Z YACHTS USES ONEtoolSM TO BUILD CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Gina Weller, chief financial officer and co-founder of Alpharetta, Georgia-based Z Yachts, Inc., has watched her yacht brokerage company swell in size; only three years old, the brokerage lists approximately 450 to 500 boats at any given time.
Weller initially looked to Secured Marine Trust’s (SMT) ONEtool software for managing closings on vessels only, including closing forms and commission documents. Going forward, she plans to also use the system for vessel disclosures, purchase offers and acceptance forms – once her own forms are customized within ONEtool.
“I really like the fact that they can make the forms look exactly like the forms we are using manually,” she said.
Seeing ONEtool’s capabilities, Weller hopes to develop the relationship between the two companies more fully.
“We’re an unusual case. We have so many brokers and transactions that we use our own internal listing system. That makes us different from many brokerages,” she said, “because we wanted to both use ONEtool, as well as continue with our own in-house database.”
She and husband James Weller, Z Yachts chief executive officer, envision Secured Marine Trust and ONEtool more as a “strategic business partner” than a subscriber service. Weller is hopeful that ONEtool will help Z Yachts create a stronger customer relationship management system – one that will effectively track leads and manage follow-ups.
“We’re moving toward a customer relationship database that will be tailored uniquely to us,” she said. “Soon we’ll be able to run all our transactions – along with offering title insurance and warranties for our customers – using ONEtool.”
Z Yachts oversees a network of more than 40 brokerages in 17 states. Founded in 2002, the company markets and sells both pre-owned and new boats and yachts. It offers manufacturer direct pricing on the Challenger Offshore brand, along with a certified pre-owned program for its brokerage listings, and finance and warranty options for its customers.
Z Yachts owners plan to take the company public this spring, according to Weller.
