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interviews Expert Exchange: How To Contact The Right People to Sell Your Domain

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Domain investors that have performed outbound sales will be aware that the ability to contact the appropriate person within an organisation can make or break a sale. While small establishments may only have a single decision maker that you need to connect with to sell a domain name, it can be a daunting task to find the right person to talk to at a larger company.

For this edition of our Expert Exchange series, we ask our panel of brokers:

How do you get in touch with the right people when trying to sell a domain to a company? Who are the right and wrong people in a company to contact?


@Joe Uddeme, Founder of NameExperts LLC
This is not an exact science. Every company is different. Sometimes the right person is the CEO or CFO. Sometimes it’s the CMO, brand director, or the legal department. All companies are different and have different access points. More often than not, tools such as Linkedin, PeopleSmart, Manta, Crunchbase, or Corporate Wiki tend to be helpful to establish corporate structure and the correct point of contact.

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@Jen Sale, COO of Evergreen.com
We prefer to approach C-level representatives via phone, email, or LinkedIn introductions by our preexisting contacts. In our experience, an introduction converts much higher than a cold call or email.


@Bill Sweetman, CEO of NameNinja
From my perspective as a buyer’s broker, the people that make decisions about acquiring a high-value domain name for a company are usually in the marketing department or in the CEO's office. You're unlikely to get much traction speaking to someone in IT or legal.


George Hong, CEO of @GUTA
We get in touch with the right people via mutual connections, social networks, search engines, companies directories, etc.

The right person to contact is the highest ranked decision maker in the company who understand the importance of a domain name. Typically this person is the CEO or CMO for startups and certain large companies.

The wrong person in a company (especially a large company) to contact might be the whois contact of the company’s domain name or customer service staff of a company.


@Giuseppe Graziano, CEO of GGRG
There is no “one answer fits all” piece of advice: it really depends on the size of the company and the area of responsibilities. For a smaller company, the CEO might be the best contact, but for larger corporations, you need to qualify who are the appropriate people to speak with.

Rather than saying that specific roles are better to contact than others (e.g., saying that the digital marketing manager is worse than the CEO), my suggestion is to research within the company you want to contact to find out who has the authority to make domain purchases. Obviously the higher the price tag of the domain name, the higher up the corporate ladder you’ll want to go.


Kevin Fink (@iHaveThisIdea), COO of Starfire Web Holdings
We have landed direct lines into top-level executives and CEOs, but this is only half the battle, or even a quarter of the battle.

The price has to fit their budget, both in terms of actuality as well as what they deem the asset to be worth to them even *if* they have the funds. That process is much harder, and for that, you need a receptive person(s) on the other end. Ideally, you find the team members that see the vision of the asset you are representing.

The CMO, CFO, and CEO are all good people to make contact with, but so could the customer support person or assistant that may screen their bosses’ email. It varies case-by-case.

I would say it, more importantly, comes down to the value a prospect places on the asset you are representing and your ability to deliver a compelling case why they should have it.


@Dave Evanson, Senior Broker at @Sedo
Back in the day, before the internet, we called it direct marketing or direct response. We weren’t selling domain names, and we used phone, snail mail, and overnight delivery to reach gatekeepers, influencers, instigators, and of course decision makers. Today, there are fewer gatekeepers, and email, social media such as LinkedIn, and phone are critical to succeed. In person, when feasible, can be very effective and is recommended for high-valued domains.

Generally speaking, the CEO, marketing, digital, IT, public relations, investor relations, and sales executives are the right targets. The CFO and accounting people are not the best targets unless the domain name is specifically for their functional responsibilities.


@Hobi Michalec, Co-founder of Lumis Group
Marketing, for sure. With exceptions, of course, domain acquisitions usually derive from a marketing budget. I'd stay away from the CFO as their decision will be cost-determined vs. need-determined. Also, don't ping legal. They'll be roped in by the C-level if necessary.


These responses have been edited for clarity.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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As a former CFO for a 50-100 employee company, I echo this comment from Hobi:

Marketing, for sure. With exceptions, of course, domain acquisitions usually derive from a marketing budget. I'd stay away from the CFO as their decision will be cost-determined vs. need-determined.

The CFO may not see the cost benefit for such an acquisition as his/her focus is often in conflict with the marketing department whose solution to almost every challenge is to spend more money :)
 
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Interesting view points!
 
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A solid set of answers for a question asked very often, I imagine!
 
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Lot of experience on those replies, thanks a lot for share this article with us
 
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Great read. Great info. Great advice.

Two thumbs up!!! 👍🏻👍🏻
 
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Thanks for the great feedback from all parties
 
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The topic itself reminded me of tons of low-quality or otherwise questionable domains I frequently receive email offers about, both from domainers-owners and domainers-frontrunners. I mean domains like ExpertSexChange dot something promoted as "experts exchange", etc. In current environment, outbound marketing is not necessary optimal at least in time management aspects. In any case, the basic recommendation (imho) should be - sell good domains. Do not be shy to drop "errors" - almost any portfolio can be cleaned. Do not buy domains based on automated appraisals (or any 3rd party appraisals). Spend some time and configure hosting/parking to make it clear that the domain is for sale. And, in this case, an issue of contacting right people would become secondary one :)
 
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Try to get in contact with the top - person of a company to / before you offer a domain to them.
 
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amazing blog about how to contact the right people to sell your domain very informative bog
 
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Fantastic practical information that can be used.

Thanks!
 
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This type of much needed information is exactly why being a member of the Namepros community is so vital for new people in the business like me . It's great insight from the top players. Thank you James and all who participated !!! 😉
 
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Thanks For Sharing This Useful Information.
 
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