After 3 months of experimentation, I've arrived at an e-mail pitch template that gathers a 25-30% "I am interested" response rate when selling to small businesses and non-profits. I thought I should share it with you--
To line:
[email protected]
Subject line: For John - someorganization.com website question
Body as follows:
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(Please forward this message to Some Organization's management or sales director if you see fit):
Dear Some Organization staff,
I'm Josh Poritz, a software developer from Boston. I am writing to let you know I currently have the domain name SomeOrg.com available for acquisition. Because I am looking to clear out my domain names by the end of September, I would be willing to offer you SomeOrg.com below market value for use with your writers community's online home at SomeOrganization.com
If you would like to consider acquiring this domain name, please reply to this message no later than this coming Tuesday, 8/19. I would be happy to discuss a price that suits your budget. In the event I do not hear from you by that point, I will contact my next SomeOrg.com candidate.
Thanks for taking the time to read this message. I look forward to speaking with you soon.
All the best,
Josh
Josh Poritz
PresenTense Institute, Founding Fellow
http://www.presentense.org
Tel: XXX.XXX.XXXX (US)
E-mail:
[email protected]
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Replace as follows:
*
[email protected] / John - E-mail & name of the sales director of the group you're pitching to. Other options: president, executive director, office manager, CTO, or whatever you can get your hands on if none of the above are available.
* Some Organization - Name of group you're contacting
* SomeOrganization.com - Website of group you're contacting
* SomeOrg.com - Domain name you're selling (usually shorter or more memorable than what the end-user currently owns)
* "software developer from Boston" - Brief description of yourself; something that expresses "I'm not a shady person."
* "end of September" - A date approximately 1-1.5 months following the date you're sending your message
* "writers community" - A 2-5 word description of their group. This is an extremely important replacement since it implies "I'm human" and "I have actually checked out your site and believe this domain will interest you based on my findings." Grab this expression from their slogan, home page, "about us" page, or mission statement; or even better, use your own words.
* "Tuesday, 8/19" -- Give them about 3-5 business days to toss up an initial response. Most of my responders reply within the first two days.
* Josh/Josh Poritz: Your name
* Replace signature info -- PresenTense Institute, Founding Fellow,
http://www.presentense.org, XXX.XXX.XXXX (US),
[email protected] -- with your own title and contact information. Try to get a nice SkypeIn number. Use an e-mail address from your college, business, or one of your professional-sounding developed domains.
I send about 15 of these hand-tailored messages each day at an expense of about 5 minutes each. I usually receive 4-5 replies asking me how much I'm selling the domain for. In response you I either state an asking price or ask the buyer how much he/she is willing to fork out (not in those words, obviously); I'm not yet sure which of these two strategies is superior, as the answer probably depends on the nature of the end-user.
When pitching to larger / venture-backed groups, I usually (1) replace the "I'm Josh Poritz..." with "I hope this message finds you well. I am Josh Poritz..." and (2) add a *short* paragraph quoting a clause from their "about us"-type page, supplemented with an explanation as to why the domain will serve them valuably based on their core mission's description.
Of course, you won't get the 25-30% response rate unless you carefully pre-research the groups you're pitching to and firmly believe the names will appeal to them. Good luck!
UPDATE:
Looks like NPers agree prospects for a sale are higher when you respond to the interested end-user with a price rather than asking them to make an offer. Relevant thread:
http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/503880-how-to-keep-the-negotiation-going.html
Not a full-proof method since if, for example, if you're selling mountainmetal.com, it won't show mtnmetal.com or mountain-metal matches. Still a great tip though.