Scaling Sales for a Luxury Yacht Brand Serving UHNW Clients

The Role

Vice President of Sales

The Challenge

Ikonic Yachts needed a sales leader capable of building the commercial engine behind an ambitious luxury yacht business, achieving $12-14M in sales within the first 12 months while building, training, and leading a high-performing sales team.

The mandate extended beyond revenue generation. This leader needed to introduce a more data-driven approach to sales, collaborate across marketing, operations, and finance, and ensure the commercial organization delivered the white-glove experience expected by ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Our Approach

Our search team identified the underlying experiences most likely to predict success in the role and built the search around three distinct talent pools:

• Yachting industry leaders who understood the product, market, and sales environment.

• UHNW sales leaders experienced in developing trusted relationships with sophisticated, high-value clients.

• High-growth sales executives who had built teams, introduced scalable sales processes, and helped rapidly growing organizations professionalize their go-to-market capabilities.

This broader strategy allowed Ikonic to compare traditional industry expertise against adjacent-market executives who brought highly transferable experience in scaling revenue, building sales organizations, and serving demanding clientele.

Summit ultimately headhunted 153 candidates and presented 14 shortlisted candidates for client interviews with the winning candidate included in this talent pool.

The Results

The expanded search strategy ultimately led Ikonic Yachts outside the traditional yachting talent pool.

The selected executive brought significant experience building and scaling sophisticated commercial organizations leading revenue growth from $30 million to $200 million annually.

The winning candidate’s background gave Ikonic a leader with the experience to build the sales infrastructure, team, and commercial discipline required for its next stage of growth, while adapting that expertise to a high-touch business serving UHNW clientele.

“This hire brings a perfect mix of technical expertise developing and implementing CRM in the org, but also brings the personal touch and sales expertise to UHNW clientele. We’re excited to have him join the team!”

— Chief Executive Officer & Chief Marketing Officer