Every time I think of the broker system of yachting now, 40 years of not-insignificant business experience, particularly around building effective global partnerships, compels me to get the hell away. There are three sets of experiences that synergetically combined to shred my trust to its current point of unrecoverably depleted... sufficient to just chuck my long-established instinct to find a win-win compromise instead of walking away and not wasting any more heartbeats. [See end-note 1]. After a lot of experience went by, "win-win" proved itself to be more than just a reflex utterance every newly-minted business warrior spits out. It worked for decades... until I encountered yachting.
1. – I tried multiple times to work with brokers because I didn’t want to deal at all with the hassle, but no joy. They initially (and quickly.. NO discussion) agreed they’d work for 7%, but unilaterally bumped it to 10 in a text or email a few weeks later, wasting my selling time. The ultra impressive consistency compelled me to wonder why I would continue trusting in that scenario, and obviously, I would not.
2. – There was another scenario that had a larger negative impact on my trust. Three times just this year, potential buyers approached buyer-brokers, I presume in good faith, to find a Nordic Tug 42 for them. The brokers contacted me with an "offer" to connect the potential buyers up to Clock Work IF I sign their 10% exclusive agreement. Not remotely worth it to me and I don’t negotiate with.. however the rest goes. The more critical part to me follows... you can translate/extract the logical implication of their proposed deal to this..... If I don’t sign up to pay 10% for them to do what any ethical agent SHOULD do, the client won’t hear about Clock Work. That is....
the broker-buyers will knowingly CONCEAL the perfect opportunity... Clock Work, (low-hours, fully mechanical, new thrusters, fly-bridge, gen-2 layout)...
from their client strictly because that opportunity exists outside the artificial business reality of the MLS eco-system (do read the anti-trust suit, link below) and its seemingly unpublicized Buyer Broker Agreement....
EVEN if they don’t have any other 42 in inventory to sell them anywhere on the east coast (you know.. like right now as I type this).
This is intellectually equivalent to mounting a giant rusty metal spike where your airbag used to be... is the resulting potential outcome attractive or something? Are there clients who would actually become HAPPIER if/when they discover they placed their trust in that caliber of advisor?
And by the way, no idea how one squares concealing an opportunity from a client with these kind of bylaws:
“protect the public... against unethical practices in the yacht brokerage profession” ‡,
“The obligation of absolute fidelity to the client’s interest is paramount(‡‡)” ‡‡‡.
‡ IYBA Bylaws, Article 15 Code of Ethics, Section 1 - Excerpt
‡‡ Cambridge Academic Dictionary, Definition of paramount – “more important than anything else”
‡‡‡ IYBA Bylaws, Article 15 Code of Ethics, Section 2 - Excerpt
At every point along my career I would consider that as unethical, unprofessional, and a selfish breach of trust. Not a hard question for me... should not be a hard question for anyone. At my company, if there’s some fact or comment we realize we can pass on to a client/customer, or honestly anyone, that helps them out.. even if doing so lies outside all of our normal modes of revenue and we’d make nothing..... So. F’ing. What???! YOU JUST DO IT. This sort of thing is not the Mt Everest of ethical/professional challenges. No other thought would have/should have occurred and I KNOW my company is not unique.
In that business world I come from, I’ve never seen where it’s the consultant/advisor’s job to secretly make decisions for their client. And never once imagined a scenario where a reasonable observer might conclude that the only immediate beneficiary of concealing/delaying the client is..... the secret decider [See end-note 2.1]. Also, 2M miles consulting here and have never once been promoted from advisor to decider. To view that from the other end of the pipe, immediate harm is realized by the clients looking for a good Nordic Tug 42 [during a period of especially low/no inventory ZERO, (such as while I type this – sorry to keep repeating)], while their champion sits on it hoping his low-probability long shot pays off... aka gambler's fallacy. And of course, the sellers outside the artificial business reality of the MLS eco-system. Like me.
3. – I saw a note mid summer that described what became the largest negative impact on my trust. It came in just (minutes) as I was about to announce a new marketing model to replace/reduce the blog-cycle: i.e., put out a technically-interesting/useful blog promoted in my usual places --> pull in eyeballs ---> interested parties poke around while they’re here and learn about Clock Work. It would have involved a component for broker participation.
I’ve read that complaint at least 5 times, and after each read was more incredulous at the implications. I’m fully aware that was written by someone in a declared adversarial position with the industry, and that must be taken into account. But as my JOB is technical decision in the face of opaque risk.. those decades of experience learning to characterize risk/harm to the good-guy.. combined with an obvious rational responsibility to my own interests, demands that I seriously consider the possibility that what it describes might be true in whole or in part. And that maybe more is actually going on beyond the uncommonly troubling events described. Or that it may not be true at all... WWOT (what would Occam think?). Being forced by personal responsibility to my own interests into all this stupid but necessary extra effort and vigilance eats heartbeats.. An unfortunate necessity (in a world laced with unethical behavior) so as to neither under or over react to the obstacles in front of me selling CW. You buy a fricking boat to have some fun, and you end up having to attempt to understand if a faction of an industry attempted to wall off an entire commercial space from any outsiders... or is only an adversary to that industry swinging for the fences? No way for me to know... i.e. get to a justified true belief. But both Occam and I (and others) have firm opinions.
I’d appreciate the simple, reasonable opportunity to make my argument to any/every potential buyer, unhindered by what I have already described, to make the point as to why Clock Work is the best (and only today) 42 on the market, USED OR NEW. I more than suspect there will be potential buyers out there who would appreciate that too. In concert with other experiences.. the presence or lack of available disconfirming facts.. I know what a safe least-risk decision FOR ME is all day [See end-note 5]. I’ll be marketing Clock Work entirely outside of yachting’s professional selling channels. A parity check on that is that this decision is entirely consistent with the business/ethics belief system formed across my experience within the space where I’ve operated my adult life (technology, aerospace quality & academia)... my first instinct when I’m around anything I see as possibly unethical or unprofessional, in either fact or merely in appearance, is to break contact, and personally commit to never rely on trusting them again. [See end-note 3].
C L O C K WO R K ------------------------------ C L O C K WO R K
ASK YOUR BUYER’S BROKER
In closing, if you already have a buyer’s broker for whatever boat you’re looking for (and best of luck), I suggest you ask them if they commit to informing you of opportunities which
1. they know about, and
2. which exist external to their MLS systems, and
3. which otherwise meet your search criteria.
Please let me know what you hear using the CONTACT link at the top. You and I are on the same side of this one.. [See end-note 2.1] for the math on that... it’s always best if everyone is all on the same page. I’ll publish the results later and will be posting a very simple pledge letter soon you can download for them to sign to commit to keep you informed of ALL relevant opportunities that match your search criteria. My own experience is the basis for this suggestion and there is zero harm in ensuring you can know all your options, and harm to you if you can't see them all.
End Notes
Sorry about the mismatch of numbered order vs the text. Life is short.
[End-note 1] The ideas of ethics and professionalism will be used here to evaluate business decisions and adjust the path forward for how selling Clock Work will be pursued. I’m in this market... the behaviors and acts I’m bringing up affect/harm me and potential buyers.. and I have a right to protect myself. I have not and do not intend to specifically identify them or their companies. As I explain above, my immediate reflex when I am faced with what I see.. what MIGHT be.... unethical/unprofessional behavior is to break contact and replace them. NEVER worth the risk of doing otherwise.
[End-note 2.1] That is, preservation of the ability to later sell THAT client a 42 when/if one comes on to the market later in the MLS. That will pay off some small x out of n times... i.e. a small stochastic win for the buyer broker. Think powerball.. even though you bought a ticket, across ~300,000,000 parallel universes, you will have won the billion $ only once.. small x out of n. 1 out of 300,000,000. HOWEVER, while a sale to a non-MLS seller pays off for the buyer-broker 0 out of n times, i.e. a deterministic (meaning "zero uncertainty") loss to the buyer-broker... it's also a DETERMNISTIC (still zero uncertainty) WIN TO THE BUYER. That is, very low probability win for the buyer-broker vs 100% deterministic (certain) large win to his CLIENT, the buyer. Not just unethical concealing the opportunity. Selfish too.
[End-note 3] Breaking contact with marine service providers has, ironically, been my top goal since I decided to sell in the ambulance and they keep blocking me from getting away from them.
[End-note 5] Methods to make the known-safe decision soon enough to avoid harm is the literal POINT of that book I’m working on.
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