strategy How to Find Potential End Users?

[shilmy]

Hi,

Do any of you has regularly sell your domain to end users? If so, do you mind share with me in this thread on how find potential end users for your domain?

Regards,
Sjarief

 

[nRnF]

I basically only sell to the so called "end users" or at least I sell at the so called "end user prices"

Basically what hat I do is:

1) Look for simillar domains and extensions & Conduct searches in SEs for related websites.

2) With this I compile a Email list of potential interest buyers (based on website or WHOIS contacts).

3) Then I set the name on auction (no FSBO).

4) Right after setting up the domain auction I send out a mail to each identified potential buyer, and inform them about the auction.
(1 by 1 and personalized for each buyer)

Important in my experience is, that if you want to attend a decent sales price is to set up the auction BEFORE you mail the potential buyers. This has the effect, that it puts indirect pressue on buyers (bid now or you never have a chance again)
A FSBO mail to a potential buyer has not much effect, or you just receive a bunch of real low offers.

PS:
It is advisable, to evaluate trademark conflicts before you send mails

 

[Wanda]

Presentation..
Presentation..
Presentation..

Finding "potential" end users/buyers is step 1. You do this by conducting a google search for the main keyword /s which your domain name serves/represents.

You then, take the time.. to find the "contact" email on these pages..
and you then,
create a positive, non atrusive msg. to send to theses "potentials"..
basically, an informative, courtesy msg. to make them aware that your domain is for sale.
* don't waste your time on a lengthy sales pitch.. out of respect.. a wise biz owner, will know and recognize the worth of a specific domain..
* simply make this domain web address available for "acquisition".
* be short.. and polite.. and NEVER, underestimate the intelligence of the end "reader" of your email.
* ALWAYS tell the end reader "who you are.. USE YOUR REAL NAME

My msg's go something like this:

Hello,
I am Wanda Cox, owner of the web domain: Whatever.com
I am currently offering this domain "for sale".
Should your organization, have interest in acquiring this domain, please
feel free to contact me.
************************

ALWAYS list a contact email AND A CONTACT PHONE NUMBER.

In your closing signature.. it's good measure, to list your professional website address. (one which relates to your domain listings is best)

AND DON'T FORGET TO OFFER YOUR PHONE NUMBER.

I have rec'd a good # of phone calls, by offering my phone number. Folks wish to speak to the person they will be dealing with. be prepared to answer "domain transfer" questions..

GoodLuck!

 

[maxtorz]

Could you post his email template again?

I copied and pasted his URL but it led to something very different and even when I tried using wayback machine the content was not it.

Thanks !

That was back in 2009...it's 2017 now.
EVERYTHING has changed, actually everything changes every couple months in the domaining world.
Back then a lot more endusers would REPLY and BUY much easier, now you have to HUSTLE for the sale, follow-up etc.

I get a lot of messages in my inbox, people asking me my sales pitch.There's a misconception that the sales template/pitch letter is what makes the sale and that is very wrong!

Here are a few tips starting from the most important:

1.Quality of domains.(if you are trying to sell crap nobody will reply, actually even if you have a decent name you may not get a reply right away....hint you have to hustle more)
2.DO NOT use mass mailing software, YES you need to send emails 1 at a time
3.Your initial pitch should be short and sweet as in 3-4max sentences and should include a PRICE always(the sweet spot is the $150-$700 range)
3.Use email tracking(mailtrack.io, bananatag etc) to pinpoint the "shy yet most likely interested" potential buyers;
4.Follow-up within 2-3 days if you get no replies the first day you sent out the email. You can followup by let's say dropping the price a bit, or get creative. You could simply say: "What can I do to make this work? Let's talk about it."
5.IF you still don't get a reply or sale DONT PANIC!(only 1-5ish domains will sell the first time), wait 20-30days and follow-up again with the people that opened your initial pitch let's say 2,3,4etc times(HINT email tracking! USE it! Don't be a caveman.)
My followups go something like this:
"I was thinking about you when I was going over some older opportunities specifically regarding XXXX.com domain name. What is stopping you? Pricing? or Do you happen to have unanswered questions regarding the domain transfer/purchase process? "
What this does is a couple of things:1.You make it personal and you try to built rapport. 2.You make them feel important, and we all want to feel important right?
SO I get a lot of replies...I like to think that I have it down to a science, and heck after 10 years of domaining I still learn, read, and improve my process every single day.

If you walk away today after you read this post I want you to remember this: sending out countless emails/trying 100s of pitch letters WITHOUT developing a process, following up and hustling will NET you 0 sales in your outbound approach.

So there you have it, that's my outbound approach and that's how I make 3-5 domain name sales every single week!

Kindly DO NOT pm me and ask me 100s of questions as I will simply point you to this post again. I gave you the tools now get to work. )

 

[Alexander Green]

It's been while since I've posted here but I still lurk in the shadows to read now and then. I started like many investing in a few cheap domains then flipping then focusing on trying to sell to end users. I always made it easy for a buyer to contact me be that a good holding page or if the domain was parked it was with somewhere that had a buy now/communication box to make contact.

Eventually I became much more pro-active at contacting traditional endusers actual small businesses to large corporations 4 figure sales became entry 5 figure then 6 figure sales. However I soon decided to expand my company(at this point it was no longer a hobby for extra cash) to brokering with a small team I had under me and we help others close 6-8 figure deals and for the most part I do the majority of the leg work. So I hope those reading will understand this is no rookie advice.

I feel it's very wise to make yourself seem professional as possible when reaching out to endusers. If you treat the sale of your domain with the integrity and respect it deserves more often then not you will get it back even if it's just a one line response.
While I can't share all tactics I can mention the basics. Your emails should be short and to the point. Introduce yourself briefly and then the domain and the price. Feel free to mention if other parties have been contacted or even state you'd like a response even if its for them to say "not interested" many will do that.

Leave contact details of yourself in a signature in the email preferably with a contact number too.
It's always good to look for a companies CEO, CFO, Markerting Director/Manager, CTO/IT Manager and if the company is very large look for their General Counsel/IP Lawyer and message the highesr ranking person and CC the others 4 people max(including the main) these are the targets you should hit up.
Avoid "for sale" in your email subject or the price. " urgent: bla.com " can work well. Don't sound "spammy" in your email. Be Confident, Firm like this is just another day and the sale isn't that important to you if THEY buy you just want them to know.

Zoominfo, Domaintools, Linkedin and Mailtester.com will become your best bookmarked friends and that's just the start there are many other ways to find your marks.

One of them will read it and pass it on tho who needs to deal with a transaction like this or they may simply ignore it and not reply. Move on if there's never a reply within 1.5 weeks you can always state you need a reply within 5 business days if there is ANY interest in the email to stop "waiting".

Be firm with your asking price. Large companies are generally not scared of seeing a $10k asking price you'd be surprised. If you feel your name is worth $100k REALLY worth it deep down then don't be afraid to state it just make it clear you are open to counter offers if you are fishing for any offer. If they want it you'll know. They may indeed haggle but if you've inflated the price enough you'll have room to get what you wanted.

Don't get greedy unless you don't need the sale/money then feel free to play but know they can walk and never return.

Don't ignore any inquiry you get for your domains even if it starts low unless it's an appraisal scam. You'd be surprised how many emails that start with a $500 offer can turn into $300k with a little investigation and actually taking the time to reply. Working with a lot of investors with killer portfolios I know all too well how often they are tired of "fake buyers" that they ignore offers presuming them the same routine unless it mentions high figures. THAT is a mistake, you should treat every bidder with respect and politely decline and set them straight on what YOU want. You have no idea who they are or what they can REALLY offer.
If your domain is not WIPO bait then you can be "open to serious offers in x range".

Be prepared to move some deals to calls. Know what you are talking about because often they wont have a clue how a domain sale goes down apart from the fact at some point money is exchanged and so is a domain. Escrow for anything over $1500 imo unless you trust the buyer to use other methods of payment.

Be prepared to help buyers with transferring and payment process with step by step instructions if they are clueless.

I like a post someone else said about ideal times to email. Many staff members at companies get flooded by emails daily. Aim for their morning reads. Avoid contacting places on Friday you'll more than often be forgotten about. Mon-Wed is ideal.

The truth that needs to be said is many here are not cut out to ever hit it big selling domains. You need to take the time to go to that next level. I've read posts now and then on someone involved in this industry for 10+ yrs and they've never sold a domain over $2000. I and others did that in their first few sales within a few months and that was the start and we wanted more and we got it. We didn't stick with buying $20 names and hoping to flip for $500 (which is still great I wont take that away from you) but eventually you realise those names you see selling for 6 figures in DNjournal weren't bought for a few dollars. Not anymore.

Some of you will get lucky though. The few who spent under 1000 will get a lucky 5 figure deal or more randomly. It does happen.

Eventually you have to get your feet wet and spend a few grand on something you KNOW you got for a steal. Spending $5k on a name you know can get $50k for any day of the week and to some that's a tall order. To much of a risk.

So you play it safe or maybe all you can afford is a $100 to invest in a name and you hope to get $1k-5k and be content and you have your main 9-5 and again that's fine but if you want more then you need to see what the big boys are willing to do and what they're often willing to lose because you can lose.. badly.

Often you will need thick skin. I have been called a vulture , a thief, a crook by those who don't understand what you're doing.. "domains are $10 scammer" You can argue or just link them a dnjournal year to date top public sales and a polite reply that you'll stick with your crazy industry for your dignity. Keep it professional in my opinion and then move on never reply again to the next potential buyer. Often the person insulting COULD actually come back after mulling it over what's sad is sometimes these can be the actual CEO's. It's OK though I'll still take their money if they change their mind we're not here to be friends.

Don't let anyone get you down not even me. However if you've been in this game a long time and you're not making money or you need to copy someones methods word for word and can't have it fit your own style and your not in the black year in year out with your domains? Then consider stepping out of the game for your own good.

Good Luck. I mean that.

 

[Archangel]

I haven't read all of these, so please excuse me if I overstate. I've sold many domains (none over early $xxx but then again, I've never owned any worthy of higher). Let me give you a few hints for selling your domain:

I've read it mentioned that you shouldn't send email bulk. This is true. Many of the reasons given are accurate ie if you send bulk emails, people will think you're spamming them. Something was mentioned before but I don't think it was explained the way I would have, so I'm going to do it here. If you send the emails one-by-one, it'll be tedious and not worth wasting your time over, right? Well, I vouch for the first part. You need to make the potential buyers feel as though you are talking directly to them. If you send a mass email, potential buyers will get the feeling that the email wasn't sincere and that you are only trying to get another bidder/player in the game. That's all you're really doing but they don't need to know that. In fact, they shouldn't. In the email, NEVER use "Dear sir/madam," etc. unless there's no other option. Personalize! If you know the buyer's name is Bob Smith, start it out with something similar to, "Dear Bob Smith." If the potential buyer has site.com and if you think your domain would work well with the potential buyer's site, don't add something to your email like "This will work as a great addition for your site." Use "This will work as a great addition for site.com." This is among the most important things to learn -- Let the potential buyer feel as though you are being sincere and not looking at him/her as a last resort.

The email address you send the email from isn't important, is it? As long as it sends, nothing else matters, right? This mindset will see all your researching go to waste. Spammers and frauds send emails from free providers, such as Hotmail. To distinguish yourself as a real, legit individual with a real, legit offer, use an email address from another domain you own, something that makes it stand out. If a person gets an email from hotmail.com, yahoo.com etc. they just might dismiss your email as trash and delete it without reading it. MAKE SURE THE USERNAME doesn't contain numbers or underscores (the latter is okay at times but should still be avoided), as these also will make people dismiss the emails as spam the second they see the address it was sent from.

I will offer one more piece of advice: If they don't need to know something, don't tell them. I am not suggesting that you refrain from telling them vital information (I just said the opposite!). The biggest example I can give here is your intentions for selling. I don't think the potential buyers need to know why you are selling. If you tell them, let's say, "I'm broke and I can't pay my bills, etc" then there are chances that they might try to sucker you into selling your domain directly to them, avoiding an auction or the chance to entertain additional bids, at perhaps 25% less or worse -- even as low as 10% -- of its value. If they don't need to know something, don't tell tem.

The rest should be second-nature. NEVER, EVER lie to them! Always keep a professional disposition. If you ask for $1,000 and someone offers you only $50, don't say something along the lines of "Get a life, freak! I'm not selling this for $50, you sorry-ass prick!" Instead, politely say, "Thank you for your offer but I am looking for something in a higher price range." Common sense is the biggest key to a sale -- not finding bidders or potential buyers. Use common sense and you might be able to make a sale with only one email sent. Remember -- You can send 1 email and make $10,000 from it and you can send 10,000 emails and not get a $1 offer. Know how to approach buyers and the rest will play out adequately. Act like a scammer or a noob--even if you are one--and you'll scare away bidders and all hopes of getting a sale. Remember: Common sense first, locating buyers second. Do this and I guarantee you'll see results. In this game of domain investment, you gotta play all your cards right. Know how to play them before doing anything with what you have. Remember: First impressions count. Mess up once and you might not get another chance with the same buyer. Be smart and you'll see rewards. Be stupid and see nothing. The former sounds better, doesn't it?

 

[RJ]

Here's a quick method of finding possible buyers for your domain name,

1. Go to WHOIS.SC and find owners of variations of your domain name. If you own example.com, there's a chance the owners of example123.com, exam-ple.com or example.us might be interested.

2. Go to Google.com and search for the keywords contained in your domain. Make a list of all the paying advertisers that appear in the "Sponsored Links".

3. Go to Overture.com and search for the keywords contained in your domain. Make a list of all the paying advertisers. (Click "View Advertisers' Max Bids")

These three steps will usually produce a decent sized list of potential buyers for your name. From there you can contact the companies and see if there's any interest in aquiring your name.

DO NOT SPAM! Mass mailing all these companies with a single spam email is a bad idea! Any time you do this you should be contacting these companies indivudually by email, snail mail or phone. Figure out how these companies can benefit by owning your domain and approach them with this information. Other threads on NP contain advice about how to go about this.

Also keep this in mind when expecting responses from contacting potential buyers:

People who contact you are much more likely to purchase than anyone you approach...

You might contact 30 companies and not receive any interest. Don't fret, move on to the next domain.

 

[Tarabasa Domains Ltd]

Something I do not understand about finding end users:

Lets say I have a domain: goldenshirts.com, so we have two possible keywords: "golden," and "shirts."

When I go on google to create my email list, why would I search up "golden" and "shirts" ? Lets say I found a website: goldshirts.com and shirtsgolden.com, why would I contact them? Why would they be interested in another domain, "goldenshirts.com" ?

Or better yet, lets say I find a website: shirts.com and shirts-gold.com or shirts-insider.com. I just don't get why I should be contacting these end users because they already have their own website, why would they be interested in bidding for my domain?

It's a good question. And an important one. There are many reasons as to why companies and business' will purchase domain names, even if they are already hosting their business on a current domain.

The key is that the domain name you offer them is better than their current, and it gives them an opportunity to grow as a company and to increase revenue etc. A premium domain is assesed by search volume, branding, presence, potential to make money back and a number of other factors that determine value etc.

These are the top reasons as to why companies will buy domains:

Branding:
A strong web presence and complementary branding is key for any business to strive in today’s world. Premium domain names give business' the platform needed to be located by consumers already searching for them. Owning a domain name that illustrates a company's industry goes a long way in helping potential customers to locate and identify with their business. It let's people memorise them instantly, and it let's them secure and own their brands entire niche through a single premium purchase.
For eg, with "ShirtGolden.com" the phrase is backwards, it doesn't make sense. People don't speak and say "I bought a shirt golden", they say "I bought a golden shirt", and that's why GoldenShirts.com is better and holds a better brand.

Domain Names Are Appreciating Assets
Ever since the first domain name was registered in 1985, they have become strong commodities that have consistently increased in value, reaching sale figures up to and exceeding tens of millions of U.S. dollars. These are not 'one off' situations, these are re-occurring sale figures, simply because companies understand and appreciate the value that domains offer to their business'. To date, the highest recorded domain sale is 'LasVegas.com', which sold for $90 million. It is undeniable that domains are offering companies a substantial return on their investment, and so often (even if a company doesn't want to primarily use a domain name for their business), companies will often buy domains for holding. They will build a portfolio and after a few years, after prices have gone up, they will sell those assets. It's the same with most valuable things - arts, jewellery etc. I used to be confused as to why people would spend $50k on a Rolex watch...but I realised it's not because they want to make a statement. It's because that Rolex watch will increase in value, and in 5 or 10 years time (if kept well) that same watch will be worth double or tripple it's value. It's the same with domain names.

Credibility
Having a domain name that reflects a company's brand grants customers an instant sense of trust and authority. They will be significantly more incentivised to do business with 'www.Business.com', compared to 'www.My-Business-123.biz". If your end user previously missed out on the opportunity to invest in a good domain name, perhaps you can offer them the chance to now.

Domains Provide Instant Marketing Advantages
Premium domain names market and advertise themselves. Once registered, these domain names are set in stone and are active around the clock. It's no surprise that they come with added marketing advantages. After acquiring a premium domain, companies can expect to see a spike in web traffic due to their domains being a prominent result on search engines. Generating a consistent flow of customers directly to their business' landing page. Advertising in newspapers and other publications, on TV, or via online adverts are great ways of marketing your business but they have one big flaw: once you stop paying for the advert, the traffic slows down and eventually comes to a halt. A premium domain is a one-time investment that will generate results forever.

Everybody is using the Internet
More people are using the internet now than ever before, offering businesses an unparalleled audience which simply wasn’t accessible formerly. The internet has connected the world and has given every individual a platform to become a leader of the future. Owning a premium domain name gives companies the global access that could take their business from nothing to everything. A poor domain name doesn't have the same global reach as a premium one does.

Domains Can ALWAYS Be Resold
Domains are liquid assets, they are bought and sold very quickly with straightforward legality and minimal paperwork. If circumstances change and a company sees the need to liquidate their domain name assets quickly, it would not be an issue for them. The domain market has a quick turnover and premium domains can get snapped up as soon as they hit the market. It's not a lot of risk for companies to invest into big domains.

A Domain's Professional Advantage
Owning the right domain name comes with perks. Companies will be able to create professional company email addresses registered to their domains, that consumers will be able to identify their companies with. They can forward multiple sub-domains to their primary domain to increase traffic flow. Advertising will become streamline, as they will be able to forward primary domains to pages or products on their site for consumers to notice. Premium domains speak for themselves and are easily remembered when paired with business cards and marketing material.


A Premium Domain Makes A Business A Leader In Their Field
Having the exact, precise domain name for a brand will set a business apart from the competition. It will give them a platform to dominate the online space of their niche, leaving their competitors to opt for subprime and second-rate domains. While their competitors are limiting their level of online presence and in the process missing out on bulk traffic - a company that acquired a premium domain will be leading from the top.

Companies Can Easily Link To Premium Domains
What happens so often in the web industry is a reputable company will write an article linking a particular premium domain name to the business that they are writing about - only for all that traffic to be directed to the wrong place. All because that secondary business doesn't actually own their premium domain name. Business' and companies will assume that a company owns the premium .com domain that captures their brand - and so when they link to that premium domain name and those companies don't actually own it, they miss out on all that potential traffic. That's why owning a premium .com domain name allows companies to link to those companies, without sending the traffic in the wrong direction.

Instant Traffic
Premium keywords are already consistently getting tens and hundreds of thousands of searches each month via web search engines. Now imagine that a company owns the domain name that matches with the premium keywords already being searched. They instantly position their business' for success - they allow all those tens and hundreds of thousands of people searching for a keyword to land directly upon their businesss, turning thousands of people into potential customers, drastically increasing revenue each month.

Search Engine Ranking
It's a proven fact that premium domain names rank highly in seach engines over poorer quality domains. If a company owns the premium exact match domain name that represents their brand, they are instantly allowing people to reach them when they search through search engines. Search engine sites like Google will acknowledge instantaneously the authority that a premium domain name provides, and they will position those domains at the very top of their search results. That leads to self flowing traffic and huge business growth. If Google recognises a brand as a premium brand, so will customers.

Protecting A Brand
Owning the premium domain name for a brand can protect a company from a number of factors. It prevents other companies from securing the domain name and dominating under the same keywords as them. It also protects companies from leaked traffic. There have been multiple instances where companies who own the long-taield keyword domain of their brand have spent millions in advertising, and a huge portion of their traffic was leaked up to the top companies who owned the premium domain name under the same keyword. By securing a premium domain name, companies prevent leaked traffic, and they also gain traffic from other companies underneath operating under the same keyword leaking their traffic to upwards.

The Potential For Return On Investment
Purchasing the right premium domain name is like purchashing a turnkey business ready made in a box. There are already hundreds of thousands of people searching the premium keyword terms that represent business' into Google, and there are plenty of advertisers out there ready to pay out companies for hosting business' in those particular niches, let alone the income from selling any services or products that companies may provide. Once a copmany owns their premium exact match domain name and they are positioned well on Search engines, it's all a numbers game from there. All those hundreds of thousands of people searching for them and landing on their pages, multiplied by the cost of any products they sell, and by the cost of what advertisers pay out (CPC) - it's easy to see how a ROI can be made within months.

Premium Domains Are In High Demand
The demand for premium domain names is rapidly increasing. Companies are competing each day to land their business' on the best digital assets available. Securing a premium domain name today will leave a company secured for the rest of time. They will be the predominant controller and influencer of their niche, and they will be known as the leading brand around their industry - leading it's direction and growth. They will not have to compete any more to be the best, as you will have already secured the best possible digital investment for their company.

Global Positioning
There is only one king premium domain in a niche. And yet there are thousands of companies who have business’ and brands built around that niche. If a copmany owns the premium keyword domain name of their niche, they instantly set themselves aside from the thousands that compete with them. They dominate and own that entire niche. There is no further explaining necessary when explaining who they are or what their brand is - they simply state their domain name and people will instantly recognise them. Whereas you competitors will be left having to give justifications as to who they are and why they’re not the premium keyword that they’re branded around.

Relevance and Irrelevance
If a company owns the long tailed domain name of their brand, it’s very easy (and likely!) that another brand will swoop in and secure the premium version of the domain name, effectively making the other brand and company irrelevant – because the company who buys the premium name will be known as the niche dominator for that keyword.

I hope that helps, and thank you for asking that question. It's an important one that I think more domainers should know so they can justify their reasons when selling and marketing a domain to end users, and something that more end users should be aware of so they can see the advantages or purchasing premium names.

 

[Federer]

Here is the template that I have fine-tuned over the past 6-7 years that has reaped the most sales and highest response-rate:

Hello,

We are contacting some email companies concerning a memorable domain name we are selling:

Email.net

As your business is currently ranking under the domain's keywords, we thought the domain could be of interest.

Please let us know if your company would be interested in acquiring this domain name.

Best Regards,

Luc Biggs
Owner & Founder
Key Domains Unipessoal LDA

- Note: this is a one-time email offer
- If you would prefer not to be contacted about future domain opportunities, please respond with opt out in the subject line.


In our personalized emails (sent 1 by 1 to select companies), we make sure to include our full contact details. We also keep an up-to-date record of not-to-email contacts.
If you know which domain names spark higher interest (product/service-related), there are countless investment opportunities every day (expired-become available again), primarily in the .COM/.NET spaces, as well as some key ccTLDs.

 

[ilcesco]

Long story short, here's a juice of what i understand from this thread:
Email domain marketing for dummies, Vol.1

- Study the right field that fits your domain, and focus the market sector you're looking to deal with.
- Get a list of possible end users looking for:
a) People who advertise on overture (view advertisers->max bids) or adsense (sponsored links) on that keyword(s).
b) Google search for similar websites
c) Owners of similar domains but worst in quality then your.
Take the e-mail adresses from the whois of the respective site-owners.
- Set up the email account of the domain you're willing to sell, something like [email protected] or [email protected] or [email protected]
- Set up a private auction on eBay with a complete description of the domain name and, eventually, a reserve price. I'd suggest to keep up the auction for not more then 7 days.
- Write a short, polite and well written email, personalized for each possible customer, where you mark him the existence of this domain on auction, and the time it will be end to induce a bit of pressure and let the potential buyer to check the auction immediatly, rather then let him wait few days and forget it.
Don't mention the value of the domain, he will check it when he will met the reserve price in the auction.
End the email with your real Name, your domainer website (if you have one) adress and your telephone number.
Write the DN is on sale in the subject line, something like "Domain DomainToSell.com is being auctioned". There's no reason to hide the email behind an eye-catching subject. If the buyer is interested it will open it for sure.
- Wait for the bids to come with lot of patience.


I wish this could help..

 

[nRnF]

3) Then I set the name on auction (no FSBO).
why no sale by owner?? cannot understand this.

As I said (now in other words):
A FSBO is no auction, hence there is no time limit for a potential buyer, and the reactions to any offer come by the seller.
Generally the buyer feels no pressue, and is not aware of any other buyers offers.

At FSBO the buyer likely will play the "I offer 10$" game just to see your reactions
For many Sedo users this might sound familliar

With a time limited acution you ashure, that the buyer will not have the chance to play the "low offer game" to see your reactions.
In fact the reactions come by other buyers.

A auction changes the players from YOU vs BUYER to BUYER vs BUYER.

E.g. at a auction for let's say 7 days duration the buyer(s) know that this likely the only chance to put hands on that domain.
After the acution the chance has gone maybe for ever.

IMO it makes absolutely no sense to set a name at FSBO and "make offer" when you additionaly contact potential buyers.
In the end this will eaven hurt your sales price if you do not sell it. A second approach to a potential buyer like "domain again/still on sale" cuts your sales price at half.

Only one thing is important if you wanna play the BUYER vs BUYER style game:
Make shure that there will be at least some players :bingo:


And if you are afraid of not getting enough money at the auction, set a "reserve" price.
If the auction ends then with no sale you got at least a very realistic appraisal.
I love this appraisal system, cause it gives you direct feedback of your own appraisals

However, can you plese share with us how you get over worrying about people assuming you are a SPAMmer and repoprting you

- Send out personalized Emails 1 by 1 (Dear Mr. Buck Fush, ......)
- Do not use a spammer like mail like [email protected].
- Use your name + a Tel. number in the signature
- You may use also something like "please excuse this cold mailing, but...)
- keep it short
- do not tell that you are in need of selling

 

[fm1234]

@Cyphix I get those from time to time; there is never any point to engaging people like that. The only exception I ever allow in such cases are the very rare (like, twice in all these years that I can recall offhand) incidents when I got a response like that, from a person who worked at a place that clearly owned the sort of domains I'm trying to sell. Since someone at that company clearly knows the value of domains and buys them, in those rare cases I sent an outraged response to the customer service/pr address for the company, with a copy of the e-mail that was sent to me. In both cases I got a written apology from up the food chain, and in one I got a sale at ask :D

And on a serious note, all this talk about templates and the value of being any number under 100% honest and such just serve to remind me why I contribute so infrequently to this thread anymore. Successful end user sales require certain elements -- without them, you're just a huckster, a glorified telemarketer working the numbers until you get a hit, and this gig won't be any more profitable than whatever you were pushing before you started pushing domains.

1) Quality domains. Did you buy it on NamePros for $20? Chances are it's shit as far as the end user market goes. Did you hand reg it? Unless you have a very good understanding of the AdWords market, and some fairly sophisticated drop catching skills/software/service, it's shit as far as the end user market goes. In all the years I've been receiving "end user mails" from other domainers, I don't think I've seen a dozen domains that were even remotely interesting to me, and most of those that were the huckster didn't even own them; they were just trying to catch a middle on using my money to get a dropped domain.

2) Quality research. As I have said innumerable times in this thread and similar ones, here and elsewhere, if you are sending 100 e-mails per domain, you might as well spend your time playing video poker. The odds of making a living at video poker with a modicum of knowledge and patience are about the same as the odds of making any worthwhile money blasting out your crappy domains, and at least playing video poker you aren't bothering anybody (and you might meet some interesting people in the process!) Serious end user prospects have at least one of the following characteristics:

a) They own multiple domains that are not attached to a brand or product that the company owns and sells, or other trademarked/copyrighted domains. ie. a travel company which owns a few hundred geolocal travel domains, a finance company which owns multiple keyword domains that point to branded properties etc. etc. etc.

b) They spend measurable amounts of money advertising on AdWords, for the phrase that matches your domain. These are serious money prospects by the way, because they are already "renting" that phrase from Google.

c) The only exception to the above two would be the rare "non-domained" startup company, who is operating off of social networks and has not put up a serious website yet. There are many such opportunities out there; actually just had to censor myself because on second thought, not sure this is the place to post a list

Finally, serious end user prospects' domains are not hidden via whois privacy, MarkMonitor or other means, and the contact person listed in the whois can be found via LinkedIn or other professional networking sites. If a company is going out of its way to restrict contact, chances are you are pissing into the wind trying to get an e-mail through to them.

Bottom line on research, if you come up with more than 30 prospects for your domain, you probably need to trim your list; if you come up with more than 50, you definitely need to. If you come up with more than 100, you don't know what you're doing and will never succeed, because you are shooting yourself in the foot right out the gate.

3) Realistic pricing. Seriously, nothing you hand regged last week is worth more than a couple of hundred dollars. The odd lotto winner level sale, say $500-$1,000, can be seen, but these are the exception, not the rule. Nothing you won at a SEDO auction for $200 yesterday, is worth $2,000 today. If it were worth $2,000 on the end user market, an investor smarter and better-funded than you would have bid it up to $1,000 or more. Don't be an idiot. You could make a fairly easy $100-$200 on a hand reg with proper research done, which I feel very very confident in saying is more money on a single domain sale than 95% of the registered users of this forum have ever made on a single domain -- but if you price it at $5,000 ONO, you're just going to chase off people who might have otherwise been buyers, because they think you'll never come down to earth.

4) Actual negotiation and sales skills. If you don't know anything about e-mail and phone marketing, or about general sales and negotiation, you will get all the way down to the line on a domain, then get slaughtered by some lawyer who negotiates for a living. The biggest issue there, the biggest rule of sales that I think domainers either ignore or do not understand, is that treating your sales prospects like idiots is suicide. You think they can't Google the domain and see it was just registered for reg fee (with a coupon!) or that you just purchased that "$5,000 domain" for $250 at AfterNIC? Alternately, you think the guy who is in charge of making expenditure decisions for a company that is spending $30,000+ a month on AdWords alone, is just going to take your word that a domain has the potential to save or make them money? You may not be dealing with professional domainers, but chances are you are dealing with professionals -- grant them a bit of respect, and save yourself from looking like an idiot/jackoff/scam artist.

Short version: good domains, good research, realistic pricing, sales skills. Make full time living in underwear, be hero to wife and kids and envy of friends etc. Or just free associate until you come up with however many catchy-sounding domains you can afford with your current crop of GoDaddy coupons, and spam the shit out of a bunch of marginally relevant individuals, make some or even most of your money back, publish an ebook about the experience on ClickBank, collect medium-sized paycheck due to idiots buying your ebook, buy a used Cadillac, be broke as ever and have to start all over again. It's a tough decision, to be sure. But I recommend the first course.


Frank

 

[Tippy]

Well, you can try searching for other Domains that use a combination of your Domain plus another word, so if you owned Games.com you could contact the owners of VideoGames.com, just watchout for TM'ed names.

or

Contact the owners of lesser ext., where you own the .com and they own the .net etc...

 

[Federer]

Dropcatching/hand-registering previously registered domain names (.com/.net etc.) that relat to products or services, and then reaching out to 20-40 select companies that could potentially benefit from owning the domain, is a profitable model that I have been using on the side for 7+ years.

If you are targeting the right domain names, 1 domain in 5 (at worst) will sell. Average sales range: $100-$300. I do some marketing on most days and it only takes 15-20mins to market a domain to the key prospects. You can earn $150, spending just 1.5 hours/day doing some easy MKTG. Or $300/3 hrs a day. Many members here do not seem to have the patience/drive to keep up an effective MKGT routine. Just try it for 3 straight days, but you need to be grabbing the right kind of domains.

Do the math. Working part-time, with some basic negotiation skills, you can earn between $6,000 and $7,000 sending effective emails to the right buyers. Again, we are not talking about mid to top-tier domain names - always best to wait for end user inquiries on these. But looking for regular proactive sales, if you know what you are doing, there is plenty of opportunities in this space to earn a decent income, working less than half the hours of regular 9-5 workers, and earning a better wage in most cases.

 

[SpareDomains]

Ok. I would like a straight up answer from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Should you reach out to end-users or not? Simple enough question.

I have had so many people tell me that domains don't sell themselves anymore and you MUST go out and find potential end-users.

On the other hand I am hearing more and more of people saying NOT to reach out to end-users because it's SPAM.. I personally feel that if the person your emailing could legitimately benefit from your name then it's not really spam.

I've been selling domains for about 11 years now and 99.9% to end users. Most in the 1-10k range with a few below and a few above that range. Quality domains that make business sense helps keep a natural flow of inquiries on my desk every week. I have listed at Sedo, DomainNameSales, Afternic etc... over the years as well as extra eyeballs never hurt although most deals are done direct as I redirect sales links to my own site which has built me a 11 year old end user database with some repeat end user buyers in it.

When a buyer comes to you first the decision has already been made they want the domain all that remains is negotiations to see if the numbers align to make it happen so a Hot lead with more ROI and a higher success rate.

When you email it shows you are looking to sell and brings it down to door to door sales level as your hitting Cold leads which results in less ROI and a lower close rate. Not only do price negotiations have to take place but you also have to convince them why they need your domain as they didn't get off their couch to come and look for it so even if your hitting related industry leads most have no understanding of the internet, domains, hosting etc... as they just pay someone to handle it.

Can contacting end users work=sure the problem is that so many people spam shit you'll be lucky if it ends up in their inbox, then ya gotta explain why they need the domain, then your price has to be cheap cause your soliciting them, etc...

I prefer the combo of buying quality domains and using the distribution channels that have been created to get the eyeballs on your inventory, DomainNameSales/DomainTools, GoDaddy/Afternic, your own site, etc... as ROI and close rate are both definitely higher when they knock on your door first. I highly doubt I could have sold some of my $8 acquisitions for $6500, $7500 etc... by emailing cold leads, those big returns happened from end users that understood the internet and knocked on my door first as basically 99.9% of the domains I own were all $8 expired pick ups that still clear 1-10k based on quality of the domain/distribution channels and patience. If a domainer owns hundreds of domains and is using distribution channels and never gets an end user knock on their door first the question should be do I own shit instead of should I email end users as domain quality and distribution channels that exist are the biggest factors to natural success.

http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

 

[maxtorz]

so whats your pitch

LOL

This is what I used today:
"Hello,
Would you be interested in acquiring D*e*n*t*a*l*I*m*p*l*a*n*t*s*L*o*s*A*n*g*e*l*e*s*.net ?
The price for this domain is $395.
Please let me know if you would be interested in this opportunity as I am reaching out to a few other dental offices in your area.
Cheers! "

By the way the domain is now pending sale.......
AGAIN is not about the pitch...it's about the domain, your approach and hustle!
Is this .net name worth $395? I think so since dental implants are not cheap in L.A.
Reg fee name for me

 

[slimjim270]

I only got one response today. This came in the form of a phone call from a possible end user which really caught me off guard (although it shouldn't, I include my phone # with every email).

The first thing he wanted to know was what I could tell him about the name..I froze for a moment and then blurted out where the name was reg'd, expiration date...At that point I was unsure what more I could say about the name, so I started to explain why I was looking to sell. Basically just saying I didn't have the time to develop, would like to find a person who could better utilize the name..blah, blah...I was SO nervous by this point!

He then asked HOW I found him! I mumbled off something about doing a Google search for dog food companies (my name is a 3 word organic food domain). I thought for a brief second to explain to him about my whois search, then thought I'd better not...is it better to not mention a whois search to endusers?

The call then basically ended with my price quote, mentioning that my research of DNSaleprice.com confirms that I am well under market value (which I am). He then said he would have to run this by the IT dept and board of directors and that he would either call back or email me....That was earlier this morning and I have heard nothing back as of yet..keeping my fingers crossed though.

In my past life I spent my days battling with medical insurance companies on the phone...that was a breeze compared to trying to pitch a sale over the phone!! I hope my slight nervousness didn't blow the deal.

Hi All,

This thread is terrific!

I am now at post 467 of 3,100+ posts and continue to find great nuggets of insight.

I have a read a couple of posts about receiving calls and the calls ending with the potential buyer saying "I will give you a call back or email you". [no timeframe or sense of urgency set]

Suggestion - always be the first to suggest the next action and proactively SET the next call, don't be in a position of waiting for one or hoping for one with the sinking feeling you somehow dropped the ball. For example, don't let the call end in a pause... with them tossing out "I will email if interested" and you saying simply "okay" and the call ends. Click. (bad, bad, bad, bad, bad)... Instead, 2/3 of the way through the call after they complete an answer to a question YOU asked, mention "I hate to mention this, but I am stepping into a meeting, what time is best for you this Friday to talk further?"

If they are interested, they will give you a time & phone number to reach them at. (always end a conversation with them wanting more - with them having an impression that your time is valuable)

Controlling the pace of the call is helpful in negotiations. The above quote is an example of the buyer controlling the entire conversation and the seller attempting to answer all questions, but always on the re-bound and having that sinking feeling of being against the ropes not knowing what to say or what question will be next.

Another suggestion - a call should be an exchange of information, not a yes/no volleyball match with quick answer responses. Your job during a call is to QUALIFY the buyer (need, authority, timeframe, money) and through the conversation you should be finding out their job responsibility or title in the organization (if a company sale), what is their purchasing practice an individual decision or a decision by committee, and try to find out what interest sparked the individual to contact you (or respond to your email). If an email response, find a reason to get them on the phone if the sale is more than $500. Get them to talk about what is important to THEM. Spieling off DNS quotes, industry comparisons during the first call, etc... that's price selling, not value selling.

Ask questions like...

1) Are you considering the name (domain) for a new product line?
2) Are you looking for type in traffic?
3) Are you looking for a short name (domain)? If so, what length is your range?
4) Are you the decision maker? (then sort of chuckle and say) Or are you stuck in the tough situation of a "decision by committee model"?
5) Is this a capital purchase or an operational cost? (most managers have a sign-off limit for operating expenses, but a capital purchase typically requires a Finance dept approval)

Don't be defensive. Make it a conversation.

For Pete's sake, they didn't call you to invite you to their daughter's birthday party... they called with a business interest - one that you can potentially solve. But to do so, you need to ask good/engaging questions. That's the "secret" word... ENGAGING. Gotta put that one in capitals.

FYI - My prior job was negotiating software licensing, so to succeed I had to ask the "hard questions" - and guess what - a serious buyer expects good questions - so don't shy away from them - converse with confidence (in a direct/respectful way).

A novel of a post, but I hope the suggestions are helpful...

Regards,

-Jim

 

[JoshuaPz]

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:
----------
(Please forward this message to Some Organization's management or sales director if you see fit):

Dear Some Organization staff,

I'm (name), a software developer from Boston. I am writing to let you know I currently have the domain name SomeOrg.com available for purchase. 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

(Name)
(Company, Position)
(Website URL)

Tel: XXX.XXX.XXXX (US)
E-mail: [email protected]
----------
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.
* (Name): Your name
* Replace signature info -- (Company, Position), (Website URL), 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 (Name)..." with "I hope this message finds you well. I am (Name)..." 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

Or, you can typein...
allinurl:tactile.com
This will show mytactile.com, yourtactile.com, thistactile.com...

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.

 

[mitok]

@Federer @mitok
When you email, do you give a price or ask for offers? Or does this depends upon the name? For ones you do provide a price, is it usually low $xxx and do you achieve more sales from this model than leaving it to them to offer?

Thanks

The tricky part is getting the most sales and still hauling in a big sale occasionally. Do you quote a price in your outbound emails or do you have a cleaver way of getting a motivated buyer to make an attractive offer?

In most cases I don't quote my asking price in first message as buyers many times surprise me with an offer higher than it would be my asking price.
This could be tricky as some potential end users might not even answer you as they think you will ask $5000. No problem, if you don't make a sale within a 7 days you may contact them all again and quote some low price this time ($50-$150). I have great experience with this tactic.
Maybe it would be good if I quote a price in my first message, but I usually don't do that because of given reasons.

I often send 200+ emails (targeted) and receive no more than 5-10% replies where half is "No thanks" and the other half "How much?" or even straight offer.
In most cases sales is certain.
200+ emails on 80+ potential end users because I send to whois address, web email and directly to owner or C-level management when possible.

I think this is the best way of domaining as it is the most liquid and you don't need more than $10 to start. Even if you start by taking GoDaddy auctions name you dont need more than $15-$30. Everyone could do this.
The only "problem" is that you need to work for your profit. I spend 5-6 hours of effective work for each sale. I am lazy so I don't work everyday, sometimes even for weeks. But if you are hard working you could really earn high $xxxx each month. Lets say that average sale is $200. That would be $6000 per month. With $250 as an average it would be $7500. If you get only 1 $xxxx sale it would be even more. You just need to work everyday Or you can frequently get $xxx if you will work only frequently. The choice is yours.
How to work each day when there are holidays, weekends etc.? No problem if you use "send later" option with your e-mail. You can work each day even 12 hours hours and prepare 2 sales with "send later option". No matter which day it is and if it is a holiday or weekend. That would be 60 potential sales, and if you get only 40/60 you would earn high $xxxx each month.
I usually send emails from Monday-Thursday at 9-11am considering local time of each potential end user. The best Tuesday-Thursday because I like to think potential end users are occupied with unfinished work and week plans on Monday, and are "away" on Friday as they plan their weekend.
You can prepare your email on Sunday 2am with "send later" option so it will be delivered whenever you want. So you can work even 24 hours per day, if you are capable of that, and enough crazy. No limits.

This is a real job and you have to work, but it definitely payoffs.

Or/and you can purchase some valuable domain and wait for the offers. Potentially much higher sale, but you never know when it will come and you will not be liquid.

 

[DanB]

Hi all,

I’ve been reading this thread (although I didn’t read each and every post), but as I see many people have questions, I’ve decided to take a few minutes to share my experience and I hope it will help some of you. I’ve been buying domains and reselling to end-users for a while. Actually, I do this for living, and I can say I’ve been quite successful. I usually by the names on aftermarket and sell them for 10x to 50x the price I paid. Sometimes I hand regg and sell them for at least 10x. I’ve just completed a $x,xxx sale for a domain that I paid $10 last December. Last month, I sold a name for $xx,xxx that I had paid $xxx a few weeks earlier.

Ok, how is it possible? First, I’ve been on the other side, I was an end user, I was in big corporations, so I know how the decision process works, I know how to pitch my sale, and who to talk to. But I’ve been working very hard too, and this is the most important, you have to work hard to sell to end users, since it’s you that are approaching them. It’s much more easier when an end user contacts you first. But this is not the case. So you have to be very professionnal and you need to have some negotiation skills too (don’t worry if you don’t, you can develop it).

So I’m listing below some tips and advices that come to my mind in these few minutes I’m taking to write this. They are not in order of most important or less important, as I said, it’ just some ideas that come to my mind and I put them down quickly. It’s not exhaustive, there are many other tips that I could share, but maybe later. Maybe some of them have already been posted here, but it’s always good to re-read good advice. And of course, I’m always learning, every day, so this is what I think based on my experiences that I’ve had up to date.

- Never use a free email account (gmail, yahoo, etc). Get a nice domain like DomainMedia.com or whatever, and use it as you business email. Be sure the domain you are using for your email resolves to a real website. You can be sure that the end user will check your site based on your email. You don’t need to have a real company and you don’t need to have a lot of pages on your site talking about your business. If you do, it’s better, but make sure to have at least a nice page, with a nice logo (you can buy one for $10 here on the forum), and your email, phone number and address. If you want to look like you’ve been in this business for sometime, buy a domain here that was registered a few years ago. Some endusers are smater than you think, specially those in charge of domain acquisition in big companies, and they will check the Whois for your website. So if you regged the domain last month, don’t pretend you are an established domain selling business.

- By the way, perceived size does matter, especially if you want to sell to big corporations. But even when selling to SMB it is important to present your self as an established business, and not as Joe Blow in his basemement trying to get some quick cash. I’ve been selling to some Fortune 500 companies and I know they will not do business with you if you are not a credible person or company. Get a toll-free number. I like RingCentral.com. You can have a 1800 number, with IVR, for about $120/year (includes fax). It is worth the investment. When someone calls you, they get the option to choose the extension they want to reach. You can give your extension and choose to forward these calls to your cellphone. Plus, when it is a call that has been transfered from your 1800 number, you can choose to get the call or forward to your voicemail, therefore if you are at home with your kid crying in your arms, you just forward to your voicemail and it looks like if you were not at the office. You can call back later « Sorry, I was in a meeting when you called me ». BTW, you get your message by email, which is great. Also, don’t use your home address. A PO Box is not perfect, but it is better. If you can afford, use a virtual office, there are many in in the major cities around the world. Looking big gives you more power to negotiate too.

- Don’t think you will make $xx,xxx sales very easily. If you have a domain that an end user is interested in, and you contact him to offer to buy, the math he will do is the following : Ok, this guy is asking $5X, if I fill a complaint with WIPO it will cost me $X (I have a proof that he has no legitimate interest in the domain, he is offering me to buy it, I have chances to win), so I will go to WIPO. But, if it costs $1,500 to $4,000 to go to WIPO, and the domain is « touchy » (let’s say the end user owns other extensions of the domain for exemple), you can offer it at mid to high $xxx, and he will probably buy it. Important : Stay away from trade-marks. I know some companies that even if you offer them the domain at $100, and it’s a TM, they will take legal action, and you will loose you domain and and waste a lot of energy.

- You should always buy domains at the lowest possible price (big news here?). Unless you are really sure you will sell it (it’s rarely the case), you should not invest what you are not ready to loose. If I buy a domain for $100, and I can’t convince and end user to buy, I will loose $100, and even if I resell it at cost, I will be loosing, because I spent my time for nothing.

- I always put in the subject « Domain.com is for sale ». Short and clear. In 90% of my emails I always include price too. It’s your domain, you know how much it’s worth (if you don’t, choose another business), but the important is to know how much it’s worth from the end user’s point of view. So don’t be afraid to include the asking price. Sometimes they will try to negotiate, that’s ok, and that’s why you should always ask for more than what you really want. If nobody answers, you can resend the email later saying that you have received a few offers and that you are dropping the price – and include the new price. I’ve made many sales after the second email with the lower price.

- Don’t think .com is king. I think I’ve never sold a .com. Simply because I couldn’t buy them at a price that was acceptable for me to take the risk to not resell it or to include an acceptable profit margin. All my sales have been .net, .org, .info and some ccTLDs too. If you can communicate in more than one language, you have a big advantage. The endusers market in France, Germany and Spain is very receptive, and they prefer to deal in their own language.

- How to get paid? In many cases, I ask for a wire transfer, and once I get the funds, I transfer the domain. I send an invoice of course. Paypal is fine for small transactions, but never use it for big transactions, and never offer a big company to pay you this way. First, they will not. They prefer wire transfer or cheque. It is ok to accept a check from a big business. But it may take a few weeks, and it’s normal. If the buyer doesn’t want to pay you before you transfer the name, suggest Escrow if he wants to pay the fees, since it’s he that is asking for another method of payment.

- Never look like if you needed to sell the domain (even if you do). If the buyer is asking too much, wants to lower the price, etc, tell him you are going to sell it to someone else and goodbye. But always be polite and professionnal.


Well, I have things to do, I will stop here now. Good luck everyone!!!

 

[GiftedDomains]

I have sent the offer for xxxxx.com domain to one European company,
they reply: "how much ?"
I answer: $4000Eur,
they reply: "it is expensive for us",
I: "how much you can paid for the domain?"
They CEO reply: My bid 1500 eur
I: Ok, I agree with 1500eur
They: "This has been discussed again and we have decided that this domain is no use for us."

Now has no chance to sell the domain to them?

See, a huge part of this business is based on psychology and negotiation tactics. Often times endusers are totally unexperienced and have no clue about domain names, their possible advantages and their value. And specially such endusers become suspicious if you accept to decrease your asking price by more than 60% instantly ($4000 to $1500 without any negotiation). Specially unexperienced endusers start to think that something could be wrong here or the domains real value could even be a lot less than $1500. Why would a seller do that so fast? etc. , something is wrong here ....

I will tell you something. After the CEO replied with 1500 Euro, instead of saying "i agree", i would have replied differently and would have counter offered an amount somewhere in the $2.500 range. Of course thats no guaranty that the negotiations outcome would have been different in that case, but I am pretty sure the sudden and fast acceptance (as described above) from your side was the mistake here.

Also instead of your "how much you can paid for the domain?" , i would have said: "The price is negotiable and I am ready to discuss a price that suits your budget"

Another important point: always check your english before negotiating with companies. You have many mistakes and it just doesn't look trustworthy. I also make mistakes in forums and chats, etc. since english is not my native language too, but when i write emails to companies I always double check, its simply not professional to write in broken english with lot of grammatical and other mistakes, since many scammers write like that too. You have to act and write like a PRO company, even if you are a 'Solopreneur', sitting in your pyjama at home.
Hope you don't get me wrong, just trying to be honest and help you to improve your negotiation skills and success rate.

 

[ScalableDomains]

Here is my take.

In order for me to get better at this you have to be able to negotiate to the "yes" (ABC). There is a book that was recommended on this forum which is a GREAT read "Never split the difference. Negotiate as you life depended on it" by Chris Voss.

Business owners do not generally know how to pick a domain name and are not sure why a domain name strategy is important. So, when you see "DomainName - whaterver.org" WOW, they really picked a good domain name. That is a potential client.

Reminder: Build the relationship and then make the sale.

Finding end users:
1. Google
2. Zfbot
3. Spyfu
4. Zoominfo
5. News and Radio

Tools:
Boomerang for gmail - Schedule emails at night and send in the morning
Streak for gmail - manage emails and lets you know who's viewed your email. Do a quick reply or phone call
email-format.com - if you cannot figure out the email format
whois.sc

email template:

Hope are doing well. My name is Rafael and my company owns the following domain name(s):


HoustonPersonalChef.com

Price: $$$$ US Buy It Now



We currently decided to sell this domain name and find potential clients that can benefit from this domain name. While doing a search , your company came up.


A domain name strategy is an important part of your overall digital strategy to be ahead of your competition and gain additional customers. Do you agree? Is so, get the domain name before someone else does.


If are you interested, please reply with your best offer. I am sure we can find a price that meets both our needs.

I hope this helps.

 

[jlw]

Thanks You guys a lot ! I have read this thread yesterday and decide to write one email to end user .( int.company just relaesing wearable minicomputers)

They replied!

"Dear Mr. Konecny,
With reference to your e-mail, would it be possible to have a quotation ?

I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Cordially R.T.
Marketing & Sales Manager"

So You are the professional advisors!!!!

So...,and now I sould be first to kick the price off?I will ask for help to set the price in the appraisal forum.

Thank You All for the help again.

rokoroko

Once you have a potential buyer, investigate what it costs them to advertise in their trade publication. For example, it they are a winery, call the Wine Spectator and ask how much a typical winery display ad costs. (e.g., $10,000 for a half-page). Name your price, and compare it to the cost of advertising.

Hi,

Title: Domain XXXX.com on auction!

Hello,
I am XXXX, owner of the web domain: www.XXXX.com
I am currently offering this domain "for sale". Domains are growing in value each year. For your Info take a look at the last sales on the official site http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

Should your organization, have interest in acquiring this domain, please feel free to contact me. Make me a offer!
I believe that this business domain is more useful for your organization than me. So, if you are interested in buying this domain please contact me.


Best regards,
XXXX XXXX
[email protected]
Tel.0042 333 555 66666
Land


PS: I am sorry this letter is without a recipient, but this is an important and rare opportunity for your business and you should pass this onto the person responsible for gaining new business for your organisation

I don't like your letter at all.

First, you write as if you are selling it to a person who is a domain investor like yourself. You need to put yourself in the end-user's perspective. The definition of an end-user (of anything; coins, stamps, comic books, art masterpieces, etc.) is: someone who intends to die owning the name. Why are you suggesting that names are a good investment? If names are so sure to rise, why don't you just hang on to them yourself? If someone intends to die owning something, he does not care what he can sell it for in five years!

Also weird is the bit about it being "more useful to you than to me".
Also unhappy are the hyperactive words like "rare opportunity."

Hire someone to write your copy for you, or hire an editor to proofread your prose. Your letter has errors in word usage, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling that make it seem unprofessional. Also, the writing is weak even when correct. (For example, cut extraneous words like "currently").

1.
Park your page. See whose ads appear.

2.
Google your domain name as a phrase or keyword. If you are selling TopHotrods.com, google "hotrods"; if selling WinesOfChile.com, google "wines of Chile"

3.
Visit the web-site of each of your parked page's advertisers, and of the first few pages of the Google hits, and of the paid advertisers in the sidebar of the Google search results page.

4.
Find the contact e-mail link at each site. Click it. Type the keyword phrase (not the domain name) into the subject field. For example: "Top Hotrods" or "Wines of Chile".

5.
Paste the body of your e-mail from your boilerplate file. This is what I use:

My name is Jordan Lee Wagner, and I am the owner of the internet domain: TopHotrods.com. I am writing to you because I am offering this domain for sale, and wonder if American Street Rod would be interested in acquiring this domain. Please feel free to contact me if you have interest in acquiring this domain, or if this information sparks any questions. Thanks for your attention.

Jordan Lee Wagner
617-953-6787
[email protected]

6.
Make sure to edit the "American Street Rods" to change it to the current prospect's business name.

7.
Use your e-mail client's special SEND DROP-DOWN button so you can select your return address. Think about which one you want the prospect to see.

I might use NewtonResidential.com, WebJew.org, or NRHQ.com, etc. etc., depending on what kind of business I'm engaged in. (They all forward to my Comcast inbox). You could also initially use the domain being sold as your return address.

8.
You'll have to perform this paste-and-edit e-mail routine between 20 and 50 times. That should get you between one and three positive responses; and also between one and three thanks-but-not-interested responses.

9.
Do research on the three positive respondents to see where they would advertise in print. (If they are publicly traded, get their annual reports; Quicken research them; etc. Can you relate the acquisition of this name to the achievement of their publicly stated major goals?)

In any case, find out how much a couple of big display ads would cost in their industry's most popular magazines (e.g., Wine Spectator). When you quote a price, compare your asking price to the cost of an ad.

10.
Pick ONE prospect to contact first; and start with a big price (e.g., a full page display ad in a major publication costs $25,000). If this seems daunting to the first prospect, try asking half that from the next prospect, but invite the first prospect to make SOME offer, as you DO not intend to die owning it.

---J.

 

[JoshuaPz]

Resulting sales 8/15-8/28 using e-mail pitch on previous page:
http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?p=3013379#post3013379

Please PM me if you'd like a boudlerized copy of the transaction dialog for any of the sales listed there. Again, I'm no domain sales expert, and I know these are just small sales compared to what many NPers have notched, but I'd like to do what I can to help.

Here I'll add a few pieces of wisdom I learned the hard way:
* DO NOT e-mail potential end-users on nights or weekends (in their respectve time zones). Enterprises seem to regard this practice as unprofessional, freelanch-ish, and/or desperate and toss your e-mail in the paper shredder. My response rate maxes out when I e-mail US-based end-users between 9:30am and 11:30am EST, and they'll often respond within an hour or two.
* If you're thinking of selling to end-users it behooves you far more to acquire domains that pertain to a money-rich industry (venture capital, insurance, etc.) than names that are registered in lots of extensions + have aged.
* To an individual end-user, act like you have no need whatsoever to sell the domain name in question; you've got plenty of other prospects lined up if they're unwilling to take your bid.
* End-users always seem to browse to the domain name you're selling to see what's there. Make sure the domain is at least parked. Surprisingly, most end-users also check out the domain's whois entry, so make sure the e-mail addy you're contacting them from matches the one in the whois entry, else your response rate will drop to almost zero.

 

[Federer]

There is no need to find the decision maker when marketing your domains. In the majority of cases, if your name is attractive to the company, the initial email will get forwarded to the key destination inbox. This typically happens on most days I do some outbound marketing - and I have been doing this longer than 98% of members here.

To save a HUGE amount of time when marketing, include "email" in the search terms at Google.
For ex. if you are looking to sell InvestmentFirm.co.uk, at Google you would put the following terms:

"investment firm" email .co.uk

Many email addresses will be visible in the search results themselves - saving you precious time as you will not even need to enter many of the websites and locate an email address.