Spent 4 hours showing the boat yesterday

Sea Gull said:
God gave you one mouth and two ears - a good salesman remembers to use this to listen twice as much as he talks.
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Which is why I asked a lot of questions about his situation...to see where he was, and I did listen In this case though, IMHO it was important to speak and educate since he is new to boating.

In this market it's my opinion you have to do a little bit more to sell you boat than just show it and say "Any questions? None, OK, thanks for looking at her". Boats are not selling, bottom line, so I took the extra time to make a potential buyer feel comfortable with our boat...to me, that is good salesmanship.
 
Four Suns said:
Is that your post?
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Well, if you read it literally yes, my mistake. "Sold the boat" means I, per his comments/feedback, sold him on our boat. It''s unknown to me if he has the means to buy it and when he plans to buy.

Yes, you are right, I do not have cash in hand.

The purpose of my post was not to say how much time it may take to sell a boat these days and to thank those who have educated me about boats on this listserv, not to solicit opinions on my sales skills.
 
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Oh... so if you say "I sold the boat" that doesn't really mean you "sold the boat"... It means you "sold him on your boat" but not "sold the boat" in that he didn't part with any cash...

Got it.
 
When I sold my 250, I spent a lot of time with the couple and their friend (a former Sea Ray saleperson) showing them all about the boat, presenting stacks of maintenance records, and taking a nice, calm, relaxing cruise around the bay showing each one of them how to trim it out, how to find the best cruise speed...

When we got it back on the trailer, they handed me a cashier's check for the asking price (reduced a couple of times, but reasonable). I signed over the title and we were done. I had previously spent time with the man on the boat in a parking lot. I think it was all time well spent, but it could have been wasted too, I guess - if they hadn't bought it, that would get real old after a few days of training newbies.

Hopefully, at my next sale, it won't be a newbie.
 
You didn't tell him he should go get a surveyor first? And you just took his money?

You get the Cadillac!!!!
 
Funny how that surveyor thing works.
Buying boat, survey = Good
Selling boat, survey = Bad
 
I had an old boss that told me "Selling doesn't start until someone says 'no'"
 
Four Suns said:
I had an old boss that told me "Selling doesn't start until someone says 'no'"
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By 'old boss' do you mean that the boss was up in years or a boss you used to work for a while back....???


And by 'had an old boss', do you mean.......:grin:
 
No, that isn't what I mean Greg......... I'm not just being picky about word choice.

What I mean is, did you ask him to buy your boat after he looked and was positive about his experience with your showing him your boat. Even if a buyer isn't ready, then preclose with: "I'm willing to take the boat off the market while you do your due diligence , if that helps you. All we need to do is to agree on the terms and deposit, then I'll work with you and even help with the survey/sea trial process any way I can".
 
Four Suns said:
You didn't tell him he should go get a surveyor first? And you just took his money?

You get the Cadillac!!!!
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Hmmm, no one told me that there was a caddi involved when I sold my boat without offering a survey...When did this promotion start??? I had to buy mine....
 
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