Video overview: Steve Outlaw’s passion for boating started very early in his life. His family has owned powerboats consistently since 1977 and he purchased his first sailboat in 1982, a Hobie C...
Steve Outlaw’s passion for boating started very early in his life. His family has owned powerboats consistently since 1977 and he purchased his first sailboat in 1982, a Hobie Cat sailed off Glencoe Beach north of Chicago. He was on the waterski team at University of Kansas before 30 years of competitive sailboats racing ranging from J24, J44, Etchells, Melges, Farr40, Nelson Marek ILC46, TP52 to Swan 100. He has competed in 11 North American championships and three world championships in those classes.
After 30+ years in sales and management for leading print and luxury packaging companies, Steve realized that his love was with the water and the community around it. He brings great customer relationship skills with dedication to understanding his client needs and is excited to help his clients find the same enjoyment that he has through boating.
Transcript
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I'm Steve Olawa from HMY Yacht Sales. How did I get here? Well, my family's been around yachting all of our lives. My younger brother and I bought our first sailboat in 1982 and I've been sailing all my life since. I was on the water ski team at the University of Kansas where also I was a driver for all the other skiers. After college, I started sailing competitively for the next 35 years. I raced competitively all over the world. Done about five world championships, about 19 Chicago to Mackinac races, and 12 North American championships. So that whole time I've been in sales in another industry. I decided to follow my passion and sell yachts. The great thing about HMY Yachts, all the other brokers have the same passion I do. I think all of us have the same excitement when we find the right yacht for our clients. Recently, I've had some great experiences. I just traveled to Italy for two weeks with my client where we went to different shipyards. We knew that his next one was going to be a much longer build. I did research and really chose the four shipyards that was probably best for him. And it's really kind of fun to help go pick out the things that are special for our client. I put together an itinerary for him. He really enjoyed it. Each step grows to lifelong relationships like I have with the client that I went to Italy with. When I've talked to other brokerages, you know, they're always like, yeah, here, start making calls. This is what you do. I've tagged into a new training program that I have for some brokers where they're going in so much detail. HMY is doing everything the right way. We still have the direction of Steve. I have one client. We're about to buy his fifth boat and order his sixth boat. And when Steve talks about having 13, 14 transactions with clients, you know why when you work with HMY. We're working with the persons that's going to use the product, and therefore people are passionate about it. So you have to be there to answer their questions. You have to be there to find out exactly what they want. And therefore, you have to be really dedicated to that client. We bring that experience to help them get to that boat or to get to that deal, close that deal. We also want our clients to experience a lot after the sale. We have a great team for the delivery, for the service, whether it's sponsoring fishing tournaments, training sessions. We do rendezvous. I had a client that they had previously bought boats at HMY, and they talked about meeting another couple that they have this great relationship with that they met at this rendezvous. It takes a lot of the thought to make it a really pleasurable experience. When you go to your second career and you do what you want to do, your passion, it's not about the money. It's about making people happy. It's about building a relationship. Myself and the rest of the HMY sales team are on the relentless pursuit to find our clients the ideal yachts.