In less than ten years Northrop & Johnson has evolved from a small brokerage office in Fort Lauderdale with a couple dozen staff members, into a powerhouse full-service international superyacht brokerage, with a global clientele and an impressive portfolio of yachts for sale, charter and management. 
While the superyachting industry as a whole has of course grown in recent years, approximately doubling in size, N&J has outperformed the sector growth enormously, expanding tenfold in the last eight years alone, and in the process overtaking many more established industry competitors. Daniel Ziriakus, the company’s President & COO, has been with N&J for most of that decade, and he sat down with SYT to share his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities that superyacht brokerage firms face today, and the secrets of N&J’s success to date.
“Data has been a major factor in our success, allowing us to spend our money wisely in the areas where it will have the greatest return”, explains Ziriakus. “And our marketing capabilities have also helped us to look different, especially from the more hidebound of our competition. Over the past decade we have built a comprehensive support structure in-house which encompasses marketing, business intelligence, tech development, PR and events, in-house video production (which almost no one else has), and strategic partnerships. These marketing teams consist of more than 30 people on staff, and include an intelligence team dedicated to data research. I really don’t know of any other brokerage firm that has invested so much in these categories, and it has definitely helped us to differentiate ourselves with our clients and win more and more of our competitor’s business.
Photo: Quin BissetThe brokerage's acquisition in 2021 by industry titan MarineMax has certainly given the company the financial firepower to make this transition more quickly, but there was always a focus on data analytics and marketing, even prior to the takeover. “Many brokerage houses have just one or two employees who provide their yachting data, but it's generally a slow and outdated manual process that is rarely capable of finding the right yachts first – something which is one of the most important roles expected of a broke by their clientele. At N&J however, we have our ‘Deep Data department’ that sources data from all over the world through various custom developed applications as well as significant human resources, making sure our brokers have the most accurate and acute information in the industry, as well as having it first.” 
“If you strip it down to its basic tenets, the world of yacht broking is an information and facilitation business,” says Ziriakus. “The value of data within the yachting industry can be pivotal to a company’s success.” This could not have been more evident than in recent years, when major market high, such as 2021 and early 2022, saw scares supply and very few superyachts of pedigree were hitting the market. N&J’s investment in data has enabled them to ride the sector wave with massive success, including reporting recently that its brokers sold 36% more yachts on average per broker than its closest competitor in 2022, selling a yacht almost every 48 hours during 2022.
When N&J isn't in the news for its extensive catalogue of sales, the brokerage house is stealing the limelight with partnership after partnership, and for Ziriakus this has also been one of the greatest growth assets for the company. “The strategic partnerships team has been working hard to build deep, multi-year partnerships with other brands that go far beyond simply sharing a logo or sponsoring events. It has truly been a business development drive to build powerful PR campaigns, events and activations that work directly with UHNW client segments. With the carefully selected and powerful partners that we have, for example NetJets and Airbus, we have created an integrated programme to offer clients a wider array of services, and it has been a phenomenal success at Northrop & Johnson.” 
Photo: Quin BissetThe multifaceted approach N&J employs is just as strong in its marketing. Content creation is a leading strategy for the brand, and it employs not just one but five videographers and editors who shoot high end productions of yachts all over the world. While this isn’t in and of itself particularly revolutionary, the work the production team does with former broker David Seal is.
Seal runs a YouTube channel for the company called Yachts for Sale, and shoots video content for the brokerage firm. The true value lies in the business development opportunities that arise from coverage on such a popular channel. “These infotainment-style videos are a fantastic asset,” explains Ziriakus, “not only because we create cool and interesting content, but because we visit shipyards, talk to clients and experts, and that content directly brings in leads to both the brokerage and the charter departments. Clean data, strategic partnerships and video production are the three areas that we excel in, and which not every brokerage recognises as an asset or invests in as we do.” 
Another key element to N&J’s success is the mindset of people first. The company exists to support its salespeople and services, and therefore its clients. It is this mentality that has enabled the company to build amazing features that support exactly what the brokers need, creating a better working environment for its employees and in turn benefiting the end user – the superyacht owner.
In a decade where the company has already expanded tenfold, the next question is what will the next decade bring and can they build on their success to become the market leader.