A sales person is only as good as their ability to sell. At Nordhavn, we think a salesperson is only as good as their comprehension of the product, their experience, and their hands-on knowledge – which, in turn, makes them good at selling.
If you wandered down the docks at Nordhavn’s headquarters in Dana Point, CA, this afternoon, you’d have run into sales rep Kevin Ryan, and witnessed this tenet firsthand. Kevin was aboard a Nordhavn 43 he sold to his clients at the end of last year. The boat, a 2006 Nordhavn 43 was ready for a refresh, and with his clients adjusting to life with a newborn (they gave birth to their first child in January), their bandwidth to tackle boat projects was pretty limited. The problem was, they were operating on a sooner-than-later schedule because they are not only cutting their teeth as parents but also as liveaboards on their boat, Valhalla. They plan to move on to the boat this weekend and work remotely for a while before moving the boat up to their home base in Washington this spring.
Kevin has been a sales rep in our southwest office the past three years but prior to that he had been a “friend of Nordhavn” via his company Outbound Yacht Services, and had worked closely with the brand for almost three decades. Able and willing, he jumped at the chance to help his clients. “I wanted to offer any services I could to provide support,” Kevin said. “It’s a pretty overwhelming time for them!”
The list was fairly short but included an upgrade to the electronics package. “This is a small Nordhavn and a fairly simple package of gear on board,” said Kevin. “The outline is to duplicate what the boat had and leave room for expansion of some additional gear like thermal camera, second radar, NMEA 2000 sensors and gauges to the new foundation.”
Other work he completed includes:
- Replace two Furuno Navnet vx2 chart plotters with two new Furuno TZT 3 touch MFDs.
- Replace the Furuno 4′ radar array with new Furuno NXT 4′ open array 72 mile radar.
- Replace the Furuno RD 30 Instrument with an RD 33 color instrument. This coincides with a new NMEA 2000,(N2K) backbone. The backbone is run from the base of the stack, through the pilothouse and aft to the Lazz. This backbone allows for many additional sensors to be added for more real-time data to be displayed on the MFDs as well as the RD 33.
- Replace the secondary depth transducer for a Airmar 810 smart transducer added to the N2K backbone. This will allow the RD33 to create an anchor alarm without having the larger, higher amperage MFD displays to be powered on overnight at anchor.
- Replace the Icom VFH radio for their new 510 unit. Replace the VHF antenna for 8′ 6db Shakespeare.
Install a complete second Simrad autopilot with a color control head, rudder reference, compass and course computer as well as plumbing in a second hydraulic pump set with isolation valves to allow use of the original or new pilot while under way. The new Simrad system is integrated with the N2K backbone and shares all of its data with other gear on the backbone. - Add a Furuno 330 GPS sensor on the stack tied into the N2K backbone.
- Add a Furuno AI70 AIS class B transceiver with isolate GPS antenna and 8′ 6db VHF antenna on the cabin top.
- Program with FCC MMSI number and ships info. Interface system with the Furuno MFD units for target display underway.
- Interface existing 600 watt depth transducer into the new Furuno TZT MFDs.
Kevin was able to complete the entire job in less than five days. Tomorrow, the family of three will settle into their new boat and enjoy this new chapter in their lives. Thanks to their talented salesman, they can focus their time on provisioning, changing diapers and enjoying their new Nordhavn.
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Outstanding example of how to be a great customer oriented person.