question Ever insulted a potential buyer? I plan to! Lol

[WhoaDomain.com]

I have been putting off contacting the CEO of a huge company that generates $2 billion a year in revenue.

The domain in question I rather not say.

But as always I am shooting for the moon. 6 figures.

I was going to go the usual typical pitch.

but based on their offers I'm losing my cool.

Backstory.

The CEO and his company owns multiple companies. Of which my domain? is an EMD for an offshoot product for one of them.

That generates $30 million yearly consistently

I have been hesitating contacting the CEO because I'm scared of what I'm about to do.

he bought this "failing" company back in 2004.

How will I insult him?

I will explain to him all the mistakes his employees made as far as my .com is concerned.

These mistakes even happened years before he purchased the company back in 2004.

here's a list of the mistakes.

1. Company has a great brand. been around since 1967. Their .com is a single word. So they did a good job there. Then they registered other domains for brand protection strategy.

Think Kentucky+FriedChicken.com

First mistake?

They did not register "FriedChicken.com" and or "Chicken.com" and even though they didn't? they made the second mistake and did not try to buy it while it was cheap back in 1998 mind you they have been in business since 1967.

2. Enter their competitor. let's call them Popeye's.

Popeye's came in at 1997 while KFC started in 1967.

So KFC was around 30 years before Popeye's. so much opportunity. Missed.

3. So now Popeye's purchased Chicken.com and FriedChicken.com and is kicking their ass as far as online is concerned.

so what's left? as far as domain registration how "close" can you get to "FriedChicken.com" or "Chicken.com"? I say....

EChicken.com
EFriedChicken.com
IFriedChicken.com
IChicken.com

well you get the idea.

4. next mistake? His "team" got into a room and decided to go with a new brand launch and called it.

EChicken and advertising it all over the net via press releases. WITHOUT REGISTERING the .com or even trying to purchase it from me first before putting it out there.

When does the "insult" come in?

I was gonna tell him. I've checked the salaries of his employees.

some are $100K+ up to $350K +

I assume these are smart people to have such big salaries.

So since 1967 how much salaries were paid? millions!

yet no one thought to register the perfect URL shortener for their brand? plus a domain that allows them to "sit" on the best keyword like "Chicken"?

My domain is basically the "next best thing" as owning Chicken.com and FriedChicken.com

I'll tell him I decided to contact him directly because all these employees offering me just $5000 are just people trying to save face and not look like a bunch of idiots.

"So you guys went with EChicken but did not register EChicken.com and did not try to buy it first before letting the cat out the bag?"

They F***Ked up. Plain and simple.

Not my fault.

my domain? was never registered till about few years ago.

All this time. 30 years, no one thought to just reg this domain for "the heck of it".

now I have it and they offer just $5,000 to make this embarrassing problem go away?

I'll tell him.

"Under Who's WATCH was domain.com supposed to be registered?"
Who dropped the ball on this?
And what is their current salary? All of them in Total?

I don't work for your company
I don't make $150K a year. or $350K a year. But I did something useful for your company. Something that will promote your $30 million generating business.

You tell me. Who is the best person to promote your EChicken $30 million dollar a year generating business?

20 sales managers earning $150K a year? or a Schmuck who registered EChicken.com and can email anyone around the world with a brochure of your product via email in seconds? for free? using something like

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

I have worked for large companies and have manage large teams.

All I ever see are people doing the "bare minimum" for what they get a pay check for.

Just enough to get by but never "above and beyond" the call of duty.

When you hire people. You are putting business in the hands of Total Strangers.

They only care about their check. They never look out for your "best interest at heart".

They could care less that you are #2 and Popeye's is 1#.

To them that is "Good enough" and then collect their check.

They never think of registering EChicken.com or try to buy it for cheap before announcing to the world the new "EChicken" brand to save the Boss money.

Yet my dumbass registered a domain that is the perfect web address for your $30 million dollar generating business.

How dumb is that? To get a bunch of $150K- $350K earning a year people in a meeting and they come up with a new brand and "went with it" without securing the EMD .com first?

next mistake? They contact me using THEIR REAL NAME not broker. Easy enough to Google them and check Linkedin and find them.

I wish I could say the web address they are using because they can't own my domain. lol

soooooo idiotic.

They are already hashtagging the EMD for my domain.

I would then say "How stupid are your employees?"

and they are still rolling out with Press Releases mentioning my domain's EMD Keywords.

dumb dumb dumb.

Meanwhile I decided to renew the domain for several years. So I'll just wait.

so would you ever insult your potential buyer?

lol

Why am I hesistating? I might just piss off the CEO they won't buy or come after me via UDRP.


Fyi. in case yall didn't figure it out. The companies and .com's mentioned here are NOT my domains or the buyer..

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

So does this mean that you are finished venting...

naah. just wanted to quit wasting people's time on here.

That way better threads can be the top thread of the week besides this idiotic post. lol

 

[WatchDogue]

Apparently you had an opportunity to articulate your domain name and it's real and perceived benefits to a VP of said firm and you declined that golden opportunity.

You stated to the effect that you " talk " much like you write.

Might suggest you " write down " the top five benefits of the domain name, literally practice stating same in an informative and as natural a manner as possible, and return her call/s.

And be a good listener to the VP's responses to your stated sales case.

Likely if you accentuate the positive and resist the obvious temptation to lambast the previous
past " egregious errors " of the the companies' way you will have an engaged and likely supportive ally at said company encouraging a larger ( reasonable ) offer for the purchase of the name.

Remember - you are apparently hearing from a VP of sales ( ? ) or marketing (?) and not from a VP of Legal.

I was told a million years ago " never fall in love with a stock " and I try to apply the same adage to my domain names.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

1. Watch Godfather I, II and III.

2. Be humble and act businesslike with people you don't know that have big purses.

 

[CrazyOldGoat]

I'll be honest, I just browsed through this thread because I'm pretty tired (and you do tend to waffle on just a little . (Honestly, don't even completely understand the echicken analogy haha (assuming it isn't echicken :o - although you certainly knew a lot about their competitors in Popeyes! (or feeling hungry) but KFC's revenue is a little more than 30 mil I think so it may not be as similar as you think! :P

The first rule is always to say you appreciate offers of any size but you've already rejected offers in and above that range because you're s considering developing the name (instills the "I better buck up my act" feeling due to a little FOMO and also stells the CEO that there are people out there who value that name even more than her valuation and she may need to rethink it!

1) Definitely don't insult a potential buyer, even if a deal falls through completely, just wish them luck and get over it. You never know if they'll hire some new marketing guru who thinks the name needs to be purchased at any price and they come crawling back (don't get your hopes up though). Use a formal tone - don't talk in long sentences and short paragraphs and don't expect 6 figures!
2) If it's been a few days and no call, send an email asking if she's "had a chance to reconsider the initial offer".
3) Don't school a $30m+" business owner about domain name valuations even if the obviously no clue about and definitely don't have a presentation ready - maybe just remind them of the importance of brand reputation and brand power and how "thatechicken" doesn't exactly scream high-value product or help your search ranking (although EDM's can actually be too non-descriptive and hurt seo, that's not the case here as the, in this case, makes it an exact branded name and Google's big thing right now is all about brands.
4) That poorly veiled threat would have pissed me off too. Also, I have to regularly tell me that my domain names are almost always worth less than I think (they're my babies, they're precious to me! Although this does sound like a unique situation and it's the perfect end-user, your valuation is probably still too high.
5) Holy shit, I waffle on more than you do!

 

[CrazyOldGoat]

Oh, and 6) if you think it's value is only worth more than $5k to that specific company (and even only a couple others) and they just completely refuse to budge... well $5k is better than noK so I'd say just swallow the bullet and sell if it comes to that!

 

[darb]

The director of marketing really rubbed me the wrong way with the last thing he said to me.

In short he "implied" that and I quote "maybe we should go the TM route."

Wow! really? So I won't take your $5,000 offer and say "under the tongue" that "maybe we should go the TM route."

Perhaps you need to consider your perspective; I personally would have chuckled to myself over this.

Let them TM the name, let them come back to you, then ask them how much they spent on the TM and then double that amount and add it to the domain price.

Maybe add Sun Tzu Art of War to your reading list when you get a chance.

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

Perhaps you need to consider your perspective; I personally would have chuckled to myself over this.

Let them TM the name, let them come back to you, then ask them how much they spent on the TM and then double that amount and add it to the domain price.

Maybe add Sun Tzu Art of War to your reading list when you get a chance.

hahaha oh boy. you just created a monster. reading quotes right now. some of these really could be applied to domaining and any business really. Thanks

personal favorite is the one Bruce Lee's always used.

"“Be extremely subtle even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.”"

 

[iAchilles]

Your frustrations of them not meeting your expectations of how this should have transpired, and how much you should have been offered or what the sale should have been are surfacing in your post.

Always keep your expectations grounded and never be rude. It will net you $0 in sales. People are not robots, they have feelings, they can get insulted. As a matter of principal, they might turn around and say "screw this guy, let's rebrand".

In which case you can kiss your sale good bye.

 

[Chacha Wixard]

He explained to me that it was I think Chinese? or Vietnamese or Indonesian Company? basically copied Popeye's and KFC and franchised.

California Fried Chicken?

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

California Fried Chicken?

what are you asking? lol

 

[Chacha Wixard]

what are you asking? lol

The actual name of the company? You do need to asnwer. Lol. There is CFC in Indonesia. It has been there since may be 30 years, and we knew it was not started from California.

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

The actual name of the company? You do need to asnwer. Lol. There is CFC in Indonesia. It has been there since may be 30 years, and we knew it was not started from California.

no I meant Louisiana Fried Chicken is Viet or Indonesia owned or founded.

 

[Chacha Wixard]

no I meant Louisiana Fried Chicken is Viet or Indonesia owned or founded.

Ah. I did not know that.

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

Ah. I did not know that.

Yea. The chicken is good. Crispy. Good flavor. Better than the Halal Chicken spot nearby.

I just don't like their rice. Not a fan. Not like Popeye's dirty rice.

(By the way. Did you know Popeye's rice is actually chicken livers? Mixed in?)

Eewww. I still eat it.

Ok so off topic now. Let's get back on topic please. If anyone else has anything else to say about this thread topic feel welcome. Thanks.