Lockdown in the UK
During the Covid 19 Lockdown period in the UK our boat breaking enquiries rightly took a back seat. Our office staff were placed on Furlough to help get the business through a tough patch. All our potential work dried up over night in what would usually be our busiest period of the year.
However for the Boatbreakers team it wasn’t all doom and gloom. We set up a Facebook Group called Boat Scrapyard to run alongside our Facebook page. The idea of the group is to let the members know what we have coming in. This in turn should then help us find homes for the boat bits we recycle and salvage.
Member Target
Initially the long term target was to reach 1000 members. We decided that once we got to our target we would do a giveaway to reward the members. To our surprise we hit 1000 fairly quickly and as lockdown went on our numbers grew rapidly. At the time of writing we’ve just gone past 7800 members. Every 500 members we do more giveaways to reward the growth of the group.
Our lockdown project has not only helped pass any potential boredom. For the team but also it has given us a new asset going forward. The size of the group filled with boaty people means we have an active hub of advice, opinions and more importantly for the business buyers. It also means that when we feature in video content, TV, Radio, Magazines or New articles we can share them to the group.
Perks of Joining
As other businesses or marine professionals have joined the group we have tried to make sure the members get some perks. So far these included 50% off of listing boats for sale on Boats and Outboards and discounted entry to a Boat Jumble in Essex.
It isn’t just our stuff that is listed on there. We also encourage members to list their items for sale or request parts they are looking for.
Eventually we want to build up the Boat Scrapyard website so it becomes a mini boaty eBay.
