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

 

[DanB]

BTW, I think that email used in the article was from Rob Sequin's blog - I used it a few times with no results.

That's exactly. It's a copy and paste from his template. It's not a bad approach, but in that case, for a first-last name, it made no sense at all. You have to adapt your sales pitch to your target (it has been said several times, but people don't do it, or maybe they are too lazy...).

 

[garptrader]

I was in Barnes & Nobles this weekend browsing a book on HTML/CSS/XHTML and found a section on how to buy a domain. 1) Go to Network Solutions. 2) Type in the domain you want. 3) Select the desired extension .COM/.NET/etc. 4) If it isn't available NetSol will suggest several alternatives. 5) Select privacy if you desire and BUY.

There is a great deal of "why should I pay more than $10?" education which needs to take place before a XXX sale can take place.

 

[bgmv]

I was in Barnes & Nobles this weekend browsing a book on HTML/CSS/XHTML and found a section on how to buy a domain. 1) Go to Network Solutions. 2) Type in the domain you want. 3) Select the desired extension .COM/.NET/etc. 4) If it isn't available NetSol will suggest several alternatives. 5) Select privacy if you desire and BUY.

There is a great deal of "why should I pay more than $10?" education which needs to take place before a XXX sale can take place.

This is very true, now instead of providing the endusers with a price I provide them with a reason + price - so they know why this domain is worth $XXXX.

Alot of businesses just dont understand how owning a keyword rich domain will increase search rankings - this is very important for them to understand so I give them a brief lesson of simple SEO - search values and an example of a keyword domain ranked higher then them.

 

[bmugford]

I also generally provide potential end users with comp sales.
If helps create a reference point about value.

If someone offered you a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card for $50K is that a good or bad deal? If you have no reference point you don't know.

If you then found out that the most recent sales all went for over $500K then it frames the actual value better.

But only use relevant sales. If you are selling a TwoWord.net there is no relevance to a Word.com $1M sale.

Brad

This is very true, now instead of providing the endusers with a price I provide them with a reason + price - so they know why this domain is worth $XXXX.

Alot of businesses just dont understand how owning a keyword rich domain will increase search rankings - this is very important for them to understand so I give them a brief lesson of simple SEO - search values and an example of a keyword domain ranked higher then them.

 

[FPForum]

to bgmv and bmugford, do you guys point these out to the potential end users in your first email, or only if the respond with something like "What is your price?" or "What are you asking for it?"

 

[bmugford]

I normally prefer to send out a basic email first.

If you make the whole sales pitch in the first email it can come off as too spammy. The goal is to get a response such as "How Much". That is the email I like presenting my sales pitch in, when they are already interested.

Brad

to bgmv and bmugford, do you guys point these out to the potential end users in your first email, or only if the respond with something like "What is your price?" or "What are you asking for it?"

 

[FPForum]

I normally prefer to send out a basic email first.

If you make the whole sales pitch in the first email it can come off as too spammy. The goal is to get a response such as "How Much". That is the email I like presenting my sales pitch in, when they are already interested.

Brad

Thanks for the response. That is exactly what I was thinking as normally my first email is short and to the point. Basically "I own this name..it relates to your name XXX..Just letting you know this name is for sale..please contact me if you are interested"

 

[Domainace]

I normally prefer to send out a basic email first.

If you make the whole sales pitch in the first email it can come off as too spammy. The goal is to get a response such as "How Much". That is the email I like presenting my sales pitch in, when they are already interested.

Brad

I agree. Otherwise you are starting a conversation before the buyer has even indicated a willingness to talk to you. I think it's off-putting. If you are clever enough to slip something subliminal in your first email, that's great. But anything that comes off as a sales pitch is too much too soon... IMHO.

 

[bgmv]

Here is a response I got from an enduser today after offering him a Keyword+keyword.net that receives 6k exact searches a month for mid $XXX, mind you the singular version of this name is ranked 1 in G and receives less searches/month.

"Not interested now, my internet marketing mgr told me this is a big time scam and definitely not worth the money."

Yeah, endusers have no idea how valuable a domain name is because they listen to their marketing managers taht dont know anything about SEO or development - they are simply concerned about generating demand. I'm kind of pissed but well this is expected - I guess they still dont get it

 

[lincolndsp]

"Not interested now, my internet marketing mgr told me this is a big time scam and definitely not worth the money."

just don't get what such IM managers do then. I thought marketing guys are the first people in a company to understand such things as domains...

 

[garptrader]

I'm still wondering if a little extra effort to develop minisites could help make the sale. If a minisite is positioned in the first few pages of Google/Yahoo for keywords which people actually search for perhaps an end user might get it. I regged the .Net Spanish equivalent of "women's dresses" (vestidos de damas) in April, put up a minisite and it currently is at the top of page two of Google for that phrase. Per Adwords, the phrase is searched for 18K times monthly (Google alone). However, this doesn't always work as certain phrases are more competitive to position and the domain is only one factor in search engine positioning.

 

[FPForum]

I have an interesting sale pending now and it just goes to show how much a sales pitch can change someones mind...

The end user responded to my first simple email and said something along the lines of "I don't think we will be interested but what are you asking for it?"

I responded with a well written sales pitch that bmugford helped me iron out and after sending it to them I received a smaller counter offer.

I accepted the counter offer and the sale is now pending!

This confirms that a good and friendly sales pitch can push a sale, even if the company says they probably aren't interested

 

[bmugford]

Congrats on the sale FPForum. I am glad I could help.

Brad

I have an interesting sale pending now and it just goes to show how much a sales pitch can change someones mind...

The end user responded to my first simple email and said something along the lines of "I don't think we will be interested but what are you asking for it?"

I responded with a well written sales pitch that bmugford helped me iron out and after sending it to them I received a smaller counter offer.

I accepted the counter offer and the sale is now pending!

This confirms that a good and friendly sales pitch can push a sale, even if the company says they probably aren't interested

 

[Sameh]

First, Congrats on the sale and keep up the hard work!


Most of the time, the "not interested but how much?" reply is just a trick by end-user trying to lowball you. I sold .net domain for $1,500 to end-user his first reply was the same as yours.

I have an interesting sale pending now and it just goes to show how much a sales pitch can change someones mind...

The end user responded to my first simple email and said something along the lines of "I don't think we will be interested but what are you asking for it?"

I responded with a well written sales pitch that bmugford helped me iron out and after sending it to them I received a smaller counter offer.

I accepted the counter offer and the sale is now pending!

This confirms that a good and friendly sales pitch can push a sale, even if the company says they probably aren't interested

 

[seeker]

May I ask what email address you guys use when contacting end users?
I dont want to use my primary email (i.e. [email protected]) as I dont want to get it blacklisted by end users who might think I am spamming them.
However, I sent an 'offer' to myself from my gmail account to my hotmail account and it thought it was junk mail
How do you overcome this obstacle?

 

[bmugford]

Free email is always going to come off like a scam.

I use my real email. First of all sending a targeted relevant business offering is not SPAM, as long as you include accurate contact information.

Spam needs to be both Bulk + Unsolicited. It you are sending a relevant business offering to a handful of end users, and follow the guidelines you will be fine.

If you are that worried, put a disclaimer like this

If you aren't interested in this offer, please feel free to ignore this message. We will not contact you again.

Brad

May I ask what email address you guys use when contacting end users?
I dont want to use my primary email (i.e. [email protected]) as I dont want to get it blacklisted by end users who might think I am spamming them.
However, I sent an 'offer' to myself from my gmail account to my hotmail account and it thought it was junk mail
How do you overcome this obstacle?

 

[seeker]

Free email is always going to come off like a scam.

I use my real email. First of all sending a targeted relevant business offering is not SPAM, as long as you include accurate contact information.

Spam needs to be both Bulk + Unsolicited. It you are sending a relevant business offering to a handful of end users, and follow the guidelines you will be fine.

Brad

Thanks Brad.
I went that route a while back, I was very careful, but I got some nasty replies about my email being spam, so thats why I inquired.
I guess I'll give it another shot.
Its really up to who gets the email. If it is a system admin listed in the whois database, they are probably going to tag it as spam.

P.S.
I just saw the last line you added.
I always put something similar.
I usually say this is a one time email.

 

[DavidH]

I have sent out a lot of targetted individual emails and inevitably a very small number of people vent their disapproval but equally a number of people thank me for giving them the opportunity to buy the name, even if they dont actually go ahead to buy!

 

[End User King]

That sounds like a good time to call em and talk to them.

Here is a response I got from an enduser today after offering him a Keyword+keyword.net that receives 6k exact searches a month for mid $XXX, mind you the singular version of this name is ranked 1 in G and receives less searches/month.

"Not interested now, my internet marketing mgr told me this is a big time scam and definitely not worth the money."

Yeah, endusers have no idea how valuable a domain name is because they listen to their marketing managers taht dont know anything about SEO or development - they are simply concerned about generating demand. I'm kind of pissed but well this is expected - I guess they still dont get it

 

[FPForum]

I have sent out a lot of targetted individual emails and inevitably a very small number of people vent their disapproval but equally a number of people thank me for giving them the opportunity to buy the name, even if they dont actually go ahead to buy!

My situation is very similar. I have sent out a huge number of emails to end users and only one person has written me a bad email back. However, I have had a large number of people, as well as actual buyers, that have emailed me back saying "thank you for the offer but we are not interested at this time."

Remember to be kind in your email and make sure you include the name of the domain/company you are writing to in your subject and body so they know you are for real.

If you are nice to them, they have no reason not to at least be nice back to you. Make note though, if they tell you no and you continue to mail them in the future, this is a sure fire way to begin to get on their bad side. Do what you need to do but make sure you don't contact them again.