Yacht Brokers: Here’s How Tech & AI Can Help You
It isn't news; the charter industry is growing. It also isn't news that, as brokers, we have a lot on our plate, right? The to-do lists are as vast as the ocean! Connecting with clients takes up a lot of time - and so it should - nurturing these relationships is vital for our business models, but dealing with the admin and logistics is also part of our job, and sometimes, well, we all need more time.
Lucky for us, technological advancements have allowed us to gain some of these precious moments back. The consistent stream of digital platforms emerging to make our lives easier is a godsend.
What is AI?
While AI can sound futuristic, you are behind if you aren't already embracing it. AI is all around us; some of the most widely used apps use some form of AI - LinkedIn in particular! It is an umbrella term that covers several technologies, including machine learning and natural language processing. With AI, technology is improving itself by itself! Although it cannot handle complex problem-solving and human relations - this is where we (the humans!) come back into force, adding that highly bespoke personal touch fundamental to yachting.
So how can we use AI in our day-to-day brokerage work?
Let AI Bring You The Analytics
To sell well, we need to know what our clients want. That isn't rocket science and something we can leave down to the magical work of AI algorithms. These algorithms can analyze data on the charter industry and clients, predicting trends and anticipating our client's needs. This can be anything from the specific types of yachts on the top of the list to a favorite destination - everything can be analyzed. While we may think we can do this already, advanced AI analytics does this much better, giving you accurate forecasting.
AI Can Have 'Human-Like' Conversations
Chatbots have been scrutinized, especially in our industry when client service and relationships are everything - do we want a robot doing our work? But chatbots have value, especially good ones that result in human-like conversations. Chatbots can help you in many ways. They are great for handling initial inquiries and sales leads - providing the prospective client with essential information to free up your time, focussing on the more complex tasks, and nurturing those already warm leads. They are also great for handling client queries outside your office hours - or - more accurately when you are too busy or perhaps when you’re sleeping! After all, response times are everything, and this industry is global!
A Robot Can Help Your Productivity
While it may be ironic that having multiple techs and apps at our fingertips provides constant distraction, they can also help our productivity. Specifically, when it comes to your CRM, automation tools can help you with mundane admin tasks and repetitive tasks, freeing up your time to use more constructively. If you’re not already learning about CRM and CRM automation this is a must in sales!
Let AI Create Itineraries & Proposals
Creating bespoke itineraries and proposals can be time-consuming, especially when there are multiple edits and changes from the clients. Now some platforms help you streamline these processes. Charter Itinerary is a new platform that is an example of this; they use auto-generated AI content that populates into their 'Itinerary' and 'Proposal' software - to speed up the process of this creation for you. For other content
Boost Your Marketing Efforts
Ensuring you utilize tech in marketing is vital; it equals sales. When it comes to analyzing data, AI makes your life easier - you can use these tools to analyze patterns and trends, which you can then tailor your marketing campaigns to and target new customers - especially the next generation of clients.
We all want to improve our service and increase efficiency, which will drive even further growth in our industry. If you want to discuss tech and AI more, shoot me a DM!
