The Eardlier Bird Newsletter

Weekly Tips & Insights for Professional Business Leaders Looking to Grow Their Organisation

Trust is fundamental to a lot of things we do in business. If you purchase a service, you are trusting the service provider to follow through on what they promise; if you hire a new employee, you are trusting them to perform to the best of their ability throughout the working week. So, it was no surprise to me that Anders Kurtén, CEO of Fraser Yachts, talked about how vital (you guessed it) trust is within the realm of luxury brands.?

This will be useful if you’re interested in how you can deliver the highest level of service to your customers. If you have any thoughts on the episode yourself, I’d love to hear them.

Who are Fraser Yachts?

As global leaders in Superyachts, Fraser Yachts is widely regarded as one of the world’s top superyacht brokers. They specialise in yachts over 30 meters long, so the ones that look like a ‘floating estate’??. They have been the leading seller in their respective industry for 4 years running, racking up over $5.2 billion in sales and managing over 13,000 high net-worth clients. Not to mention, they provide yachts for the boat events that happen at the Monaco Grand Prix; a perfect backdrop for an episode of the Eardley Bird Business Pod? Right? ??

Key Takeaways?

“The reason I think Fraser Yachts is so successful is because the company was founded on the values of integrity, trust and respect and these are very much still steeped in the corporate culture of a business that operates in a market of such extreme scarcity.” - Anders

You can imagine the amount of trust a buyer of a super yacht needs to put in a business to do that kind of transaction. Anders' insight is something we can all relate to, even on a smaller scale. Especially when you take into account the buying personalities of a study made by Edelman Trust Barometer, which states that 67% of consumers need to trust a brand before they’ll keep buying its products or services. No trust, no sale.

Yeah, trust isn't everything, but without it, deals can collapse so easily.

“It’s a hard audience to address sufficiently through any form of mass communication due to the scale of the industry. This is still a very, very sort of trust and people focused industry and this is regardless of who you are speaking too. Whether that is the sales broker or the charter broker or the yacht manager”? - Anders

Whilst the overall message is still the same, let's dig a bit deeper. I feel like Anders reveals that even for a luxury brand, having that incredible service at each touch point of the sales funnel is still fundamental to converting opportunities. They very much see the sales process as relationship building and being a trusted partner to their customers.?

(When asked whether sales success comes from years of experience and networking...) “What becomes penultimately important is the reputation, the backstory, the word of mouth within your circle of trust” - Anders

This is so fascinating for me personally, especially mentioning backstory as a key factor to getting in front of the right people. But when you stop and think about it, it makes sense. By showing your customers your company's backstory, as well as the humanity and personality behind your brand, you build trust and gain the loyalty of your market.

This makes sense as to why personal branding is becoming a key part of marketing strategy in 2025! And if you still don’t believe me, you will after reading the advice of Hilary Lewis, Taq Shah and Grace Hardy, who have rocketed their careers through this practice.

Eardley’s Insight

I want to take the opportunity to thank Anders again for his time, It was almost a ‘pinch me’ moment to have someone of his calibre and experience on the podcast so soon. Just as an FYI, we didn’t spend half an hour just talking about trust ??; we spoke about his journey to the position he’s in, advice on building a luxury brand and the importance of understanding nuances in a brand to propel your career. I’ll link it here for ease if you want to give it a listen.

Anyways, thanks for reading again. I appreciate all the support. Here’s the link to last week's newsletter if you missed it.

We will be back again next Wednesday at the same time to dive into the conversation with our next guest, Anastasia Ttofis. Anastasia is a force to be reckoned with, who’s shaking up the ILA world as the Co-Founder and CEO of iLA (Independent Legal Advice).? We talk about the art of taking risks and how she took a shot in the dark worth over ￡25,000 pounds?? to propel her business into what it is today!

The episode goes live Thursday at 6:00 am across Spotify & Youtube, just in time to accompany you on your work commute.

See you then!