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

 

[Jake]

Im on mobile, so I cant post a link, but Im pretty sure its on page 14 or 15

 

[d0main]

Page 14 if anyone wants it - http://www.namepros.com/2987571-post349.html

Thanks Jake! +rep :D

 

[ripley]

Still knocking on doors -- sent out about 200 emails for a domain, got about 8 responses saying "no thanks," one price inquiry as yet unanswered.

ripley.

 

[kjwalton]

FYI,

I've been following this thread for some time and have tried various emails to endusers. The most effective, by far, is a slightly modified and truncated version of Joshua's email.

Yesterday afternoon I emailed approx. 25 attorney endusers and have already received 4 responses asking for the price of the domain. I am working on my 3rd domain sale this month.

 

[namegame]

FYI,

I've been following this thread for some time and have tried various emails to endusers. The most effective, by far, is a slightly modified and truncated version of Joshua's email.

Yesterday afternoon I emailed approx. 25 attorney endusers and have already received 4 responses asking for the price of the domain. I am working on my 3rd domain sale this month.

Care to share? If so, thanks.

 

[d0main]

Subject line

BTW What do you guys write in the subject line? I find that writing the domain name get OK returns, but not the best. Which would you use?

• www.example.com
• www.example.com available!
• Acquire www.example.com.
• Domain for sale (www.example.com).

Any more suggestions?

 

[conda]

For Mr. xxxx - I have proposal for you

 

[nicedomains]

BTW What do you guys write in the subject line? I find that writing the domain name get OK returns, but not the best. Which would you use?

• www.example.com
• www.example.com available!
• Acquire www.example.com.
• Domain for sale (www.example.com).

Any more suggestions?

At times I put their domain in the title. Especially when their domain is really bad. When they read their domain in the title of the email and the subject of the email is a nice alternative it may catch their attention.

 

[JoshuaPz]

For the subject line, I usually write something along the lines of:
* "For [sales director OR office manager OR product manager first name] - [domain of current site] website question" (ideal, when individual contact information is available)
* "For board of directors - [domain of current site] website question" (for non-profit organizations, when specific individual info not available)
* "Please forward to owner - [domain of current site] website question" (for restaurants, clubs, bars, and small stores, when individual info not available)
* Plain "[domain of current site] website question" (for small companies, when individual info not available)
* "[domain of current site] website suggestion" (when filling out a feedback for that specifically "welcomes comment or suggestions")
* "Domain name of potential interest to [company name]" (for large corporations)

I have NOT had any luck with:
* "For sales - [domain name of current site] website question"
...so I would advise against using it.

Based on sheer cognition, I would ABSOLUTELY advise against subject lines containing these:
* "Domain name for sale!"
* Anything with exclamation points or all-caps. Profoundly unprofessional.
* "Important and confidental", "Urgent matter for your attention", and the like. I receive about 25 e-mails with subject lines like these on my AOL account daily, and they all drop straight into my spam folder.

I'm not sure whether these subject lines are optimal, but I have made about $2K in closed + $1K in pending sales over the past 2 weeks, mostly using my e-mail pitch:
http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?p=3043972#post3043972
My follow-up for SpritOfLiberty.com consisted of 3-minute phone call at the recipient's request, but my original pitch was through e-mail.

I've experienced the most luck with niche hardware / consumer goods shops, film directors, and graphic designers; the least luck with doctors, real estate agencies, VC groups, consulting firms, and large corporations (unfortunately the folks with deepest pockets).

Please let me know if there's any way I can help. Some of you folks have sent me PM asking me to broker deals, but I must duly pass since I spend most of my time cultivating my startup company, and I haven't yet learned how to slow the earth's rotation. One day...

 

[Nattydomain]

For the subject matter in my cases I use the following...

For (fill in name OR if no name marketing Staff) Domain Name Question

The body of the letter I use the name if I have it or marketing staff.....so far its working a bit.. this weekend though im trying to gear up to send emails on weekly..

Sunday night late so they get it in their email box monday night....and then stop Thursday. None on Friday since its to close to "party time"

 

[ripley]

Update:

After two weeks of concerted effort to sell about four niche domains to endusers, today I've finally made some progress on two of them. I've had serious interest expressed in one and we're discussing price but nothing final at this point, and one that's agreed to buy but the actual transaction and transfer are pending.

Will keep you updated as things progress, along with some more details about how I went about it. I think it can only help all of us in our domain sales to share tips and tricks.

Thanks to Joshua for getting the ball rolling on this thread again.

ripley.

 

[aladinonl]

What a great thread! Thanx all contributors here. This is the thread that I enjoy every bit of it.

I have couple of qns and glad to hear from u guys.

1/ Joshua, when u send emails from ur college email, do u say that u r college student? coz I'm in college too and I concern being a college kid may sound unprofessional.

2/ And thanx Joshua for ur reply time tracking effort. However, to y'all who r living outside US, do u send emails at time so that receivers in US get 'em at the office time or do u send at time when it's office time in ur location? The reason I'm asking this is because I'm at Singapore/Vietnam and local time is ~12h different from at the States; If the others know I'm from here sending emails at night, what do they think?

3/ Also regarding Joshua's method of dealing with multiple interested parties, how long is ur time band to wait for leverage offers? 2 days?

4/ Qn for all, have u ever received any sudden calls from potentials?
Qn for folks outside US, when u receive or make phone calls to potentials in US, do u request specific time range for convesation? coz in my case, its night here when daytime in US. I usually stay up until 3-4am but its bad if there is any accident.

Keep posting ur results and email templates. Thanx.

Hi, its me again to continue my question spree

5/ Does anyone of u NOT use escrow service? If not then how u arrange the deal? Are they easily willingly pay first?

6/ Sincerely I wanna ask y'all, especially US folks, what do u think about a Vietnamese approaching to sell?
Coz as u know Vietnam had history with US. Most of u think, i guess, Vietnam is a bad-egg communist country with aggressive and fishy people. Some maybe go extreme as we are still tribal and live in the forest as well.

I still feel I'm luckier than some good Chinese and Russian but i believe there
is prejudice. If so, what can I do to mitigate it? (I don't care mitigating for the whole country, for myself only ) How to come across trustworthy, especially I'm a student?

 

[aladinonl]

7/ Someone already mentioned but seems no one really answer, I wanna ask this qn again:
If u have a range of domains suitable for their business, do u offer one-by-one or a bunch? coz if u do 1-by-1, u have to send mail-after-mail, but if u do bunch, would it decrease value of the domains?

 

[MarkP]

alad,
You've ask a bunch of questions - I'm not going to try and answer all of them, but here are a few thoughts...

If you communicate as a business professional, use US based registrars and escrow services, then I don't think it matters where you are located.

If you have several domains that are on target for a specific business, I would bundle them in to one email, but offer individual prices. If they want them all, I would be open to negotiating a lower price for the bunch.

Good Success,
Mark

 

[ripley]

So far we've discussed baiting the hook; now let's discuss reeling them in.

I'm specifically interested in hearing how folks respond to the "how much do you want for it?" email, which is typically the next correspondence. A price plus some reasons to buy, presumably.

Reason I ask is because I've got an enduser who's now balking at the high-$XXX price I quoted (which is on the low side for the name for an enduser - I could reasonably expect about $1500 from an enduser I think), but instead of just ignoring the email like most do, he's answered back. His email said "It seems a bit expensive for a name that's not established" and asked me to send "my best offer." So clearly he's interested.

I'm inexperienced when it comes to negotiating prices in these situations, so casting a net for opinions. Clearly, he doesn't quite understand that there's value inherent just in the name even though it doesn't come as an established business. But I'm not sure how to make him see it other than to say that, which probably won't be enough since my initial email mentioned the power inherent in short, marketable domains like the one I have.

As for "sending my best offer," I'm not going to bargain with myself. I probably should just tell him I'm open to reasonable offers, point out that I've already dropped the name from its list price, and go from there.

So how do y'all deal with the next steps? Any thoughts?

take care,
ripley.

 

[Nattydomain]

So far we've discussed baiting the hook; now let's discuss reeling them in.

I'm specifically interested in hearing how folks respond to the "how much do you want for it?" email, which is typically the next correspondence. A price plus some reasons to buy, presumably.

Reason I ask is because I've got an enduser who's now balking at the high-$XXX price I quoted (which is on the low side for the name for an enduser - I could reasonably expect about $1500 from an enduser I think), but instead of just ignoring the email like most do, he's answered back. His email said "It seems a bit expensive for a name that's not established" and asked me to send "my best offer." So clearly he's interested.

I'm inexperienced when it comes to negotiating prices in these situations, so casting a net for opinions. Clearly, he doesn't quite understand that there's value inherent just in the name even though it doesn't come as an established business. But I'm not sure how to make him see it other than to say that, which probably won't be enough since my initial email mentioned the power inherent in short, marketable domains like the one I have.

As for "sending my best offer," I'm not going to bargain with myself. I probably should just tell him I'm open to reasonable offers, point out that I've already dropped the name from its list price, and go from there.

So how do y'all deal with the next steps? Any thoughts?

take care,
ripley.

I understand your point. I have taking a new look at this (me doing the offering rather then the end user finding me) and im finding myself letting domains go CHEAP in order to bring in cash.

When I first did this about 2 weeks ago, when I got responses for "how much" I came back with offers in the low $x,xxx on the basis that this company had CASH and now is interested. Well both times I did that I got no reply back. Then when the chance came again to the "how much" I lowered it down to mid $XXX and settled at low $XXX.

The way I look at it is this. These domains I got anywhere from reg fee to $15 TOPS. All this time that im pitching the email to them they NEVER got an offer from anyone. They are not coming to me so they clearly have not searched out this name prior. So for them to be out of the blue asked if they want to buy a domain name they are not searching for then if I can take in a few hundred on a domain that again just sits and comes up for renew.....Im going to take it

My goal right now is $200 a day M-F..yea may sound crazy but if I get rid of domains that dont do shit parked...no offers....no nothing and turn it into $200???!!! Im very ok with that!

So unless they come to YOU first then personally if the domain has not done jack shit you can have it for $200-300 range and lets complete the deal! :bingo:

 

[DNK.it]

I understand your point. I have taking a new look at this (me doing the offering rather then the end user finding me) and im finding myself letting domains go CHEAP in order to bring in cash.

When I first did this about 2 weeks ago, when I got responses for "how much" I came back with offers in the low $x,xxx on the basis that this company had CASH and now is interested. Well both times I did that I got no reply back. Then when the chance came again to the "how much" I lowered it down to mid $XXX and settled at low $XXX.

The way I look at it is this. These domains I got anywhere from reg fee to $15 TOPS. All this time that im pitching the email to them they NEVER got an offer from anyone. They are not coming to me so they clearly have not searched out this name prior. So for them to be out of the blue asked if they want to buy a domain name they are not searching for then if I can take in a few hundred on a domain that again just sits and comes up for renew.....Im going to take it

My goal right now is $200 a day M-F..yea may sound crazy but if I get rid of domains that dont do shit parked...no offers....no nothing and turn it into $200???!!! Im very ok with that!

So unless they come to YOU first then personally if the domain has not done jack shit you can have it for $200-300 range and lets complete the deal! :bingo:

I have to agree with you, 100-500$ for handregged domains is a great profit and it's better than wait for an offer that never come or sold for mid-high xx$ on forums at reseller price imho

Let's discuss another point. How do you conclude the deal? Do you transfer the domain first and than wait for money or always use an escrow service ( like Sedo or Escrow )? Generally, I transfer the domain first but I've found that this isn't always the best move

 

[nicedomains]

Natty - Good points here. I find myself doing the same. $200-$500 sales are the bulk of my end user sales recently and is still a great ROI on the ones I have sold. Seems like companies today are a little more aware of domain names and their values. Many companies know that many of the domains that we are offering to them we paid very little for. Even if they have plenty of money to throw at a name it doesn't mean they will be opening their wallets as soon as we come knocking with "the perfect domain" for their business. In most cases they will hope to pay low $xxx as it is not a huge investment them and carries little risk.

Keep your eyes open for clues that they are willing to pay more for a particular domain. Also, don't be over eager to close a deal. Hold your ground on your asking price for a little while. Look for more potential end users for that domain and if nothing has materialized in a couple weeks email them back letting them know that you still have the domain and it may be available at a lower price than originally quoted.

Let's discuss another point. How do you conclude the deal? Do you transfer the domain first and than wait for money or always use an escrow service ( like Sedo or Escrow )? Generally, I transfer the domain first but I've found that this isn't always the best move

For deals in the $xxx range using paypal, get paid first. Get a phone number from the company you are transferring the domain to and walk them through the transfer/push process. To show good faith it is a good idea to re-direct the domain you are selling to their homepage. It's always easiest to talk to these people on the phone while doing the push. While you have them on the phone, enlighten them of the array of domain name services you provide. If they are setting up an account somewhere receive a push, send them an email with an affiliate link to sign up with. It's always easiest to complete these types of sales over the phone.

 

[JoshuaPz]

I agree with Nattydoman. For goodness sake, why are domainers so greedy? 10x-20x is about as fantastic a return on investment as you'll find in any industry, except maybe winning the lottery.

Very, very few end-users out there are willing to pay more than $500 for their own name (which you backordered for $15), unless they're very wealthy. If you're looking for a quick flip -- which it sounds like you are -- settle for low-mid $XXX. If you make a sale like this once every other day, you could quit your day job and live very comfortably.

Only once you've nailed enough of those such sales in the coffin could you afford to buy the Wallpaper.com's and Revolution.com's, sit on them a few years, and flip them for 4-6 figures each.

I don't use a template for my response to their "what is your price?" e-mail, because my format for that message depends heavily on the company in question. I'll usually gravitate towards a semi-formal appraisal sheet for more tech-oriented firms, but more towards the price plus one highlight (age, heavy past use ~ type-in traffic, high-value similar sales, lots of extensions taken, or how frequently searched on Google) for smaller / less tech-savvy groups. If I have a strong inkling I'm asking too much or that user is one of the final candidates I'm trying to contact, I'll say I'm open to reasonable counteroffers. I cap the e-mail at roughly 4 sentences, max.

As for selling people their names, I recently sold PaulMorse.com for $150 and ArthurFisher.com for $200; in both cases I think I could have gone up to $250-$300 if I negotiated more assertively, but not much higher.

Try to gauge how wealthy the individual or company is based on their website design + upkeep, and let that factor into your asking price.

 

[d0main]

I agree with Nattydoman. For goodness sake, why are domainers so greedy? 10x-20x is about as fantastic a return on investment as you'll find in any industry, except maybe winning the lottery.

I blame this guy

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/510958-please-assist-massive-end-user-deal.html