Nobody wants to be quoted for this article. It’s kind of amazing, really, given how freely charter yacht captains, retail brokers, and central agents typically discuss one another’s flaws. I’d wager that one in every three of the boat show luncheons I attend includes an animated discussion about charters gone wrong—and, more interesting, who is to blame. When it comes to fam trips, the odds of such a discussion emerging (dare I say erupting?) are a solid 100 percent. After more than a decade of hearing these rants, I can almost sing them like a song.

Unfortunately, the conversations typically take place among like-minded retail brokers, or among like-minded captains, or among like-minded central agents. It’s rare for a retail broker to say her piece while sitting next to a central agent who controls access to yachts, or for a captain to cut loose within earshot of a retail broker who has paying clients at the ready,
or for a central agent to say anything in the presence of anyone who could cost the yacht owner a charter. Each camp has the same complaints, but the other two camps rarely hear them.

In the interest of enhancing the conversation, the following pages include the most commonly uttered complaints about retail brokers, captains, and central agents alike.

Retail Broker Mistakes

1. Negotiating Vaguely.

When rate negotiations became common, the role of the retail broker changed. Instead of being primarily a matchmaker between yacht and client, the broker now also has to be a smart negotiator.

These are very different skills, as evidenced by the number of central agents who complain that retail brokers leave them in a no-win position. The most common negotiating mistake that retail brokers make is calling the central agent and asking, “What’s the lowest rate the yacht owner will take?” This is about as likely to succeed as walking up to a listing Realtor and querying, “What’s the lowest price your homeowner will accept?”

A better question for a retail broker to ask is, “Will the owner accept a specific reduced rate of 10 percent? Because that is what my client will pay.” This type of inquiry gives the central agent an actual dollar amount from which negotiations can begin.

2. Booking a Boat You Don’t Know.

Little upsets a client more than being surprised by something he hates when he gets on board, and little upsets a captain more than having a client who is disappointed within five minutes of embarkation.

I’ve heard captains say that charter guests were expecting everything from non-existent Jacuzzis to completely different interior décors, all because the retail broker booked the charter without full knowledge of the yacht. The best retail brokers know the products they are selling, and they inform clients of every possible detail before putting a yacht forward for consideration.

3. Failing to Provide Guest Details.

Another major complaint that captains have about retail brokers is that the latter don’t know their clients well enough, and that they sometimes don’t know them at all.

It makes the captain’s job far harder if the clients are not the people he is expecting. Top retail brokers know their clients’ preferences, allergies, medical conditions, and special requirements before they book a charter. Failing to get this information, or failing to share it with the captain, is a recipe for disaster.

4. Making a Bad Boat Show Impression.

I once heard a central agent talking about a retail broker who got on a yacht, started asking the crew typical questions, and then wondered aloud, “Do you crew members have sex with each other while the guests are onboard?”

It’s one thing to get to know a boat, but it’s another thing entirely to be obnoxious. If a captain feels weird about you at a boat show, then he’s going to resist having your clients onboard. The same is true for central agents—only they will resist having your clients aboard any of the boats that their company manages.

5. Failing to Mention Gratuity Protocol.

Retail brokers cannot ensure that a client will leave a gratuity, but it is part of the broker’s job to inform the client that a gratuity is standard procedure. Perhaps the single biggest complaint that captains have about retail brokers is failure to educate clients about gratuities.

The MYBA Tipping Guidelines state that 5 percent to 15 percent is a common gratuity range. These guidelines exist so that retail brokers, captains, and clients can all be on the same page. What could be an easier problem to solve?

Captain Mistakes

1. Insisting on a Gratuity.

Nothing turns off retail brokers faster, or ensures that they’ll refuse to book a yacht in the future, than a captain who insists on a gratuity. This is true not only of captains who request the gratuity before the charter contract is signed, but also of captains who are perceived as harassing the guests about a gratuity after the charter has begun. What some captains think of as subtle—such as stating in a guest information book that a 20-percent tip is typical—many brokers think of as obnoxious.

It is appropriate for a captain to ask a broker whether she has informed the client about gratuity protocol. That, however, is where the talk of gratuities should end if captains want to remain on brokers’ good sides.

2. Working Directly with Repeat Clients.

I once attended a boat show luncheon aboard a long time charter yacht. The chef and stewardesses put on a terrific meal, and the captain was an absolute delight at the table. By the time dessert came around, every broker said he would book the yacht.

The lunch ended, and another broker came aboard—and got into a shouting match with the captain in the salon. The captain had contacted the broker’s client directly to gain repeat business. The broker cried foul, and the captain said that he had waited two years to the day, which is the length of time for which the broker was protected by the original charter contract. The broker didn’t care. She felt shafted.

The broker not only made a stink that wafted over what otherwise was a lovely luncheon, but that also quickly spread around the docks. In trying to cut out a single broker’s commission, the captain managed to eliminate dozens of brokers from his sales force. The smartest captains take the long view over the quick win, and keep as many retail brokers as possible as friends.

3. Failing to Keep Central Agents Informed.

The central agent’s job includes notifying retail brokers about changes and improvements aboard a yacht. And yet it is the captain, not the central agent, who knows about every change and improvement that is made.

Central agents get frustrated when captains fail to provide regular updates. If you get a new paddle board, or a new third stewardess who speaks a unique language, or a new stash of the latest video games and movies, then do your central agent a favour and drop him an e-mail. He will then have a reason to promote your yacht to retail brokers, and everybody wins.

4. Making a Bad Boat Show Impression.

I’ve done boat show tours where the yachts absolutely reeked. And where the stewardess didn’t know anything about the boat. And where the deckhands thought I couldn’t see them smoking. And where the chef served a luncheon that included not one, but two courses with food to which a broker said she was allergic.

If a broker believes that a captain can’t get his crew organized to give a decent presentation at a boat show, then there’s no way that broker will ever send her clients aboard for a weeklong charter.

5. Fudging the Books.

Captains who play fast and loose with clients’ APA funds are quite simply asking for trouble.

Some retail brokers go line by line through final APA statements, checking at the client’s request to be sure that everything is as it should be. I’ve heard from several brokers who found inflated charges and outright stealing, including charging for twice as much fuel as was actually used according to the engine hours. You may get away with keeping some extra cash, but if you get caught, you’ll lose the trust of the broker who sniffs you out, the trust of all his colleagues, and, perhaps, the trust of your yacht’s owner once word gets around.

Central Agent Mistakes

1. Failing to List Specific Availability.

If a client calls a retail broker and says, “I want to charter in Sicily,” the broker attempts to find a yacht that is available in Sicily. This process is made virtually impossible by central agents who list availability as “West Med,” but who really mean “South of France and maybe also Corsica, if the owner is in a good mood.”

Ideally, a central agent will list the specific locations where a yacht is available. “West Med including Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily” is a more helpful notation.

2. Failing to Update Retail Brokers.

If a captain does his job and keeps you informed about changes or improvements aboard a yacht, then it is your job to in turn share those details with retail brokers.

When a charter broker has out-of-date information, he shares it with the client, leading to countless possible problems. Even worse, if an owner loses a charter because the central agent failed to properly promote the yacht, then the central agent may lose the listing altogether.

3. Ignoring Retail Broker Inquiries.

Retail brokers contact central agents when an inquiry is in hand. When the central agent fails to return a broker’s inquiry in a timely manner—or never, as is sometimes the case—then the broker can lose the client altogether.

If you are the central agent who cost this retail broker a potential booking, do you think she is going to look to your yachts for her next inquiry? Be diligent about responding, even if you don’t think a deal can be done with the current yacht in question.

4. Putting Marketing before Truth.

I’ve sat at boat show luncheons where the chef was a complete flop—the incident with curry ice cream comes to mind. Brokers and press alike put down their forks, exchanging knowing glances around the table. The worst thing a central agent can do in this situation is say the chef is fantastic. Instead, try something like, “Four out of five courses were great, yes?”

Everyone knows there has been a gaffe. Don’t make it worse by trying to gloss over it. That’s true in other situations, too. If a client gives a bad review after a charter, don’t tell brokers the client loved the boat. The industry is small, and you can quickly get a reputation as someone whose word is not to be trusted.

5. Making a Bad Boat Show Impression.

The dream scenario at any boat show is to have retail brokers walk off a yacht wanting to book it. The nightmare scenario is having those same brokers come on board, take a

tour, and realize that you cannot answer a single one of their questions. If retail brokers believe you don’t know the product you are selling, then they will not put their own reputations with clients on the line by relying on you for information.

Even worse, the captain may overhear you talking and realize that you are not up to date on the yacht’s information, pricing, and amenities. This can get back to the owner, not only costing you a few charters, but perhaps also the listing.

Publisher’s Opinion

It won’t surprise anyone that we believe the single biggest—and most expensive—mistake that a central agent can make is to rely solely on myba.net (or Yachtfolio when it eventually reappears). We believe that this system fails to deliver a wide enough broadcast of charter yachts’ vital information to satisfy today’s information hungry markets.

Charter Index delivers information not only to the trade but also the public, via nearly 100 integrations into retail broker websites around the world (see who they are at www.charterindex.com/who-uses-portals.php). The authored digital brochures by Charter Index, which set the industry benchmark for quality graphics and design, can now be seen virtually everywhere. They are all linked into Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, and are instantly translatable into virtually any language.

Retail charter brokers and central agents make a big mistake if they think one system is enough. Neither myba.net nor charterindex.com is sufficient on its own. There are hundreds of yachts in charterindex.com that are not in myba. net, and some important large yachts in myba. net that are not in charterindex.com.

For the time being, everybody needs both, and—fortunately—Charter Index is still affordable enough to let central agents and retail brokers avoid the mistake of relying on one system only. Our rates are just $495 for view-only access for a year and $328 to list a yacht for a year, which are most certainly a bargain in today’s charter industry.

Some charter companies continue to produce thick, expensive, printed catalogs while others have moved primarily to digital marketing models. Some yachts, too, have abandoned glossy brochures in favor of websites, Twitterfeeds, and downloadable PDFs. Charter Index Editor Kim Kavin examines the changing demand for printed and digital marketing materials.

Today, the combination of shrinking marketing budgets and expanding electronic options is making printed brochures obsolete at boat shows. Some central agents still pass out flers, and the occasional glossy brochure is available aftera tour, but more oftenthan not, brokers are handed a memory stick or are asked to visit a website when they return to their own office Which, of course, begs the question: If central agents no longer concentrate on printed brochures to market yachts, do retail brokers still need printed brochures to sell charters?

For a fastgrowing number of brokers, the answer is no—and that includes not just brochures, but all kinds of printed marketing materials. In 2010 and early 2011, several leading management companies offered digital editions of key handouts in addition to print versions—not as a substitute, but as an option for clients who preferred digital to print. It is a concept that was literally unthinkable as recently as fie years ago, but that leading marketers have now embraced. Camper and Nicholsons International created an iPad and iPhone app for clients who want to view free downloads of the custompublished magazine Sea & I. YPI Group produced an availableuponrequest digital edition of “The YPI Selection,” a 56page catalog featuring everything from charter yachts to interviews with yacht designers. YCO offeredall 200 pages of its “The Yachts 2011″catalog in a digital format, free for anyone to view online.

While no statistics are available about the percentages of clients who still request printed brochures, anecdotal evidence suggests that the need is declining, and fast.

“I can’t remember the last time I sent a brochure to a client. Maybe three or four months ago,” says Fiona Maureso, head of charter at YPI Group. “Occasionally, we still come across people who like to have a printed brochure, but it’s in decline. It tends to have nothing to do with the boat, but instead with the client. Older clients who are not comfortable with the Internet tend to prefer the printed brochure. When brochures are being used nowadays, it’s oftenas a souvenir at the end of a charter. They’re used more for that than for actually selling the charter.” Lisa Peck, marketing director at YCO, agrees that printed brochures are becoming less necessary. However, she says demand typically has to do with the size of the yacht, not the demographics of the client. “With the larger yachts, there’s still great demand for paper brochures,” Peck says. “There’s still a luxury feel to receiving a highquality brochure in print, so for owners of yachts 50 meters and up, we recommend a printed brochure. For yachts less than 40 meters or 30 meters, we tell the owners it’s up to them. The paper brochure is still useful, and it’s nice, but there certainly are owners in that size range who are doing only electronic brochures without any problems.”

In some cases, yacht owners are replacing printed brochures with dedicated websites to promote their boats—and not necessarily because the website option is less expensive. One example in the larger size range is the 163foot Campanella Mary Jean. The sleek, interactive website www.yachtmaryjean.com was created to promote a 201113 circumnavigation with charter availability everywhere from the Tuamotus to the Maldives. A downloadable brochure was embedded along with an interactive map of the projected route and a video of the yacht (which is also available on YouTube). Links to the site were distributed via social media including the yacht’s feed on Twitter, which had already accumulated more than 120 followers afterless than a month online.

“I think the days of the printed brochure are long gone,” says Richard Orme of Large Yacht Solutions, which markets Mary Jean for charter. “Digital is the only way that we will be promoting Mary Jean. Our site went live about three weeks ago, and we already have more than six weeks of charter booked. We are still registered on myba.net, so we are reaching the industry through there, but the site itself is reaching clients directly. Most charterers are online. The only thing we’re missing without a printed brochure is that kind of coffeetablestyle exposure, where it’s sittingthere and people might pick it up, but for us, we believe the way to go is through the Web and tools like Twitter.”

That “coffeetable”exposure is still important to management companies, which is why YCO, YPI Group, and most other large companies continue to produce printed versions of their annual and seasonal marketing books. They do make the books available in digital formats, too, but neither Peck at YCO nor marketing director Mark Duncan at YPI Group see digitally formattd books replacing printed books the way that digital brochures have usurped their print predecessors.

“A printed book is something that people enjoy when they’re at home,” Duncan says. “They can leisurely enjoy it without opening a computer. In the years to come, with things like an iPad, that may change, but still, people today like the experience of casually going through a book.”

Duncan and Maureso said they still encourage yacht owners to get fantastic photography of their yachts, even if a printed brochure will not be made. Those photographs are more important than ever, they say, because they are now used everywhere from company books to iPad downloads to emails to FTP sites. And on websites like the one built to promote Mary Jean. Orme says the owner was instrumental in developing it, and that while the financialinvestment to create the site was real, it was significantlyless than a printed brochure would have been, even with photography costs included.

“Cost was a factor in not going the print route, but for us, it was secondary to the effectieness of the Web,” Orme says. “We want to go direct to the clients as much as possible. Printed brochures are great once you have an inquiry that comes in, but nine times out of ten, the charterer is always online. He’ll look on his Blackberry or his iPad.”

]]> http://www.charterindex.com/blog/2011/06/01/are-printed-brochures-obsolete/feed/ 4 http://www.charterindex.com/blog/2011/06/01/how-pagerank-affects-your-google-position/ http://www.charterindex.com/blog/2011/06/01/how-pagerank-affects-your-google-position/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:57:10 +0000 Charter Index http://www.charterindex.com/blog/?p=336

Everyone wants their website to be listed firstin Google search results. A key factor that influenes the order of those results is called PageRank, and it’s an important concept for anyone with a website to understand.

PageRank is named for Larry Page, one of Google’s co-founders. It is a complex algorithm that incorporates multiple layers of variable elements to help Google de-termine which web pages are bette, or more relevant to a search, than others. The web pages that earn the best PageRank end up at the top of Google search re-sults. Thus, you want your PageRank to be as high as possible for every page on your website. Google’s preferred variables are an industry secret, but they are widely believed to include a number of things that you can control. Experts in search engine optimization spend countless hours trying to discern the PageRank variables—which are always chang-ing—and generally recommend the following steps for anyone who wants to improve their website’s Page-Rank.

Build inbound links. Google itself acknowledges inbound links as a PageRank variable. Every web page that links to your web page is essentially casting a vote for your web page. If a web page that already has a high PageRank links to your web page, that’s ideal. In Google’s eyes, it’s like gettinga recommendation from The Queen as opposed to a plebeian. You can build inbound links in a number of ways, including by ex-changing text links or by purchasing advertising on websites that are already popular for the search terms that you are targeting.

Avoid link farms. Just as pages with high Page-Rank values can help you with Google, so can pages with low PageRank values hurt you. Some unscrupu-lous developers rely on clusters of websites known as “link farms.” These sites link back and forth to one an-other to try to build inbound links quickly, without the real value of reader eyeballs. Google’s algorithm is de-signed to identify and negate these link farms, which are essentially a form of spam aimed at search engines.

Choose smart keywords. Keywords are words and phrases that search engines use to determine what your web page is about. If you want to have a high PageRank for the keyword “yacht charter,” then you’d betterhave the phrase “yacht charter” in important lo-cations on your web page. For instance, a headline that reads, “Yacht charter is our specialty” is more likely to get Google’s attentionthan a headline that reads, “We have spent the past 50 years working in the luxury yachting industry.” That second headline may sound betterto the ear, but the firstheadline is far more important for Google Page-Rank of the term “yacht charter.”

Update content regularly. Google likes fresh con-tent. It’s just that simple. A website that goes for weeks or months without any updates is likely to receive a lower PageRank than a site that is updating daily. If you fail to update your website for months or years at a time, Google may even stop checking for new content on a regular basis, fur-ther hurting your PageRank. The best thing that you can do is update your site daily.

Have a lot of really good content. It’s not enough to get your web page onto the firstpage of Google search results. The ultimate goal is to have people actu-ally click on that Google search result, go to your web-site, and stay there. From Google’s perspective, people actually clicking a search result and then reading sev-eral pages on your website indicates that your content is valuable. And yes, Google can track not only how many peo-ple click to visit your site, but also how long they stay on your site. Having a single, good web page is not enough. Ideally, your site will grow over time to in-clude many good web pages that keep reader interest and, in turn, earn excellent PageRank.

Fraser Yachts Worldwide

As a charter broker in this industry for many years, I can attestto the fact that fam trips are definitelyworth it. That’s true whether the owner pays all of the broker’s expenses or the charter broker pays for some of the ex-penses.

You have the opportunity to experience what only paying guests get to experience—the quality of the yacht, the service of the crew, and the cuisine provided by the chef.  Doing regular inspections of yachts, which is standard procedure, educates the charter broker on the surface details and perhaps gives some insight into the captain and his crew, but not to the depth that a fam trip affords. 

I have had fam trips that have given me the knowl-edge I needed to book clients onto the yachts. It’s not only because of the up close and personal experience of being pampered in the manner of a paying guest, but also sometimes because I got to experience a cruising area that I had yet to visit.

In some cases, an owner might host a fam trip but say that the charter broker has to pay her own airfare to and from the yacht. If the broker then books a client onboard, the owner reimburses the airfare. Happily, I have always been reimbursed for my airfare, and I think that says it all about what fam trips make possible for everyone involved!

Central Agent: Nicole Caulfield,

RJC Yachts

Fam trips are well worth the time and expense, but make no mistake, planning these trips really does require a lot of time and expense.

The biggest fam trip that I ever helped to plan was this past winter. RJC Yachts worked with International Yacht Collection and Churchill Yacht Partners to edu-cate brokers from around the world about the Bahamas. The owners of fie yachts—the 147-foot Tuscan Sun, the 141-foot Big City, the 145-foot At Last, the 105-foot In-dependence 2, and the 97-foot Hooter Patrol IV—paid for food, fuel, and some dockage. Each of 34 retail charter brokers and managers paid to get themselves to and from those yachts, including transatlantic airfares from Europe. The Bahamas Tourism Bureau paid for all air-port transfers, and Atlantis Marina and Albany Marina each paid for two nights of dockage for each of the fie yachts.

So tens of thousands of dollars were spent, along with at least 40 or 50 planning hours by the charter man-agers alone, not to mention all the hours dedicated by each yacht’s captain and crew.

We won’t know the results for sure until bookings come in for this summer season, but just two weeks af-ter the trip, two of the Mediterranean brokers have al-ready secured bookings. These are brokers who never before would even pitch the Bahamas to their clients. Now, they are marketing the area from a strong position of personal knowledge.

Charter Captain: Will Keiser,

Four Aces - International Yacht Collection

I believe that fam trips are key to the success of any am-bitious charter yacht.

While I do agree that good advertising and trade shows are important, I also feel that it is essential to im-press those people who bring us our clients: the char-ter brokers. A fam trip gives them the chance to get to know our crew and yacht far betterthan they ever could during a boat show tour, and their feedback about our crew’s talents and/or shortcomings is necessary to help us stay on top of our game.

Charter brokers who come aboard for fam trips also help us by pointing out any areas on the yacht itself that may be improved upon. These are areas that they may not have a chance to fully appreciate during a short tour, but that they can truly understand afterspending a few days on the boat.

To me, a fam trip is a no-brainer as a form of ad-vertising. It is money well spent. I have seen the direct results from brokers who have been onboard for fam trips: new charters being booked.