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Boomer Jousma is wise beyond his years when it comes to Italian yachts and the art of the deal.
It’s received wisdom that the best way to learn how to speak Italian is through total immersion. But it’s rarer knowledge that learning how to sell Italian yachts is done the very same way. Case in point is Boomer Jousma. The Italian Yacht Group’s sales director is perhaps the brightest star in his generation of American yacht brokers, and is poised to lead IYG along its path toward becoming a true beacon in the world of yacht brokerage. None of it happened by accident.
Boomer, of course, is the son of George Jousma, who by many accounts is the man who brought Italian boats to America, owing to his introduction of Azimut to the domestic market in 1989, and his further work with other major Italian brands in the ensuing years, most notably Sanlorenzo. When Boomer was in high school, George would pick him up after class and bring him to his office to make sure that his son—who had little interest in books at the time—got his homework done. The tactic failed in spectacular fashion.
“My dad would put me in a conference room when I was 15 or 16 to get my school work done,” remembers Boomer, “but usually I’d just end up crawling around on the inventory, getting to learn the boats like the back of my hand. For me, it was a much better education than school ever offered.”
The year 2008 was a momentous one for both Jousmas. George brought to life Sanlorenzo Americas, and Boomer graduated high school. The younger Jousma gave college a kick in the tires, but didn’t take to it, and soon enough George brought him on in an office-manager role (or a janitorial one, depending on who you ask).
“I was doing everything I could to help out around the office, be it changing lightbulbs or emptying trash bins,” says Boomer. “But I was always learning more about the boats and the business, learning how the lawyers talked, and how the deals were put together, and just trying to be as big of a sponge as I could.”
After a while Boomer became responsible for giving yacht tours at boat shows to interested parties. But note, just because the parties were “interested” doesn’t mean they were serious. “I got the bad ‘ups,’” Boomer remembers. “The people we knew were never going to buy a boat, the tours no one else wanted, they were mine. But I used it as a learning experience. I got to understand how to tour a boat with a potential client, and I learned how to talk the talk and walk the walk.”
By 2014 George was scouting new territory up north in Sag Harbor and took Boomer with him to check out the burgeoning dayboat market which he hoped would complement the larger Sanlorenzo business. Boomer hit the networking scene in full force, talking to dockmasters, captains, and anyone else that he could. By the end of the summer he had his first sale, a Wajer 38. “I was happy for him of course,” recalls George, “but it wasn’t until he came up to me on the last day of the Miami boat show that year and surprised me by saying ‘Dad, I just sold that $6 million Sanlorenzo 86,’ that I realized how far he’d come on his own. The funny thing is, people often assume I am feeding my son clients, but I’m not. He’s hungry and he works hard and he goes out and gets them himself.”
Since those early days Boomer has fully bloomed as a yacht broker and a man. He is a staple in both the South Florida and Hamptons yachting worlds, and well known in Europe as well. He says patience and good listening skills are key to being effective at his job. “I don’t hard sell anyone,” he says. “There’s no perfect boat, but there might be a perfect boat for you and your needs. So I don’t try to shoehorn anyone into a particular brand of boat. That’s one of the nice things about IYG is we have all these options as far as builders. I can talk to a client and see how they plan on using their boat. Is it a dayboat? A weekender? Are we talking a month at a time onboard in the islands? Once I know that we can start moving in the direction that is more tailored to their needs.”
Boomer points to the owners of the 52-meter Baglietto Akula as an excellent example of IYG’s versatility, particularly when it comes to Italian brands. Those owners started with a Pershing 62, then went to a Sanlorenzo 86, then a 126 of the same brand, and now they’ve moved even further up the ladder. And Boomer was there to hold their hand every step of the way, speaking in a language that everyone could understand.
