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

 

[h3rm4w4n]

Jm3

I have JM3.com
many company use it in their domains.
I send them all short mail. But no one reply it.

Someone in a forum ever offer me five triple premium LLLL.com and 100 USD but I reject it.

Any suggestion ?

 

[doubleboyle]

Thanks for posting that letter Josh. I like it a lot. I am going to modify it to provide an asking price, but I think it looks very effective.

 

[panterrasbox]

Southwest Airlines

I have not visited this thread for a while, but it is one dear to my heart. Here is a little story that is sort of fun...

Several months ago when SWA was fined for safety violations, I thought they might be able to take advantage of AirTravelSafety.org for a PR campaign. So I prepared a two paragraph pitch to send to them, then I called on the phone and asked for the office of the president - Colleen. Since Southwest Airlines does their initial incoming communications by FAX, I Faxed it on over. Within two days I had a personal email reply from one of the upper marketing or PR managers. It was a friendly declination letter stating that SWA was working hard to use their own websites/URLs for their cause. I can understand that, but still think that using a generic URL could help them appear more objective.

Anyway, I was happy to have gotten a response so quickly so that I could move on.

 

[JoshuaPz]

doubleboyle - thanks for the feedback. I actually prefer not to include a price tag in my initial e-mail. Let's say I caught an expired domain for $7.50 using a private drop-catcher -- or even $15 via GoDaddy backorder -- and offer it to all potential end-users at once with a $500 asking price. In reality only one of the end-users is interested, and he can only afford to pay $100; this happens frequently when I sell expired & caught domains. He will either respond to message saying "I'm not interested but thanks anyway" or not reply at all -- most likely the latter -- and you have no clue you could have actually gotten a 10x return on your investment, enough cash to backorder higher-quality domains like FrenchMassage.com or ItalianSubs.com at SnapNames that you could potentially sell for $1000. But if you don't set out a price tag and he responds "what's your price?" and you reply $500 and he says no thanks, you still know he was willing to pay SOMETHING for it. One week later, you could e-mail him saying you've contacted all candidates for the domain and since he is the only one who's responded with interest, you'll sell it to him at a heavily discounted price of $150 and are open to reasonable counteroffers. Negotiations proceed from there.

 

[doubleboyle]

Josh thanks for the insight into your strategy. I can see that not including a price is an information gathering tool. I am going to send out a round of emails soon, so I will post in the thread how it goes.

Rep points added :gl:

 

[EbookLover]

Contacting WebMasters or IT Departments usually only gets a Techno-Geek who thinks that "all domains are only ever Worth Reg-fee" and they never have the authority to make the purchase anyway.

So true. :bingo:

 

[JoshuaPz]

Using the form letter on the previous page, I've managed to notch 7 end-user sales in the last week and a half totaling about $3000. I'll post specifics once these transactions are finalized.

I've also come up with a few tweaks to the strategy I presented in my original post -- also to be disclosed shortly.

Have you guys tried the letter? Had any successes with it?

 

[DNK.it]

Using the form letter on the previous page, I've managed to notch 7 end-user sales in the last week and a half totaling about $3000. I'll post specifics once these transactions are finalized.

I've also come up with a few tweaks to the strategy I presented in my original post -- also to be disclosed shortly.

Have you guys tried the letter? Had any successes with it?

This is a great result! congratz
Need to try your letter in these days

 

[End User King]

So true. :bingo:

Not always true/. I actually seek out these guys more now
and have had great results. Remember the IT staff gets paid
mostly by the job, hence the more domains they have to
develop/forward, etc, the better their bottom line is.

I sold 18 Bed and breakfast domains in one day to the same
end user all using abbreviations + bed and breakfast. The
end user in this case was the IT guy, who thankfully forwarded
my email to the head honcho.

Cheers,
Calvin

 

[Nattydomain]

QUESTION:...

I have a .com domain that is a generic sounding name. it is also the same name for a company in Australia that is using the .au.com version of the domain.

If I offer this domain to them am I looking at losing it since they are using it as their compnay name? Not sure if they have a US trademark on it or any trademark for that matter. How do I approach?

Thanx to anyone who answers

 

[End User King]

QUESTION:...

I have a .com domain that is a generic sounding name. it is also the same name for a company in Australia that is using the .au.com version of the domain.

If I offer this domain to them am I looking at losing it since they are using it as their compnay name? Not sure if they have a US trademark on it or any trademark for that matter. How do I approach?

Thanx to anyone who answers

Assuming it's a new reg domain you dont have much to lose.
The worst thing that may happen is they will ask for the domain.
I've had this happen before and still ended up with their business.
I simply explain that I regularly come across relevant domains
targeted to their industry and that my services could be beneficial
to their bottom line.

 

[nicedomains]

Not always true/. I actually seek out these guys more now
and have had great results. Remember the IT staff gets paid
mostly by the job, hence the more domains they have to
develop/forward, etc, the better their bottom line is.

Never thought of this, thanks for your insight
:bingo:

 

[Nattydomain]

Assuming it's a new reg domain you dont have much to lose.
The worst thing that may happen is they will ask for the domain.
I've had this happen before and still ended up with their business.
I simply explain that I regularly come across relevant domains
targeted to their industry and that my services could be beneficial
to their bottom line.

Thanx just sent them an email...will see...


Also another question regarding locating end users...

I have many domains that fit business but when I do a search for a medical related domain a lot of the domains are the name of the doctor OR the name of their acutal business. How do you convence someone to do a 360 and swith their domain name if its of their own name or business name they already spent money on promoting?

 

[JoshuaPz]

Nattydomain, you're probably not going to have much luck selling a domain name representing an industry sector to an individual practitioner for anywhere near what it's worth. These doctors will generally view the domain as a losing bargain since the first thought entering their heads will be "ugh, I'd have to transfer all my website files and redirect all my clients to my new website." These folks (especially baby-boomers) don't understand the inherent value attached to a domain name and couldn't distinguish AdWords from AdSlurs if their lives depended on it.

Sell generic keyword domain names to the biggest players in the industry they represent. Use Google's AdWords tool to gather the keywords' search volume and a list of frequently searched synonyms. Google-search on all those synonyms and note the websites that appear on the first couple of pages. Use compete.com and your own examination of those sites to determine the serious firms in that industry. Write each of them a hand-tailored e-mail pitch (see my example earlier in this thread) and allow them 3-5 days to respond. Note the unintrusive phrasing of my template: I pose the domain name as available "for use with" the client's existing site, not "a more memorable alternative to" or, worse, "a replacement for" what's already there. Respect each player's intelligence and elite position in the industry; don't dis their existing domain name, and don't even try to craft an explanation as to why your new one is superior in your initial e-mail. Save that energy for your reply to their "what is your price and why?" response.

A couple of days ago I sold WarrantyAdministration.com to Warranty Processing, Inc., the industry leader in warranty consulting, for $800. The whole process from pitch to payment entailed only 6 e-mails combined from both sides. I would be happy to send you a private copy of that transaction thread (with names & figures censored out of course) if you feel it would help you. I'm not an especially fantastic domain trader, but I think that exchange transcript relates to your specific question.

 

[End User King]

Thanx just sent them an email...will see...


Also another question regarding locating end users...

I have many domains that fit business but when I do a search for a medical related domain a lot of the domains are the name of the doctor OR the name of their acutal business. How do you convence someone to do a 360 and swith their domain name if its of their own name or business name they already spent money on promoting?

You really do not need to convince them to switch. Rather focus on
informing them the benefits of an alternate domain. If your domain is
shorter and easier to remember and fits along with their business agenda
you wont have to do much convincing. Something I did a while back
is I sold a domain to a realtor was at the end of my letter I typed the
endusers name and underneath I placed the name of my domain under
theirs. It was a little trick that netted me $1850.

 

[ripley]

Question for Joshua: Are you actually only contacting one end user per domain and waiting on them to answer? Because your email suggests you are. I don't mean that as a criticism, and I'd probably take the same tack, so I'm curious. I can see why you'd say that (gives them an incentive to answer), but seems to me that actually only offering it to one person at a time, given the nature of response rates, wouldn't be optimal for actually selling it.

ripley.

 

[Nattydomain]

Well, im on a mission...

So far I have 5 domains (all diffrent niches) that im sending out to an avg of about 20 companies....So far I have 3 responses...all a no thank you LOL, but I see it as at least I know they took the time to look over the domain AND one turndown was from a MAJOR MAJOR company...feels good to be turned down by a Billion dollar company...sort of.

My plan is to send out at least 2 types of domains a day to companies that I feel could benfit from the domain.....if they ask for an offer I will be low just to get in an see what happens. Dont want to be greedy and lose a sale. My domains are keyword specific but not the 1 word obvious generic so gotta price low (few $XXX to low $x.xxx) just to test....its actually fun to do with the hopes my Treo phone vibrates with an email reply from the end user....Damn its like xmas and you open up that box not knowing what is inside

 

[End User King]

Well, im on a mission...

So far I have 5 domains (all diffrent niches) that im sending out to an avg of about 20 companies....So far I have 3 responses...all a no thank you LOL, but I see it as at least I know they took the time to look over the domain AND one turndown was from a MAJOR MAJOR company...feels good to be turned down by a Billion dollar company...sort of.

My plan is to send out at least 2 types of domains a day to companies that I feel could benfit from the domain.....if they ask for an offer I will be low just to get in an see what happens. Dont want to be greedy and lose a sale. My domains are keyword specific but not the 1 word obvious generic so gotta price low (few $XXX to low $x.xxx) just to test....its actually fun to do with the hopes my Treo phone vibrates with an email reply from the end user....Damn its like xmas and you open up that box not knowing what is inside

Thats the right attitude.

 

[jayph]

You really do not need to convince them to switch. Rather focus on
informing them the benefits of an alternate domain. If your domain is
shorter and easier to remember and fits along with their business agenda
you wont have to do much convincing. Something I did a while back
is I sold a domain to a realtor was at the end of my letter I typed the
endusers name and underneath I placed the name of my domain under
theirs. It was a little trick that netted me $1850.

that was a neat trick this thread is very informative. keep it up guys! watching this thread from now on :hehe:

 

[Nattydomain]

Ok its getting better!!!

2 diffrent domain names sent out yesterday & today

One sent me a cc that he is sending the email to the owner of the company. That tells me its goin straight into the main man with the money

The other one emailed me today after about 20 min of sending the email asking for a ballpark figure and he was interested. Sent him the info with a ballpark price so crossing fingers....At least its positive so far!

Will update more as they come in

 

[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.

 

[networkmsia]

Thanks for sharing Joshua. Rep added.

 

[jayph]

rep added to joshuapz. thanks for the info

@nattydomain - goodluck $_$

 

[advaita]

Thanks for that Joshua rep. added - which template are you using ? The one posted by EndUserSales ?

 

[namegame]

For you who have been successful in contacting and selling to end users, I would appreciate knowing whether it makes any difference in offering only one name or several equal quality pertinent names. I am not sure about having to go back to the same people with single names 2, 3, 6 or 10 times. TIA.