5 QUESTIONS WITH HARRY BRISTOW-HOLMES

*Courtesy of Charl Van Rooy of Super Yacht Times

In this series of articles, we feature some of the industry’s most well-known names to learn more about each of their daily tasks and what the future holds in store for them as industry professionals. In this week’s episode, we get to know yacht broker and manager, Harry Bristow-Holmes of Bristow-Holmes.

What were you doing before setting up Bristow-Holmes?

I ran the brokerage department for Sunseeker London Group for over 10 years which consisted of a team of over 50 brokers in 12 offices all over the Mediterranean.

Bristow-Holmes has a very young and dynamic feel to the brand and you yourself are a very spirited individual. Have you found this to attract a certain type of clientele?

Having worked in the industry for a long time, I have noticed that our competition has been doing the same thing for what seems like an eternity. It is important to move with the times and Bristow-Holmes brings a dynamic, bold approach to the world of yachting. At the end of the day yacht owners worldwide purchase a boat for the same reason: “to have fun”. Our approach is something that the majority of our clients appreciate. At the end of the day we are all working towards a common goal but having a bit of a fun along the way is a key part of our ethos.

What do you find today’s most underused tool in the promotion of yachts and the yachting lifestyle is?

I’m not in the business of educating my competition, our approach is working well for our clients but no two yachts are the same. It is important to look closely at what it is you are trying to sell; only then can you develop the best strategy to achieve the result you are looking for.

For a time it seemed that Bristow-Holmes only deals in black and red inspired yachts. How did this come about and is there any connection to the Bristow-Holmes house colours? 

Pure coincidence. Black and Red are two bold colours that we feel goes very well together. When developing our marketing and branding we established early on that we didn’t want to be like the other brokerage houses. We wanted to stand out, be noticed and do things differently and these two colours certainly do just that! It just so happens that a number of our listings shared the same colour scheme. The truth is those boats have sold so not only is it a great colour scheme for us, but clearly one that our clients also like!

What words of advice would you give a young professional that is looking to start a career in the yacht brokerage arena?

Get in touch! We’re actively looking for young dynamic individuals who share the same passion as we do. We have recently recruited a few more members to our team and this has worked out well for all parties. Like a football team, you need a number of key players to build a solid team around. You can have the best striker in the world but without a team to get the ball to him/her you’re never going to score.

Link to Article on SuperYachtTimes.com HERE

Credit – Charl Van Rooy