swim around the end of a big finger of land to get to where they are going.
This place is known as Montauk Point. And wherever you have lots of small migrating fish, you have big fish feeding on them, and feeding on the big fish are even bigger fish, and so on.
Because of this, world records for some of the largest fish ever caught have been set by captains who fish at Montauk.
As you’d expect, Montauk is a great center for many types of fishing boats: commercial fishing fleets, charter boats for hire by serious sports anglers, as well as the large “party fishing boats” that cater to weekend fishermen.
Montauk is also the home port of many legendary fishing captains including Frank Mundus: the great white shark hunter who was the real-life inspiration for the character ‘Quint’ in Jaws the movie. Famous as he is, Frank Mundus (and every other fishing captain out in Montauk) are in awe of one person. The man who towers above everyone in his ability to catch fish.
His name is Captain John Rade.
In fact, the local newspaper ran a story about him not long ago titled:
“John Rade, Maestro of Rod and Reel.”
To understand how good a fisherman John Rade is, you must know that government agencies regulate fishing and set limits on the number and size of fish that can be taken by any fisherman. For sports anglers, that number is low: just a few fish per angler, depending on the species.
For commercial fishermen who earn their living from the sea, the limit is much higher. They can catch hundreds or even thousands of pounds of fish per day, depending on the species.
I mention this because Captain John Rade is a commercial fisherman; someone who catches fish for a living to sell to restaurants, fish markets, etc. But John is a very special and rare type of commercial fisherman. He is what they call a “pin hooker” which means that he doesn’t rely on the usual commercial fishing methods.
Unlike most commercial fishermen, he doesn’t use giant nets, long lines with hundreds of baited hooks, big boats with crews of five or six mates. He just goes out on his little put-put motorboat with a rod and reel and hooks his fish one at a time. Yet he manages to regularly come home with hundreds and hundreds of pounds of fish.
To put that into perspective, let’s take the Viking Starship as an example which is a big boat where any weekend angler can come on board for a day’s fishing. On a typical Saturday, the Viking Starship may take out 50 to 60 fishermen. John Rade will usually out fish all 50 to 60 fishermen combined, fishing in the same water.
The newspaper reporter who wrote this story about him asked, “Captain John, how do you do this day in and day out?”
He thought for a moment and said something profoundly important to us as salespersons:
“When fishermen go out to fish they think like fishermen. When I go out to fish I think like a fish.”
John Rade studies the fish that he goes after:
When they feed and have their guard down.
What they eat depending on the seasons.
Where they find their food.
Environment: depth, temperature, currents and how it affects their feeding pattern.
Moral of the story: You need to become like John Rade and think like your customers.
I see too many brokers selling boats the wrong way. They focus on themselves or the boats they’re selling. But, when you change your approach and start thinking like a customer, you’ll catch more fish (customers!).
So, how do you start thinking like a customer?
Well, you’ve got to get “into their shoes,” so to speak.
And to do that, you need the right knowledge and insights.
Information that is specific to the buying behavior of the boat and yacht buyer.
And once you know how to “think like a fish,” you’ll be able to catch more “prospects” than you ever have before. Because, like John Rade, you’ll know where to catch them and how to catch them.
Again, you just need the right knowledge and insights. And this information is covered, in-depth, during Week 2 of my Six Week Sales Masterclass.
Just head over here to discover more: www.yachtsalesacademy.com/courses/sales-masterclass/
— Vincent Finetti
Founder & Instructor
YachtSalesAcademy.com
P.S. Try a listing strategy from my FREE Listing ebook here.
P.P.S. I’m doing an exclusive virtual Listings & Sales Workshop with a small group next month to go deep in applying my best strategies to your brokerage business.
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