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Over the weekend, I helped @RJ complete a domain sale of the domain name Level7.com. For those of you who don't know RJ, he is the founder of NamePros. When he started moving his domains to Epik, I did not even realize it but have since enjoyed supporting his efforts and have found him to be a supportive ally.
The Deal
As for the transaction, the all-cash sale price was $30,000. Although we don't normally post domain sales, @RJ and I agreed that this was worth mentioning because it illustrates some points about how domain sellers can make effective use of LinkedIn for closing deals and increasing their professional network.
The domain name Level7.com is in of itself not a keyword name. However, if you look at the word level in combination with any number, they are pretty much all taken, even the spelled out versions. If you do a search you will also see that there are many buyers for such names. As such, I think $30K was entirely reasonable.
The Lesson
The relevant point that I want to highlight is the effective use of LinkedIn with customer followups. I am a little bit unique in that I have more than 22,000 1st level connections and about 1.2 million second level connections. However the principles are still relevant to anyone who is serious about this industry.
A few best practices that I am happy to share:
1. Identify the prospect
When we get an inquiry from a prospect, one of the first things I do is I look them up via LinkedIn. We usually know their name, email, phone number and their IP address. So with that, it is pretty straight forward to determine who they are, where they live, who they work for, whether they might be wealthy, etc.
2. Engage and verify the prospect
When responding to the email inquiry, I will often reference their LinkedIn profile and ask them if that is them. That lets them know that you know exactly who they are. It is also a really effective way to make sure you are
not dealing with an impostor. The impostors quickly scatter. Serious people will accept a friend request.
3. Follow up with the prospect
With the connection now made you now have the option of using LinkedIns free CRM tools which many people have tied to their mobile phone as an app which is a lot easier to notice than an email which can get easily lost in the shuffle. It is also a way to soft-sell if the buyer does not commit right away.
4. Manage an ongoing relationship
Once you are connected, if you are someone who periodically posts on LinkedIn, you do have an opportunity to stay in contact. You can also just like or comment on their posts as another way of signaling your interest in supporting their ambitions. It does not take a lot of time and usually comes back just like engaging on NP.
5. Build your network
Once you are connected with your prospect, you now also have an easy way to find more people like them. because, oftentimes you can also see their network. After all, birds of a feather often flock together. So, the guy who bought your CBD or crypto domain, probably hangs with similar persons. Etc.
So, there you go, a quick primer.
Finally, if someone does get an inquiry for a domain name and wants help closing a deal with a qualified buyer with a high potential prospect, I am happy to help out.
The Deal
As for the transaction, the all-cash sale price was $30,000. Although we don't normally post domain sales, @RJ and I agreed that this was worth mentioning because it illustrates some points about how domain sellers can make effective use of LinkedIn for closing deals and increasing their professional network.
The domain name Level7.com is in of itself not a keyword name. However, if you look at the word level in combination with any number, they are pretty much all taken, even the spelled out versions. If you do a search you will also see that there are many buyers for such names. As such, I think $30K was entirely reasonable.
The Lesson
The relevant point that I want to highlight is the effective use of LinkedIn with customer followups. I am a little bit unique in that I have more than 22,000 1st level connections and about 1.2 million second level connections. However the principles are still relevant to anyone who is serious about this industry.
A few best practices that I am happy to share:
1. Identify the prospect
When we get an inquiry from a prospect, one of the first things I do is I look them up via LinkedIn. We usually know their name, email, phone number and their IP address. So with that, it is pretty straight forward to determine who they are, where they live, who they work for, whether they might be wealthy, etc.
2. Engage and verify the prospect
When responding to the email inquiry, I will often reference their LinkedIn profile and ask them if that is them. That lets them know that you know exactly who they are. It is also a really effective way to make sure you are
not dealing with an impostor. The impostors quickly scatter. Serious people will accept a friend request.
3. Follow up with the prospect
With the connection now made you now have the option of using LinkedIns free CRM tools which many people have tied to their mobile phone as an app which is a lot easier to notice than an email which can get easily lost in the shuffle. It is also a way to soft-sell if the buyer does not commit right away.
4. Manage an ongoing relationship
Once you are connected, if you are someone who periodically posts on LinkedIn, you do have an opportunity to stay in contact. You can also just like or comment on their posts as another way of signaling your interest in supporting their ambitions. It does not take a lot of time and usually comes back just like engaging on NP.
5. Build your network
Once you are connected with your prospect, you now also have an easy way to find more people like them. because, oftentimes you can also see their network. After all, birds of a feather often flock together. So, the guy who bought your CBD or crypto domain, probably hangs with similar persons. Etc.
So, there you go, a quick primer.
Finally, if someone does get an inquiry for a domain name and wants help closing a deal with a qualified buyer with a high potential prospect, I am happy to help out.
