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guide Outbound process for beginners

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Hi All,

A lot of people struggle with outbound or complain about having no sales via inbound or marketplace. Well domaining is not a get rich scheme and it takes lots of time , hard-work , capital and luck to succeed in the same.

Though everyone would love to have xxxxx sales however you cant have such big ticket sales without pouring thousands of dollars and wait for long time for the right end users to approach you. This post is for the beginner who wish to have regular xxx or low xxxx sales and keep their domaining journey going on.

3 words Geo/keyword domains has very low chances of getting sold via landing page or marketplace even if you hold them for years. Such domains can be sold via outbound easily however you have to follow the practice properly.

There are number of steps and factors in the same. I will try to list few of them here for your understanding.

Let me first share the basic..

1. Outbound is a volume game. It may happen that you wont receive any response for your first 20 domains and than your 21st domain may get sold.

2. Price is big factor . $200-$499 is a sweet spot for normal geo domains.

3. Searches and cpc matters in case of Geo/keyword domains and its easier to sell domains with good metrics.

4. Follow up matters a lot as it hardly happens that you would sell domain in your first mail itself.

5. Certain niche sells faster than other niches. Location and country matters a lot as well.

6. One need to have lots of patience and a proper schedule to succeed in outbound.

Now back to the outbound process:-

1. Find leads:- There are basically 5 ways to find lead for your domain.

a) Google.com :- You can find the list of existing companies which are presently ranking for your keyword.You can use semrush.com to get first 100 result of google.com if you wish to avoid manual work.

b) Google map/yellow-pages:- You would find names and details of the companies which are registered for that keyword in that region. For geo domains , google map works better than google.com. There are automated tools which can fetch the google map results .

c) ZFbot.com/Domainiq.com :- Both these tools provide you list of the domain which are related to your domain or have same keyword like yours.

d) Socal media:- LinkedIn etc can be great source for finding potential end user for your domain.

e) Advertisers:- It makes sense to contact the advertisers who are advertising for the keyword of your domain. You can find the list of the same from semrush.com.

2. Finding email id:- There are 3 ways to find email id for the leads you have collected from above sources.

a) Whois.com/whoxy.com :- After gdpr whois is no more openly available however you still find email ids in 20-30% cases as compared to earlier days as few registrars still shows whois detail. Whoxy.com is a portal from where you can fetch whois details in bulk.

b) Hunter.io/adapt.io :- Such paid tools are great way to find email id of potential leads. However be aware that even though they are paid tools but still email id accuracy would be 60-70% only.

c) Website:- Lastly you may directly visit the website and collect email id from there.

3. Sending mails:- This is a tricky step as it is very difficult to send mails these days. Free email id provider like gmail , yahoo etc have strict spam policy and most of your mail would land in the spam folder. Now you have 2 options:-

a) Free email providers:- You can create multiple email ids with free email providers like gmail , yahoo, outlook etc.

b) Logicboxes panel based registrar:- There are some registrar which uses logic-box panel and they provide 2 free email id along with every domain. You would have to set up email id there and use their server to send mail. It works like charm as i have tried Bigrock.com and nettigritty.com.

c) Own server:- You can set up your own smtp server and purchase multiple ip for sending mails. It is a complicated and expensive way so wont be suggested in the initial days.

4. Pricing & follow up:-

a) Pricing:-
Pricing plays a very big role especially in case of geo domains and 3 words emd domains. If you price them in $200-500 range than you can easily sell them. If it was a hand registered domain or purchased from go-daddy closeout than its a great roi.

b) Followup :- Now follow up can further be divided into 2 parts:-

1. Initial mail:- Suppose you collected 50 leads of end users for a particular domain and you sent mail to them. You may have received 1-2 response and no response from other leads. You can send a follow up mail after 2-3 weeks as its highly possible that many of them may have missed your initial mail or were out of office. Though never send more than 2 follow ups or else you would be spamming in general. Further be very careful not to send mail again to the same person who has already responded "No".

2. Price inquiry:- You have sent 50 mails and have received 3-4 price inquiry. You have sent them the details regarding the domain as well as your asking price. You should follow up every week or 2 regarding their interest. Under normal circumstances it takes 4-5 follow ups to finally sell a domain. It would hardly happen than you send them price and they immediately closed the deal.

5. Closing the deal:- You again have 3 options in this.

a) Paypal:- You can send a paypal invoice to the client and they can make the payment via them. I personally transfer the domain first and than ask for payment. It has never happened with me that client didn't make payment though their were delays in couple of cases. When you first transfer the domain and than ask for payment than it create trust factor in the eyes of end-users and deal closes faster. This works best in case of xxx deals as your risk factor is low.

b) Escrow :- You can create escrow account and ask the client to complete the transaction via that. Be aware that creating account at escrow is a tedious process and many times deal gets cancelled as end users do not want to take so much of headache. Escrow is recommended in case of xxxx and xxxxx deals and not at all recommended for xxx deals.

c) Marketplace:- If your domain is registered with Godaddy than you can ask the client to directly purchase from there or via landing pages like undeveloped.com. It works very well as these marketplace have high trust factor among the general public.


Some personal suggestions based on my experience of outbound.

1. Registrar:- If your domain is with Godaddy than it is easier to sell them . Godaddy is world's largest registrar and due to their massive advertising campaign everyone is aware about them. Most of the end user have account with godaddy or they dont mind opening account at Godaddy. If your domain is with any other registrar tha always do outbound after 60 days transfer lock is over.

2. Response time:- xxx purchases are normally spontaneous decision and end users immediately pay the same. If you receive a offer or end user agrees to your price than try to close the deal instantly. If you delay than their is high possibility that end user may change their mind or look for alternative options.

3. Related domains:- If you have a singular version than always purchase plural version as well if available. Further in case of Geo domain if you are marketing .com domain than always acquire cctld version of the same to be on safe side.

4. Calling :- If you receive a price inquiry than always try to call up the client as the possibility of leads getting closed increases manifold in case of calls rather than on mail.

5. Promo offer:- If you are into hand registered game than keep a keen eye on promo offers offered by various registrar. If you can grab promo offers for .com at $3-4 range than its always a winning game.

6. Expireddomains.net:- Thousands of domains expire on daily basis and you can find lots of decent domains in daily drop list which can easily be sold in xxx range via outbound.

Last but not the least , there is a very thin line between marketing and spamming and majority of newbies dont understand the difference. Outbound is great to have regular sales and to keep the cash register rolling but most of the time we end up doing spamming. Even though i am into outbound but i am strictly against spamming.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
When the target price is low to mid XXX I always include the price and I always include that the price is negotiable. You may leave a little on the table but most potential buyers won't even respond if there is no price because they think you are just another domain squatter asking $50,000 for a $500 domain.

Include a reasonable price and watch your sales increase.
Two problems with that:

- starting out with a price quote takes you across the spamming / not spamming line, IMO :nailbiting:

- opening with "the price is negotiable" is a huge mistake, a big no-no! :facepalm:
For so many reasons, I don't have time to go into here now!

There are many ways to imply that you are prepared to be reasonable without quoting a price and simultaneously making the quote irrelevant by implying you are not to be taken seriously :banghead:
 
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Two problems with that:

- starting out with a price quote takes you across the spamming / not spamming line, IMO :nailbiting:

- opening with "the price is negotiable" is a huge mistake, a big no-no! :facepalm:
For so many reasons, I don't have time to go into here now!

There are many ways to imply that you are prepared to be reasonable without quoting a price and simultaneously making the quote irrelevant by implying you are not to be taken seriously :banghead:
You can have your opinion but I have sold hundreds and hundreds of domains using this exact strategy. As they say there are many ways to skin a cat. 😀
 
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- opening with "the price is negotiable" is a huge mistake, a big no-no! :facepalm:
For so many reasons, I don't have time to go into here now!
There are legitimate reasons to note that the price is negotiable under the right circumstances. It's not uncommon (even outside the domain industry) to list what you consider the market value price.

It only becomes problematic if you claim that the price is already low and offer to negotiate. It portrays you as desperate or as a liar.
 
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Hey,

Hahaha today morning I accidentally post my response to you accidentally in other outbound post thinking it was by you. Now I am correcting my mistake by posting here in right place. Hahahha. Please see my response below. Hahhaha


How are you Rohit?? I hope you are doing great. First of all thanks for sharing your view and experience with others it shows how helpful you are to anyone selflessly. I admire that quality in you. I been observing your post silently on various occasion. You are one of few others on NP who are doing good with outbound.

I am a student and I will always be a life long student in life. So far my model is I try to buy good asset in aftermarket and wait for right offer to knock my door. It’s working really great for me. I am always trying to improve in my selection and the way of doing my little business in Digital world. This month alone I completed Mid Five Figure Deal. 90% of my sales I did not share so far here on NP because I like to share when I experienced something unique which may add some value in someone’s life. I expirienced lots of new things recently so I will share some of my recent sales soon witu all friends here on NP.

As I said I am student and for me Outbound is something I never did so far. I like to keep trying various things to improve what I do in life. I know I need to do so many changes for more exposure of my business and I will try to add those missing elements slowly and steadily. But I really enjoy your helpful post and I am very thankful to you for that. I will try outbound soon. How soon ?? Only time will tell. Hahahah

But again thanks for helpful post.


Thanks

Hey bro , i am great fine and hope the same for you.

Yes i am aware about you as i have been following your post as well and its great you are achieving great success in your strategy.

The only rule i domaining is that there is no rules. Everyone has their strategy and its best for them to stick to their own strategy which gives them best result. As i mentioned earlier this post is for beginner who may not have lots of fund to purchase from aftermarket or to wait for long for right end users to approach them. I just shared one part of outbound strategy focussing on geo domains such domains are available to hand register and anyone can purchase them looking into basic parameters. Purchasing keyword and brandable domains at right price can be tricky game for beginners as we all know the kind of shill bidding happening in all the platforms.

Do let me know as and when you plan to start outbound , i would be at your service.

Cheers
 
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Awesome guide ...so many people have doubts on outbound process its cool stuff to have some about it..

Thanks for the feedback. Hope it would be helpful.
 
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Further be very careful not to send mail again to the same person who has already responded "No".

You should follow up immediately with prospects that say "NO". I get excited when people say NO, because MOST prospects won't respond at all. If I was to get 100 "NO" answers/day doing outbound I would be so excited, more excited then getting 1 "YES".

"NO" is always an opportunity. Most negotiations start with a "NO" answer or "not interested", or I will talk to my partner, or I will talk to my grandma etc.
So before doing any outbound learn how to handle objections, and how to sell. That really should be STEP 1.

That's my 2 cents for the day...

I agree with your point as well as disagree with your point.

When someone says "No" to the initial mail than there is no sense in continuing with the conversation as it would piss of the person. If a person is even slightly interested in the domain name than that person would make an price inquiry , whether they purchase the domain or not is a different matter.
However i always ask reason or mention that the price is negotiable when client respond no after receiving my quote.

Secondly i do agree with your point that one has to know how to handle rejections if one wants to get into outbound. Outbound requires lots of patience and understanding on your part. There would be cases where client would abuse you simply because you have the domain which might be useful for them or you didnt accept their price. Further many end users are not aware that there is after market and they believe that domains are available for $1-10 range only so you have to make them understand in a very tactful manner.
 
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Very well-said. This is basically the secret to outbound. The difference between those who are successful at it and those who are not is that experienced investors feel comfortable negotiating starting with "no."

It also helps to analyze your "no" response, and to consider all the details. With experience, you can imagine a profile of the buyer and attempt to work it out from there.

Be polite and concise. Always thank the buyer for responding, end things amicably by respecting their choice if it doesn't work out, and leave your contact details. You never know who might come back in the future.

I completely agree that we should respond professionally even if there was no deal. It has happened with me that client came back to me after couple of months inquiring if i have any other similar domains related to their niche. I did have few sales this way.
Further when we are professional than client remembers you and there is opportunity for working out some other deals in the future or cross pitching other products.
 
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Riiiight... modesty will get you everywhere :xf.wink:
Seriously, I'm officially impressed! 100+ negotiations month in and out, that's a heck of a lot of work for one person. Kudos, man! :woot::woot:

Well i have a team of 5 people for outbound however yes i personally handle all the price inquiries which is approx 100 per month.
 
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That's great to know, thank you for being so detailed with your answer! Also, if you don't mind sharing, what do you use for calling these prospects? I don't think WhatsApp is commonly used there, and ISD calling can be quite expensive...

well i give normal calls from my mobile. Yes ISD is expensive but its worth it even if you can convert few deals via call.
 
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When the target price is low to mid XXX I always include the price and I always include that the price is negotiable. You may leave a little on the table but most potential buyers won't even respond if there is no price because they think you are just another domain squatter asking $50,000 for a $500 domain.

Include a reasonable price and watch your sales increase.

Normally i dont include price in the initial mail and only send price along with details regarding the domain when they inquire about the price. As per my experience it helps in keeping spam level low. Further if i send mail to 50 people than hardly 2-3 people would enquire about the price so personally i dont find it right to send price to everyone.

As for negotiation well i mention that only when client says that they are not interested at my price.
 
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You can have your opinion but I have sold hundreds and hundreds of domains using this exact strategy. As they say there are many ways to skin a cat. 😀

I havent tried your strategy yet but i guess it may work. Everyone has their own strategy and different strategy work for different people.
I have couple of friends who price geo domains at $1000-$4000 range and even he makes decent sales. I tried the same but it didnt work out for me so i now i stick to my own strategy.

Though thanks for your suggestion and i would surely try your strategy next week just to see hows the response. I will surely update you regarding the same as well.
 
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My team works only on collecting leads and sending then mails.. rest of the things like purchasing domains and dealing clients are personally handled by me
Which fires me a question... How do you handle emailing? I suppose, you have some sorta system where your staff sends emails from your company email box, but only you have an access to the incoming emails?
 
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Which fires me a question... How do you handle emailing? I suppose, you have some sorta system where your staff sends emails from your company email box, but only you have an access to the incoming emails?

I have already mentioned that in my main post. I use multiple customized email id created at bigrock.com to send mail. All the mails are forwarded to my primary mail id and i receive all the responses.
 
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Quick and dirty: this applies only to email sent from the US or targeted at US recipients. In practice, its application is even more limited. More importantly, all developed nations have their own legislation, more often than not with conflicting regulations to CAN-SPAM Act.
Exactly, I thought that was self evident, my point being don’t run hog wild into new business activity without knowing the applicable laws.
This is assuming that an individually targeted (by name) email asking the recipient if he/she is interested in receiving a price offer falls under CAN-SPAM, which targets mass mailing. My take is that it does not.
Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email, it covers all commercial electronic mail messages regardless of quantity or target precision. Yes in practice the risk of criminal prosecution for domain outbounders is low. Once in a blue moon a mass mailer gets taken down. Small fries either know this or are ignorant of the law, based on my years of receiving inbox spam 0% compliant with CAN-SPAM.
 
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Hey bro , i am great fine and hope the same for you.

Yes i am aware about you as i have been following your post as well and its great you are achieving great success in your strategy.

The only rule i domaining is that there is no rules. Everyone has their strategy and its best for them to stick to their own strategy which gives them best result. As i mentioned earlier this post is for beginner who may not have lots of fund to purchase from aftermarket or to wait for long for right end users to approach them. I just shared one part of outbound strategy focussing on geo domains such domains are available to hand register and anyone can purchase them looking into basic parameters. Purchasing keyword and brandable domains at right price can be tricky game for beginners as we all know the kind of shill bidding happening in all the platforms.

Do let me know as and when you plan to start outbound , i would be at your service.

Cheers

Thanks for the response. Yes I agree there is no special rule in domain investment world which is the beauty of this business. Everyone keep trying different techniques. I always try to improve in what I do in life. I always identify what I need to improve and outbound is one of the area I never touched so far. I like to keep trying various stuff. Sure I will be in touch with you when right time come for outbound for me.

Thanks
 
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Thanks for the response. Yes I agree there is no special rule in domain investment world which is the beauty of this business. Everyone keep trying different techniques. I always try to improve in what I do in life. I always identify what I need to improve and outbound is one of the area I never touched so far. I like to keep trying various stuff. Sure I will be in touch with you when right time come for outbound for me.

Thanks

Completely agree with you bro... we should be aware about what's happening around and learn new stuff but should focus on our core strength...

Once on process is established and making decent revenue than should think of venturing into other segment...

Cheers and best of luck to you too
 
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@rohitgoyal - Great thread thanks for sharing!

Couple of questions....

1) What do you consider to be a reasonable monthly volume?
2) Do you share the above number in your first email that is sent to the prospect?
3) What (if any) promotional info is provided in the first email?
4) Do you share any benefits of them owning the name? If so what are they?
 
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No I haven't planned or thought of providing outbound service and there are couple of reasons for the same.
1. Outbound has a fixed cost involved irrespective of the fact that whether domain gets sold or not and most people want to work on commission basis which is not commercially viable.
2. If you outsource outbound than you start expecting to have sales right from first day. Outbound doesn't guarantee sales , it just makes the process faster ..
3. Couple of people have started outbound process in the past and for whatever reason they haven't continued for long.

Yeah, I totally understand what you're saying. Outbound is comprehensive task in that it involves multiple steps of manual intervention and sales is far from realization most of the time. My point was that since you've already setup a process, you have good idea how much it costs per domain/per user/ per month and you could certainly charge according to that.

Anyways, thank you for the post and its great to have experienced contributors like you on NP.

Thank you again and keep rocking on NP and outside!(y)(y)(y)
 
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Hey,

Hahaha today morning I accidentally post my response to you accidentally in other outbound post thinking it was by you. Now I am correcting my mistake by posting here in right place. Hahahha. Please see my response below. Hahhaha


How are you Rohit?? I hope you are doing great. First of all thanks for sharing your view and experience with others it shows how helpful you are to anyone selflessly. I admire that quality in you. I been observing your post silently on various occasion. You are one of few others on NP who are doing good with outbound.

I am a student and I will always be a life long student in life. So far my model is I try to buy good asset in aftermarket and wait for right offer to knock my door. It’s working really great for me. I am always trying to improve in my selection and the way of doing my little business in Digital world. This month alone I completed Mid Five Figure Deal. 90% of my sales I did not share so far here on NP because I like to share when I experienced something unique which may add some value in someone’s life. I expirienced lots of new things recently so I will share some of my recent sales soon witu all friends here on NP.

As I said I am student and for me Outbound is something I never did so far. I like to keep trying various things to improve what I do in life. I know I need to do so many changes for more exposure of my business and I will try to add those missing elements slowly and steadily. But I really enjoy your helpful post and I am very thankful to you for that. I will try outbound soon. How soon ?? Only time will tell. Hahahah
But again thanks for helpful post.
Thanks

Hi @TERADOMAIN
Its always nice to see your thoughtful comments.

I am curious, what secondary markets you pick your names from? How do you decide when to stop bidding higher? You've some great names listed in your signature; I'm sure its only a tip of the iceberg. :xf.wink::xf.wink::xf.grin:

Wish you more sales in future, (y)(y)

Thanks
 
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@rohitgoyal - Great thread thanks for sharing!

Couple of questions....

1) What do you consider to be a reasonable monthly volume?
2) Do you share the above number in your first email that is sent to the prospect?
3) What (if any) promotional info is provided in the first email?
4) Do you share any benefits of them owning the name? If so what are they?

1. I am not clear on your first query.. are asking about monthly volume in terms of sales , mails or domains ??
2. No my first mail do jot have any price.. I share price along with details regarding like domain like registrar , search , cpc etc when they enquire about the price.
3. Well first email should be short and to the point. You can surely promotional like you also provide web development , seo etc etc.
4. Well yes sometimes I do provide benefit of owning the domain especially when end user is not sure whether they should purchase your domain. There are few case studies related to benefit of having emd domains and I share the same.
 
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Yeah, I totally understand what you're saying. Outbound is comprehensive task in that it involves multiple steps of manual intervention and sales is far from realization most of the time. My point was that since you've already setup a process, you have good idea how much it costs per domain/per user/ per month and you could certainly charge according to that.

Anyways, thank you for the post and its great to have experienced contributors like you on NP.

Thank you again and keep rocking on NP and outside!(y)(y)(y)

Yes I agree that I do have data with me regarding cost involved for doing outbound on a single domain..
If it's a normal domain where too much research is not required than on an average there would be cost of $10 for doing outbound for that domain. Over here I am considering the cost of manpower , tools , setup etc etc and not considering the cost of my personal involvement.
I do receive lots of request regarding doing outbound for their domains however there are 3 factors involved in the same.
1. Most of the domainers want their domains to be marketed on commission basis only without any fixed payout which is not commercially viable.
2. Even in case of premium domains or via marketplace , average selling ratio is 1-2% , though it's much higher in case of outbound but still it can't be 30-40%.
3. Price expectation is very high which result in no sale. In case of inbound domain can be sold for any dam price but in case of outbound we have to be reasonable with price as we are approaching end users.
4. It does not make sense to provide outbound service if bulk work is not available. One can simply do outbound for their own domains and make much more. Further when you do outbound for your own domain than risk is yours and benefit is yours.
 
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1. I am not clear on your first query.. are asking about monthly volume in terms of sales , mails or domains ??
2. No my first mail do jot have any price.. I share price along with details regarding like domain like registrar , search , cpc etc when they enquire about the price.
3. Well first email should be short and to the point. You can surely promotional like you also provide web development , seo etc etc.
4. Well yes sometimes I do provide benefit of owning the domain especially when end user is not sure whether they should purchase your domain. There are few case studies related to benefit of having emd domains and I share the same.
Thanks for the detailed reply, appreciate it.

the first point was not clear at all, sorry about that.

It should of read what do you consider a good monthly search volume for a Geo name that you are trying to sell
 
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This is the most helpful thread I've read in my life
 
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Thanks for the detailed reply, appreciate it.

the first point was not clear at all, sorry about that.

It should of read what do you consider a good monthly search volume for a Geo name that you are trying to sell

There are no thumb rule as it depends upon service/city as well as the potential in that niche... but generally speaking I go with above 500 monthly searches and $2 cpc
 
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