Look Differently At Your Customers

Are you searching for new ideas to improve your business?  Try looking at your customers in a new way.

From the customer’s point of view, look objectively at the services and experiences you offer in each customer segment.  Evaluate the actual customer experience at every contact point within your organization and with each and every team member.

Do your customers perceive:

                Risk in dealing with your company?

Competent performance of services?

                Superior value received?

                A convenient customer experience?

                Timely and informative communication delivered in their preferred manner?

                Decisions made in their Best Interest?

                Advice based on knowledge of what works, what does not work and future technologies?

Do you want better results?

Purpose:  Review the Vision and Mission for your business to confirm that they are still relevant.  Are the right customer segments being served?  Assess the alignment of your team’s actions.

Focus:  STOP doing anything that distracts from delivering value to your customers and assign your resources to the best customer segments.

Simplify:  Make everything as simple as possible to deliver a consistently convenient customer experience and to make things go right.  LEAN 5S and Kaizen are good working concepts.

Reimagine:  Get a Vision of the type of customer you want and design offerings to attract them.  Engage those customers in a manner that makes them better customers.  “Everyone Wins When Things Go Right”

Fascinate:  Create a customer experience that is uniquely compelling and appealing.

Align and Empower:  Get your team and ecosystem in agreement.  Ensure they have the training, information, processes and tools necessary to consistently deliver your services and customer experience as designed.

Consistency:  Repeatability is essential to building customer trust and confidence as well as improving the performance and satisfaction of your team.

Customers are your company’s greatest asset.  Without profitable customers there is no business.  Creating loyal customers is the path to making your business easier to run, more profitable and more valuable.

 

Win More Sales and Save Time

Truebuild Yachts is today launching its On-Demand Customer Quotation Service for yacht service providers.

The goals of this service are:

1. Immediately reduce your workload
2. Win more sales
3. Save you money
4. Reliably support your business

The quote format "sells" because it inspires customer trust and demonstrates your competence.

The process is easy for you as we are experienced and use our Truebuild_iT database.

The cost is low.  Just 1/3rd of 1% of the quoted price.  A $15,000 quote costs $49.50.

Give it a try.  It sells.  It is easy.  It is low cost.  It is flexible, use only as needed.

Contact:  gene@truebuildyachts.com

Yacht Service Company Owners: Can Customers be Trained?

Frustrated yacht service company owners often ask, can customers be trained?

Customers can not be trained, but they can be led. Customers can be led to behave in a way that is good for them and good for your business, when the purpose of your business is clearly communicated and backed by action.

State clearly the purpose of your business and why a customer should care.  Customers that believe what you believe will associate with your business and try your offerings. 

Design your products/services to reflect what you believe and deliver them consistently to earn your customer’s trust.  If the customer segment is large enough, your business will be profitable and your frustration with customers will abate.

Yacht Service Company Owners - Is Your Business "Secret Sauce" Negatively Affecting Your Customers?

Weak Customer loyalty and low profit margins are a serious problem for many yacht service companies.

Every business has a “Secret Sauce” that affects their Customers, whether it is intentional or not.  Often the actual “Secret Sauce”, as Customer’s perceive company performance, drives Customers to try other service providers or encourages them to bargain for lower prices.

When speaking with yacht service company owners, I define business “Secret Sauce” as the unique blend of their skillset, vision, goals, and personality as expressed by their company’s capability to deliver products and services that can transform Customers into more loyal and more profitable Customers.

Discovering and deploying “Secret Sauce” to transform Customers is a deliberate process, the goal of which is identifying the best Customer segments in which to gain the Customer / Trust and Confidence.   Customer Trust / Confidence is gained by consistently demonstrating Competence and making decisions in the Customer’s Best Interests, as perceived by the Customer.

Yacht Service Company Owners: Customers Are Your Most Valuable Asset

Without Customers there is no business.

As a business owner, it is your job to make your business more profitable by transforming your Customers into more valuable Customers.

Yacht owners are demanding Customers.  They are active participants in getting the service they desire, whether they are personally involved or they delegated the oversight to a representative.  They are curious as to how their boats will be properly serviced.  Their safety and enjoyment of the boat directly relates to dependable performance of the yacht’s systems.  They want to be knowledgeable.  They want to be involved in service work “at will”, not out of a sense of necessity.  They want your leadership in forming and achieving their vision of the future of yacht technology and how it fits their yachting goals.

They do not want to be embarrassed by poor workmanship on their boats or by having the wrong gear.

Yacht owners are constantly changing and evolving in their needs.  They are individuals who uniquely respond to service offerings. 

Your task is to design and deliver your service offerings in a way that transforms each of your Customers into a more valuable Customer for you, while simultaneously making your services more valuable to your Customer.

The image below portrays the key elements in the Customer transformation process.  Future posts will discuss each of these elements.

Specification (Rough Draft) For Best Coastal Voyaging Motor Yacht Under 40FT

The very rough draft specification for the best coastal voyaging motor yacht under 40Ft has been posted on the Yahoo group site for comment and discussion.

The specification document includes the mission statement as well as a description of the unique development appraoch.

Everyone is welcome to participate, please join the group at this link http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Truebuild_Yachts_Project_Discussions/

Why Does Truebuild Yachts Host Discussions on New Yachts?

Truebuild Yachts is on a quest to find radical new ways to increase the value for boat buyers and boat builders.  The best way to achieve this is through colaboration.

Truebuild Yachts is in the business of increasing value for both yacht buyers and yacht builders. That means we increase profits for builders and save buyers money. Both get better outcomes with fewer hassles based on processes and knowledge developed over decades of yacht building experience.Lately, I have seen the need for a radical increase in value for builders of new yachts and buyers of new yachts as builders are struggling with profitability and buyers think new boats are over-priced. This is more than just a sign of the current economic times. It is a deeper problem.

Yacht ownership is returning to elitist status and excluding many from enjoying its pleasures. I am blogging on causes and immediate solutions available to this value proposition problem. There is much that can be done immediately on individual boat deals to get better outcomes for all parties. This is what Truebuild Yachts does, but deeper, broader and sustainable solutions are possible through teamwork.

Yacht builders do not have an effective way to listen to yacht buyers and yacht buyers, as a group, have no effective mechanism to speak to builders. My hope is that the discussions that emerge will interest and encourage the participations of boat owners, prospective buyers, yacht builders, repair yards, industry suppliers, lenders, insurers, naval architects, structural engineers, and anyone that cares to share ideas that will help build boats that better serve markets.

What is in this for Truebuild Yachts? I will personally get satisfaction if this process can make a positive difference in an industry in which I have participated most of my life, Truebuild Yachts may get more consulting work or may take on new roles in executing some of the projects that develop.

My goal though, is that all who choose to participate will have equal opportunity to benefit from these discussions. 

Please join the discussion on Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Truebuild_Yachts_Project_Discussions


Gene Kohlmann

Truebuild Yachts is Creating Discussion Regarding New Yacht Value

Truebuild Yachts is now hosting discussions on Facebook regarding development of new yachts in pursuit of radical improvements in yacht value for both yacht builders and yacht buyers.

The goal is to get prospective buyers, yacht owners, yacht builders, yacht repairers, naval architects, systems experts, suppliers, and anyone who would like to participate join in the discussion.

Let imaginations run wild with no limits and see what happens.   Plese visit Facebook to get involved.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Truebuild-Yachts/227783397698?v=app_2373072738

Seattle Boat Show Reinforces My Opinion that Radical Improvements in Yacht Value is Needed

Attending the Seattle Boat Show reinforced my opinion that it is time to find Radical New Ways to Increase Value for both Boat Buyers and Boat Builders. Builders are struggling with profitability and Buyers think new boats are over-priced.

It is more than just poor economic conditions.

Creating The Best Coastal Voyaging Motor Yacht Under 40 Feet

A discussion has started on Truebuild Yachts' Facebook page for the purpose of Creating The Best Coastal Voyaging Motor Yacht Under 40 feet.

This discussion is open to all people that desire to participate and is intended to set a new standard for exceptional value in new yachts based on a collaborative effort and unrestricted imagination.

I look forward to broad and enthusiastic participation.

How the evolution of yacht brands reduces yacht value

I’ve had the pleasure of participating in boat model decisions for major yacht brands on over 40 boat models during my career, so far. Most models were successful and some were not commercially viable. In all cases, decisions on boat models were made by a small number of people in each yacht builder.



The yacht building industry remains largely entrepreneurial owing to cyclical profitability. Yacht building is reasonably profitable in the good times, but is subject to sudden, deep and prolonged negative profitability during periods of economic uncertainty or decline.


Once a builder succeeds in a particular market niche future models are typically scaled versions of the original successful model to appeal to buyers of like tastes, but with different budgets and space requirements. The boat model line is then populated with additional models, separated by a few feet in length, based on the original successful boat model concept. (For the purposes of this discussion, the term “yacht” or “boat” primarily refers to boats, sail or power, between 35 feet and 100 feet in length, built on a production or semi-custom basis.)


Successful builders have a “fan base” that grows with each new model introduced. The successful builder listens, almost exclusively, to this fan base and modifies its boat models either continuously or from time to time based on input from their fan base. Ideas from outside the fan base are rarely heard.


As the population of delivered boat models of a particular brand grows, that builder faces the challenge of differentiating new boats from previously built boats to keep the production running and maintain gross profits as gross profits trend downward as each boat model ages. The typical builder response is to add features, upgrade features, enhance luxury and occasionally modify an existing model’s hull to create a new derivative boat model. Radical change is risky for the builder, especially if it signals to current boat owners that features used in the past may have been sub-optimal or if significant model changes, when publicized, may lead to a slowdown in current orders as potential buyers defer purchase decisions while waiting for details on new models.


Builders have every financial incentive to sustain the boat model concept that made their brand successful. The number of builders with the capital to launch a new line of boat models to expand their brand is rare in the yacht market segment relevant to this discussion and it is risky to pursue a new market owing to uncertain appeal to a new fan base.


On the one hand, builder value is enhanced by leveraging the successful boat model concept in that many fewer decisions need to be made by the builder, the builder’s team can effectively make the correct execution decisions more often given a focused brand philosophy and buyer’s expectations are well defined.


On the other hand, buyer value is reduced over time owing to evolution that leads to bloating of features, added equipment, changes to interior features as well as improved fit and finish (luxury). Prices of new boats escalate more rapidly than overall inflation.


Higher prices lead buyers to search for ways to improve their personal value proposition. Buyers attempting to delete standard equipment are frequently disappointed by the small amount of credit offered by the builder. Buyers seeking customization of equipment, system operation, interior layout, interior features, interior finish, etc…..to optimize their personal value proposition find these modifications to be expensive.


The net effect of buyers attempting to adapt to the reduction in builder provided value in the standard boat is expensive change orders and increased buyer interface costs for the builder. There are also a plethora of boat purchase contract issues that surface as “friction points” between the buyer and builder as the build progresses on customized boats. If the boat purchase contract is properly crafted and the build is effectively managed by the buyer “friction points” can be prevented from becoming serious issues that can result in cost overruns, defective execution and schedule delays.


My initial blog entry on the topic of finding radical new ways to increase the value of new yachts offered algorithms for calculating value from a buyer’s point of view and value from a builder’s point of view. Some buyers perceive great value in a yacht build and ownership experience that is based on a specific execution of their preferences. These buyers are willing to increase the purchase price for customization as well as accept resale value risk. Escalating prices are increasingly excluding other buyers from purchasing as they struggle to justify the value proposition by pursuing extensive modifications or the price of the boat simply moves beyond their budget.


Some builders embrace buyer changes across all the models or some of their models. Other builders view requested customer changes as unwelcome and will only reluctantly make them for a significant price. No matter what the builder’s attitude about changes, there is an element of price, it can be significant, included in the base price for “buyer interface costs” as included in the builder value algorithm.


I share these thoughts as part of a foundation for a conversation in pursuit of finding radical ways for boat buyers and boat builders to get greater value.

Why Are Radical New Ways Needed to Improve the Value of New Yachts?

Radical new ways to improve the value of new yachts are needed owing to escalating sales prices, cost of maintenance and complexity of operation of new yachts excluding potential buyers or causing many to buy less yacht than they desire. For the purposes of this discussion, the term “yacht” primarily refers to boats, sail or power, between 35 feet and 100 feet in length, built on a production or semi-custom basis.



Yacht builders which have been in business for a number of years and are still in business today are very good at what they do. These yacht builders are among the best ever, having survived many competitive and economic challenges. If the assumptions of the first paragraph are valid, the value of new yachts is declining for both buyers and builders. Profits of builders of new yachts are severely depressed in the current economic environment. Even in good times, builder’s profits are less than many buyers of new yachts expect.


In my previous post I offered the calculation of value used at Truebuild Yachts to guide its process of enhancing value for all stakeholders. Even when acting as advocate for a yacht buyer, Truebuild Yachts increases value for the builder by reducing the buyer interface costs for the builder, enhancing the builder’s brand and increasing the builder’s gross profit by facilitating achievement of the buyer’s desired outcome in the most cost effective professional manner (Think Lean). Truebuild Yachts lubricates the process.


There are a number of value reducing trends in the yacht building / buying process now. Among the enemies of value are:


1) Evolution of brands


2) Emulation of successful brands by new yacht builders entering the market


3) Increasing buyer interface costs


Truebuild Yachts can currently increase value for all, but Truebuild Yachts is also aggressively pursuing how to radically increase the value for both buyers and builders of new yachts so all comments are welcome on this, past and future posts.