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

 

[ripley]

You're never going to make money unless you work for it. What I'm trying to say is that $100 is probably what a decent sized company spends on one lunch, its not too much money.

A $300 sale is not that tough at all... even for one man companies as long as they are end users.

Well, kudos to you. That's not been my experience however. Even large companies are being tight-fisted these days. Just yesterday I had a very large charter yacht company balk at a $350 ask for a perfect fit generic. So I'll take my sales where they come, personally.

ripley.

 

[JoshuaPz]

I think the difference between Ripley's situation and your is that Ripley sold a domain to a user whose need for it was ancillary, and so he/she was probably thinking "ok, I'll bite on this one if she offers me an awesome deal for my money." You sold a .biz name to the .com owner; that's a HUGE upgrade on their part considering your domain precisely coincided with with the name of their business, and so they had no problem dishing out $400. I've consistently been been able to sell .com names to the complementary .net owners in the $250-$650 range ($300 is typical for a one-person show) with little or no negotiation.

You're never going to make money unless you work for it. What I'm trying to say is that $100 is probably what a decent sized company spends on one lunch, its not too much money.

A $300 sale is not that tough at all... even for one man companies as long as they are end users.

I sold auctionbandit dot com to the .biz owner - he's an individual doing clickbank sales. I told him 'make me a decent offer' and he offered $400 - I accepted, that simple. So a 100% strike rate - 1 sale for 1 prospect plus i made a decent ROI that enables me to wait for over a week to complete the deal - which included showing him how to setup a godaddy account..

 

[bgmv]

Good work everyone. Im glad to see the sales working out for everybody.

I have been trying to market a few generic.tv but no luck so far.
I got my first call on a generic.cc - i think im going to wait till monday to call back
Tried my hand at a few keyword.net but nothing yet...i changed up my sales email and i think that may have contributed to the lack of responses

 

[mwzd]

Just yesterday I had a very large charter yacht company balk at a $350 ask for a perfect fit generic.

Thats a negotiation tactic. And if they balked, its hardly a perfect fit or its not the right end user.

An average cruise liner charges $1000 per passenger for a week long cruise... a yacht charter would cost 10x if not more. Its not like $350 is too much.

I think the difference between Ripley's situation and your is that Ripley sold a domain to a user whose need for it was ancillary

Any domain that helps an end user increase his business and revenue is hardly ancillary. If you dont value the domain, obviously the end user wont. You think people who sell domains for $x,xxx start at $xxx or $xx,xxx as asking price?

 

[JoshuaPz]

I think the end-user is in a far better position than the domainer to determine whether a given domain is "ancillary" to his/her business

Take the entrepreneurial side of me, for example. I plan on starting a breakthrough comparison shopping site a few months from now, and have already come up with a name for my company. That [name].com is taken, but I'd be willing to dish out a few thousand to lure it in. I checked the "For Sale" section of NP for potential alternative comparison shopping-related domains, and found a couple (very mediocre ones) with $100 price tags. I thought "ok, if the seller's looking for some quick cash and I could manage to snatch these up for $20, they could be worthwhile." But the seller wouldn't negotiate down to even one penny below his original asking price, so I said "forget it."

About your last statement, remember there can be a massive discrepancy between how much a domainer and an end-user values a given name. That's why domainers could flip names for 100x what they paid for them.

Thats a negotiation tactic. And if they balked, its hardly a perfect fit or its not the right end user.

An average cruise liner charges $1000 per passenger for a week long cruise... a yacht charter would cost 10x if not more. Its not like $350 is too much.


Any domain that helps an end user increase his business and revenue is hardly ancillary. If you dont value the domain, obviously the end user wont. You think people who sell domains for $x,xxx start at $xxx or $xx,xxx as asking price?

 

[mwzd]

I think the end-user is in a far better position than the domainer to determine whether a given domain is "ancillary" to his/her business

Yup, true, hence the not right end user?

That's why domainers could flip names for 100x what they paid for them.

So a $800 min?

Basically every sale is good, but when you're putting in efforts, please value your time as well is what i'm saying.

 

[ripley]

Thats a negotiation tactic. And if they balked, its hardly a perfect fit or its not the right end user.

I'm not sure what we're really arguing about here; my original point was that I didn't see any reason to turn your nose up at a $100 sale; maybe that's not worth it to you, but it doesn't mean it's not worth it to someone else (like me ). But OK, I'll go on with this line. I don't think it was a negotiation tactic at all; I named my price, he said "Oh, that's much more than that's worth to me," and was ready to leave it at that; I had to wheedle out of him what, then, he thought it was worth. He wasn't really at all ready to even pick a figure. When he did, I politely declined and we ended the conversation. That's not really a negotiation. If he were purposefully lowballing I'd expect him to come up some more once he realized I wasn't going to just cave. I think he just genuinely did not understand how the domain could benefit his business. It's difficult to combat ignorance like that, no matter how many statistics you put out there, or very salient business points you make. I have found, in my admittedly limited time, that if end users don't already appreciate that there is inherent value in a domain name, it's an uphill battle to convince them otherwise. Not that we shouldn't try. In the same vein, not every business is just going to be ready to fork over even something you consider a small figure, like $300.

Yup, true, hence the not right end user?


So a $800 min?

Basically every sale is good, but when you're putting in efforts, please value your time as well is what i'm saying.

Absolutely true.

Reflecting a bit more on the last few posts, maybe the most valuable thing to take away here is that you can't necessarily judge what someone's interest will be, or what they're willing to pay, by their size or availability of capital. A small timer may be willing to fork out $300 for a domain name, while a large company may not, even though the logic would seem to dictate otherwise (that being, bigger pockets = more money they're willing to throw around)

ripley.

 

[mwzd]

I'm not sure what we're really arguing about here; my original point was that I didn't see any reason to turn your nose up at a $100 sale; maybe that's not worth it to you, but it doesn't mean it's not worth it to someone else (like me )

I was hoping this was more a contructive discussion than an argument. I'm trying to get you to see the value of the domain from a prospects eyes, so you can explain it better to them and get a higher ROI, thats my only aim. I do enough $9 sales on the forums to not turn my nose up at any sale. :D

I think he just genuinely did not understand how the domain could benefit his business.

And thats where a majority of your 'work' comes in, to show it to them and close the deal at a higher value than anyone is willing to pay to start with.

I'll give you an example pitch i put across recently -

xyzcampus.com domain is the definitive domain for the xyz education industry. It is a generic for the industry and could help your company garner majority mindshare with students aspiring to follow this field.

There are 100,000 students in this stream annually spending an average of $10k/yr - making it a $1,000,000,000 industry - every year.

The domain is available for sale, it is being offered to your company as it a leader in this field. If your organisation is interested in acquiring this name, please revert within the week as we would be approaching other organisations if we don't hear back from you.

Unsaid but understood through oblique reference is the fact that any domain that can help you garner even 0.1% of a $1,000,000,000 annual spend in a niche in which you operate in is worth a lot to you and your competitors

 

[ripley]

I was hoping this was more a contructive discussion than an argument. I'm trying to get you to see the value of the domain from a prospects eyes, so you can explain it better to them and get a higher ROI, thats my only aim.

This presumes that I don't. I think I have as good an idea as anyone.

In the spirit of learning, I appreciate your example, but it's nothing I didn't also make a similar point about. Which tends to support my basic assertion from earlier. Despite all the statistics, despite all the very good business reasons for owning any certain good name, in the end it didn't matter. He already had set ideas about what it was worth, and nothing I said changed his mind. I suspect more end users than not fit into this category, who prefer to remain ignorant of the true value of their online real estate. But, of course, that shouldn't be a reason not to try to change their minds. :bingo:

ripley.

 

[MarkP]

Hi all,
For those that might be interested, I'm writing a series on Building A Professional Domain Sales Website. Follow the link for info and check out GeoBroker.com to see the work in progress.

Mark

 

[xrvel]

I've tried to send an e-mail with this format to one customer.

Dear Mr. {NAME},

I am {MYNAME}, owner of the domain: {DOMAIN}.com
I am currently offering this domain "for sale".
Should your company, have interest in acquiring this domain, please
feel free to contact me by e-mail ({MYEMAIL}).

Yours sincerely,

{MYNAME}.

But don't get any reply. Does this e-mail not "interesting" enough to be replied?

Any help will be appreciated

 

[JoshuaPz]

You need to introduce yourself briefly. State your occupation so your end-user doesn't think you're a shady Internet troll. If you're part of a larger organization, place your title and that org's name in your signature.

You need to express urgency. Give the user a deadline (3-5 business days from today) to provide an initial response by. State clearly you have other candidates lined up for the domain and are actively working to sell it. Mention you're willing to offer the end-user a price "below market value"; it sounds cheesy, but my response rate is higher when I use this expression than when I don't.

Finally, don't expect your initial response rate to top 15%, even if your domain is highly relevant to the end-users in question. Don't be disappointed if you send out ten e-mails and receive zero responses; conversely, don't register/catch a domain with the intention of flipping it in the first place unless your potential end-user prospects are sufficiently promising and numerous.

Use my sample e-mail on page 14, or one of the myriad of other pitches in this thread:
http://www.namepros.com/marketing-techniques/1757-domain-sales-letter-examples.html

Good luck.

I've tried to send an e-mail with this format to one customer.

Dear Mr. {NAME},

I am {MYNAME}, owner of the domain: {DOMAIN}.com
I am currently offering this domain "for sale".
Should your company, have interest in acquiring this domain, please
feel free to contact me by e-mail ({MYEMAIL}).

Yours sincerely,

{MYNAME}.

But don't get any reply. Does this e-mail not "interesting" enough to be replied?

Any help will be appreciated

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

I would suggest being a bit more upbeat and give them a reason to make a decision rather than to just delete it.

Here's one that I recently pitched regarding a landscaping related domain...

Hello,

Since you are in the X business I thought you might like to know that we are actively seeking a buyer for xkeyword.com.

You may want to point type in traffic to your existing site in order capture visitors who type in xkeyword.com into their browser's address bar.

I consider people who do this to be "pre-qualified leads" who are actively looking for X.

This is a very short term, first come first served opportunity so please contact me right away if you have any interest.

Buy it now price is $2000.

My name and phone number

 

[xrvel]

You need to introduce yourself briefly. State your occupation so your end-user doesn't think you're a shady Internet troll. If you're part of a larger organization, place your title and that org's name in your signature.

You need to express urgency. Give the user a deadline (3-5 business days from today) to provide an initial response by. State clearly you have other candidates lined up for the domain and are actively working to sell it. Mention you're willing to offer the end-user a price "below market value"; it sounds cheesy, but my response rate is higher when I use this expression than when I don't.

Finally, don't expect your initial response rate to top 15%, even if your domain is highly relevant to the end-users in question. Don't be disappointed if you send out ten e-mails and receive zero responses; conversely, don't register/catch a domain with the intention of flipping it in the first place unless your potential end-user prospects are sufficiently promising and numerous.

Use my sample e-mail on page 14, or one of the myriad of other pitches in this thread:
http://www.namepros.com/marketing-techniques/1757-domain-sales-letter-examples.html

Good luck.

Thank you Josh. I just read the thread. What if i send an e-mail to the whois e-mail, maybe the recipient is just a technical staff or something similar. Do i need to state that the recipient should forward it to someone if the recipient is just a technical staff?

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

It really is your job to identify and get your email to the senior level decision maker. If you can't figure that out from the site then you need to pick up the phone and call the company. Ask for the CEO or VP of marketing.

Most people will say NO because they are sure that their company would not be interested in a domain blah blah blah. Be nice and persistent. Don't let the receptionist make a senior level decision.

 

[xrvel]

It really is your job to identify and get your email to the senior level decision maker. If you can't figure that out from the site then you need to pick up the phone and call the company. Ask for the CEO or VP of marketing.

Most people will say NO because they are sure that their company would not be interested in a domain blah blah blah. Be nice and persistent. Don't let the receptionist make a senior level decision.

Thank you Rob. I'll try to find the top decision maker. Learning something new here. Thanks :tu:

 

[SlimPickins]

I thank everyone that has contributed their lessons and tips on this thread!!

I have a question for those that have experience offering a .com version of a domain to someone currently using another extension:

Could anyone please provide a link/suggestion of a credible source that indicates, in general, what percent of traffic is "lost" to the .com when people searching for something mistakenly (or by habit) type blahblah.com instead of the "actual" extension of the website they wanted to visit? I figured that would be a GREAT selling point to bring up in my sale, rather than simply saying 'com is king' or something unobjective and unsubstantiated as that.

Any tips or links to a credible source that I could cite would be MUCH appreciated! sp

 

[JoshuaPz]

Not sure whether there are comprehensive stats on this, but it might help to look at compete.com's monthly hit counters for popular non-.com sites versus their .com counterparts. Examples:

Sourceforge.net: 2,691,316
Sourceforge.com: 28,944

Zshare.net: 1,101,948
Zshare.com: 7,614

Archive.org: 2,133,537
Archive.com: 10,839

There's an entire thread on "successful sites in extensions other than .com" here:
http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...other-than-com.html?highlight=sourceforge.net

Hope that helps!

 

[SlimPickins]

thanks, josh! would've repped you (again) but apparently i am too fond of your advice!

What I am really looking for are *general* stats (not only amongst the big players), as my .coms are only the superior extension to *ahem.....* less than overtly successful .net/org/com.cn etc businesses, yet i want to have a general (but objective and citable) stat for the typical amount of traffic that goes to the .com due to 'memorable dominance'.......

thanks again, sp

 

[Nattydomain]

thanks, josh! would've repped you (again) but apparently i am too fond of your advice!

What I am really looking for are *general* stats (not only amongst the big players), as my .coms are only the superior extension to *ahem.....* less than overtly successful .net/org/com.cn etc businesses, yet i want to have a general (but objective and citable) stat for the typical amount of traffic that goes to the .com due to 'memorable dominance'.......

thanks again, sp

Good question...also in the same vain almost is, how good is it to see a .com domain to a .org company since most developed .org domains are non profit organazations or companies ? I really ned help with this one and wonder if worth pitching to them.