How to Sell Your Boat for Top Dollar… Even If You’ve Tried to Sell Your Boat Before and Failed!

Today’s quick story is about a boat owner who said: “Just Get Rid of The Boat” who taught me something important… and what you can learn from it.

We’ve had a few calls lately from boat owners who are almost at their wits end with trying to sell their boats; frustrated, pulling their hair out and ready to drop their prices.

But having an owner at their wits-end is a very appealing position that many boat buyers find attractive, they can smell a deal brewing. Everyone loves a good deal!

Bob called me yesterday and he sounded like he was tearing his hair out “I just need to get rid of this boat” he said.

Usually, if you’re wanting to sell, then having some offers are better than no offers.

You don’t need to accept a low-ball offer, but sometimes people do want to move on for one reason or another, and if the market is tough and illiquid getting price feedback from the market is an important part of the sales process.

The problem is, even dropping the price often doesn’t make much of an impact, unless it’s huge and you throw some money behind it to market the price drop widely. The drop needs to be enough of a ‘wow’ for people to take notice. Otherwise they are simply too busy to focus on this.

But if you can create an offer that is much more interesting and impactful, it’s more likely that people will take note and want to talk about your boat for sale. Your marketing costs will go down as dramatically as the interest factor goes up!

Here’s the example of Bob.

Bob wants to ‘Just Sell My Boat’ and asks me if a price drop will help. I say to him, what will really help, is if the boat buyers know you are at your wits-end!

So, we created an offer for Bob’s boat after we clearly identified an “avatar” for his boat. And, his boat is ideally suited to a first-time boat buyer. This is what that avatar looks like:

“A first-time boat buyer, a family man, married, in his forties with three kids aged between 5 and 15 years of age. They both work and travel a lot and have little spare time. They are expatriates in XYZ country and earn $400k per annum”.

Having done that, we then created an offer that would appeal to that avatar. Things that a first-time boat buyer and an expatriate new to the region, would likely highly value.

This is what the offer looked like:

“Are you looking for a boat owner who is seriously pulling their hair out?

We’ve located one! Especially for discerning first-time boat buyers.

This boat owner is so desperate he is giving:

1. Free driving lessons (valued at USD995)

2. Free PPCDL Drivers Licence entry fee (valued at USD200)

3. Free PPCDL Drivers Licence how to pass the exam tips and website access (value priceless)

4. Free berthing for 1 year (valued at USD15,000)

5. Free Boat Maintenance Masterclasses for new boat owners (valued at USD4,997)

6. Free New Boat Owners Coaching and Guidance for 3 months (valued at USD3,000)

7. Free 1-year entry into the elite ‘boat club’ where all your questions are answered (value 1,997)

8. Free access to the secret WhatsApp group (value priceless)

9. Free strategy and plan on how to sell your boat fast if you need to (valued at USD997)

10. Free Access to the Boat Buyers Academy and the 90-Day Boat Buyers Bootcamp (valued at USD5,297)

11. Free Welcome Party at the Boaters Bar (value priceless networking)

For the best value, family-day cruiser boat in town for first-time boat buyers or first-time in Asia boaters under USD150k contact us by clicking the “Learn More” button below.”

Interesting? We’re running the advertisements at the moment, and engagement and excitement are high. I’ll update you on the final results in a few weeks!

The thing I really want you to take away from this is — your boat for sale is ideally suited for a particular “avatar” and do write up a detailed description of someone who suits your boat perfectly. Your boat will probably have 2–3 avatars.

Why is this important? It means you can focus on the needs of the particular avatar and create value for them as part of the boat sale deal. Your sale enquiries will skyrocket.

So, what this means to you in your boat-selling life, is with a bit of thought, creating an offer for your boat for sale could be a smart move, as your boat appeals to a certain type of boat buyer/avatar. By aligning value and values this can mean a higher sale price for your boat as you give the buyer what they need and value, as part of the deal.

Here’s your next step as it relates to what you and I just shared: consider creating an offer to sell your boat rather than just a listing. You can do this by adding value to your boat offer, for example, free driving lessons (if your avatar is a first-time boat buyer) and other value-adds, that through your expertise and experience that would greatly assist a new purchaser of your boat.

My what: I help boat owners sell their boats 33% faster than traditional methods or do-it-yourself.

How: BASCO’s Online Boat Show platform and generating 3 times the sales enquiries in 90-days.

In a nutshell — I believe that 3 times more sales enquiries in 90-days, compared to traditional methods or do-it-yourself (DIY), is the key selling boats 33% faster — available through BASCO’s Online Boat Show program. What do you believe? Let me know.