We all know that the two greatest days in the life of a boat owner are the day they buy it and the day they sell it.

This is because owning a boat comes with a constant stream of hassles. That’s just the way it is. For boaters, the good simply outweighs the bad.

And the good is very, very good. Owning a boat – when everything is working correctly, the weather is great, and all your family and friends onboard are smiling and having fun – makes you feel wonderful, like a hero.

To hear the laughter of your children and feel the admiration of those around you as you stand at the helm makes it all worthwhile.

So why isn’t anyone who makes boats willing to sell that feeling? Ask any boater to describe the feeling that the simple act of bringing a vessel into port at the end of a magnificent day brings to them. The admiring glances from other boaters and those on the docks. The satisfied exhaustion on the faces of your guests who are coming to the end of a day that they won’t soon forget.

That feeling, my friends, is what sells a boat. It’s about emotions like pride, satisfaction, admiration, contentment, and yes, envy.

Why won’t a boat builder develop a marketing campaign that pulls at those emotions? If I see one more print ad for a boat with the obligatory helicopter flyover photo showing me a nice new boat plowing through the waves, I will scream!

Sell the net result. Sell the experience. Don’t sell the boat. The boat is a means to the end.

Sell the end!