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

 

[Joe Caramel]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm [Name] a domain name investment specialist from Geneva, Switzerland. I am writing to let you know I currently have the following domain name available for purchase:


Sounds alot like:
Dear Sir/Madam im writing you from my death bed contact my lawyer.....
or
Dear Sir/Madam im a nigerian prince send me your account info....


Maybe they read the first few lines and it felt spammy?
I get the being profesional intro thing, but maybe rework it to not come off with a simmilar intro as the scammers, because they may not be reading past the first few lines.

If you have a supply where there is a demand does it matter who you are or where your from?

 

[trendicator]

a good pitch, i think the representive is just not interested, so move on and find someone that is actually interested. good luck

 

[MeanerDomainer]

The reply you recieved was just a first step in a long dance called "negotiation". :lol:

Aside from the pitch sounding a bit shady and being too long, maybe he has a keen eye for the obvious and he realized that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that 2.5 million people seach for "oxforrd shirt" every year and that is what he ment by "pathetic".

Also, a domain like oxfordshirts.net is probably a much better fit for an (internet based) ratailer than it is for a manufacturer. My guess is that buyers for clothing stores don't type "oxford shirt" into google, they know where to go... It's retail consumers who seach for their new ofxord shirt online.

Regarding the 2.5 million searches,
I understand why google wants to make their default setting "broad". This makes it SEEM to potential ad buyers that there are a lot more searches than there actually are and makes advertisers want to buy ads. It's very misleading. All/most of unethical companies do such things. This puts Google solidly in that group. Absolutely no different from some other scammer trying to rent you a billboard on the side of a gravel road and claiming that "2.5 million cars drive past this here sign every year!" when the actual number is orders of magnitude lower.

In addition to misleading their paying ad customers, this default setting has probably cost tens of thousands of naive domainers countless millions of dollars in useless registrations for keyword phrases that receive only 48 monthly searches instead of the claimed 12,000.

 

[Ben42]

I think the email you sent is fine. Depending on the location of the company though I think your location may be an issue. If the company was based in the US they would probably look at it and think, Scam. Like the Nigeria emails. This company just actually responded and most that think this probably just delete the email.

To make it look less scamy I would not mention Switzerland or include a foreign phone number. Only a legitimate sounding domain retail email address. Only after a user responds wanting to speak would I include a phone number (if they didn't want to give you theirs). At no point do they need to know your not in their home country, especially if you use Escrow.com (which I would mention in your email, secure transactions).

Bottom line, I would not advertise the fact I'm in a different country and if you send me money for this domain you'll probably never see it again. People are VERY wary of dealing over country lines.

 

[ComKid]

I appreciate your effort but here is my opinion.

1) Way too long. (They probably stopped reading after first three sentences)

2) Seems way to "pitchy"

My advice is to keep it short and sweet. Something like..,

Please forward where appropriate,

This email is being sent to select businesses that may have an interest in the acquisition of the domain *****.com for utilization of brand expansion/sister site development etc.. This is not an attempt to sell the domain outright but rather a notification that the domain is in a current auction at ebay.com and will be sold to the winning bidder. If this email is a bother I apologize.



*Always send from a professional email Bcc signed with your correct address and phone #

-Put the domain name in the subject
Send the email at 8:00-9:00am Mon morning (check appropriate time zone of recipient) so it's at the top of email list.

Sorry you got a rude reply but I did think the email was rather long winded.

Ditto! He's only one out of 100 so just have to get back out there, push some angles and find the "one"!

A good sales pitch is always one in which you intise. You basically winded him with too much information and he lost all curiosity...and he lost all seriousness too. Next time just write a simple cover style letter or call the business over the phone first to really show that you are trying to craft a true business setting for important negotiations with a more personal approach. Introduce yourself on a profession level. "Domain Investment Specialist" is not the greatest title to use IMO. "Domain Owner" might be more down to earth and get a notice just as well....but in many cases you might consider a more professional title "Domain Consultants, Appraisers and/or Brokers" . I usually say something like "I would like to discuss a marketing proposition I believe would be of great benefit to your company's brand, product or service" and "what would be a good opportune time to get in touch with someone to discuss such an opportunity".
If over the phone they seem unsure right away of a date to get back with them then step in and politely offer possible openings for them and ask if this date is "OK". Keep it simple until you finally know they will approach you on their own terms ......out of respect.

I might try to smooth over the guy who was rude to you and email a short apology for any misunderstanding and just put out there that you are the owner of the domain name and were just hoping to discuss the possible need for a premium domain name with plenty of business potential in their market.
Just don't be rude or keep pressing if he keeps the same tone with you. Simply say "have a good day!"

Never can tell....this could still turn into a sale yet!! :tu:

---------- Post added at 11:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:45 PM ----------

Ditto! He's only one out of 100 so just have to get back out there, push some angles and find the "one"!

A good sales pitch is always one in which you intise. You basically winded him with too much information and he lost all curiosity...and he lost all seriousness too. Next time just write a simple cover style letter or call the business over the phone first to really show that you are trying to craft a true business setting for important negotiations with a more personal approach. Introduce yourself on a profession level. "Domain Investment Specialist" is not the greatest title to use IMO. "Domain Owner" might be more down to earth and get a notice just as well....but in many cases you might consider a more professional title "Domain Consultant". I usually say something like "I would like to discuss a marketing proposition I believe would be of great benefit to your company's brand, product or service" and "what would be a good opportune time to get in touch with someone to discuss such an opportunity".
If over the phone they seem unsure right away of a date to get back with them then step in and politely offer possible openings for them and ask if this date is "OK". Keep it simple until you finally know they will approach you on their own terms ......out of respect.

I might try to smooth over the guy who was rude to you and email a short apology for any misunderstanding and just put out there that you are the owner of the domain name and were just hoping to discuss the possible need for a premium domain name with plenty of business potential in their market.
Just don't be rude or keep pressing if he keeps the same tone with you. Simply say "have a good day!"

Never can tell....this could still turn into a sale yet!! :tu:

Then when you get their interest and you get to pitch your domain you can just set it up to email them further information so they can respond at their convenience and leave them all the contact info. That's about it and see what they do. GL

 

[DnEbook]

would any of you guys mention the domain can be purchased via sedo for buyer peace of mind ?

'you are welcome to make an offer via sedo.com'

?

 

[ComKid]

That is one option. Better to pass the savings along to the enduser than pay Sedo for pretty much nothing.... but yes, I agree with evirtual1 that maybe credibility factor might be the issue now and too late to do anything.

 

[daj]

would any of you guys mention the domain can be purchased via sedo for buyer peace of mind ?

'you are welcome to make an offer via sedo.com'

?

I wouldn't bother mentioning Sedo, unless they contacted you about seeing the domain listed there. Most buyers are unaware of what Sedo is (from my experience), and don't want to go through the hassle of signing up there. I would mention Escrow.com instead, as most buyers are aware of the escrow process, and how secure it is.

 

[G_C]

Maybe they read the first few lines and it felt spammy?
I get the being profesional intro thing, but maybe rework it to not come off with a simmilar intro as the scammers, because they may not be reading past the first few lines.

I argee - although I usually do research on Jigsaw to find marketing decision makers. If all else fails, I then try WHOIS - and if that doesn't work, only then do I contact them via one of those info e-mails listed on the website.

I think the email you sent is fine. Depending on the location of the company though I think your location may be an issue. If the company was based in the US they would probably look at it and think, Scam. Like the Nigeria emails. This company just actually responded and most that think this probably just delete the email.

To make it look less scamy I would not mention Switzerland or include a foreign phone number. Only a legitimate sounding domain retail email address. Only after a user responds wanting to speak would I include a phone number (if they didn't want to give you theirs). At no point do they need to know your not in their home country, especially if you use Escrow.com (which I would mention in your email, secure transactions).

Bottom line, I would not advertise the fact I'm in a different country and if you send me money for this domain you'll probably never see it again. People are VERY wary of dealing over country lines.

Actually, wouldn't the opposite be true? I understand the whole point about 419 Nigerian scammers - but we're talking Switzerland here (I mean, if you can't trust the Swiss, who can you trust?) The reason why I throw in my mailing address and my mobile phone number is to indicate to the read that I'm a real person and not some spam bot - and that they can get in touch with me by phone or send me a letter if they so desire.

Regarding the 2.5 million searches,
I understand why google wants to make their default setting "broad". This makes it SEEM to potential ad buyers that there are a lot more searches than there actually are and makes advertisers want to buy ads. It's very misleading. All/most of unethical companies do such things. This puts Google solidly in that group. Absolutely no different from some other scammer trying to rent you a billboard on the side of a gravel road and claiming that "2.5 million cars drive past this here sign every year!" when the actual number is orders of magnitude lower.

So just to clarify, are exact match results typically used to approximate search engine queries prior to purchasing a domain?

@All
Thank you very much for your ongoing contributions to this thread - it has certainly turned out to be much more informative than I could have ever anticipated.

Based on the feedback submitted, here's how I will tweak my next mailings:

1. Use Exact Google KW results
2. Shorten the original pitch to 3-5 sentences
3. Concentrate on online retailers rather than manufacturers (hey, I did e-mail the Marketing VP of Lacoste!)

 

[maxeaus]

Well you need to ask yourself an honest question, where you going to sell the domain under market value? I hardly think so, it insults peoples intelligence when you crap on like this, it's as bad as you sending me a long winded letter saying how much you want to buy one of my domains, then pleading poor you offer me $25.00 for it, and on further examination i find you own 1,000 s of domains.

Personally i have told people to $%^& off at similar approaches.

if you are going to approach people, without their consent, you better have a water tight approach IMO.

 

[G_C]

Max,

Yes, I'd sell it for below market value (otherwise, I wouldn't mention it in the original e-mail). Obviously, I wouldn't settle for $100 for it, but I definitely wouldn't be holding out for high $xxx either.

 

[JoshuaPz]

Well you need to ask yourself an honest question, where you going to sell the domain under market value? I hardly think so, it insults peoples intelligence when you crap on like this, it's as bad as you sending me a long winded letter saying how much you want to buy one of my domains, then pleading poor you offer me $25.00 for it, and on further examination i find you own 1,000 s of domains.

You can define "below market value" however you please so long as you justify it logically. I find it effective define market value as the average of the prices of similar-keyword domain listings BuyDomains.com -- e.g. I'm offering GreenDiamond.com for $450 and BuyDomains.com has PurpleDiamond.com listed @ $1750 and BlueDiamond.com listed @ $1850 -- as (1) BuyDomains.com is a well-known domain retailer in the "real world", and (2) They cater to SMBs ($600-$6000 price range) whereas I usually sell to very small businesses ($175-$750 price range), hence my price will usually be less than 25% of the domain's "retail market value" as suggested by BuyDomains.com's SMB-oriented prices. "Below market value" for an SMB could still me an excellent ROI for me, however. If I am selling a domain for an amount between $175 and $750, chances are I probably purchased it myself for $100 or less.

Do NOT justify your price by saying things like "Candy.com sold for $3M, and I'm offering CandyCompany.com at less the 0.1% of that at $2900!" That logic will get you swiftly excommunicated. Compare your domain to very similar names listed or sold elsewhere, as in my diamond example.

 

[G_C]

JoshuaPz,

This is precisely the logic I use - in fact, I borrowed it from your NameFlipper templates, which means that I usually respond to price enquiries with a quote backed by BuyDomains.com information.

This also means that, as you have put it, the concept of "market value" becomes quite flexible - since each domain is unique, you can sell something for $300 and still keep it below market value, while making a nice ROI for yourself.

 

[enlytend]

Just jumping in with an answer to this:

So just to clarify, are exact match results typically used to approximate search engine queries prior to purchasing a domain?

Exact or phrase match. Exact match is just that term, phrase match can include additional words ("oxford shirts on sale", "oxford shirts size xxl", "oxford shirts for women" ...).

Broad match is the total # of queries that match "Oxford" and/or "Shirts", singular, plurals and synonyms. For advertisers, it's a meaningful metric. For domainers - not so much!

 

[JoshuaPz]

JoshuaPz,

This is precisely the logic I use - in fact, I borrowed it from your NameFlipper templates, which means that I usually respond to price enquiries with a quote backed by BuyDomains.com information.

This also means that, as you have put it, the concept of "market value" becomes quite flexible - since each domain is unique, you can sell something for $300 and still keep it below market value, while making a nice ROI for yourself.

Glad you found the templates helpful. While they don't necessarily illustrate the optimal wording for selling domains, it's hard to argue with the fact those templates have garnered an "I'm interested - what's your price?" type reply on both 1 in every 7 pitches -- for both myself and others who have used them -- and have kicked off over 250 specific known domain sales, plus probably hundreds more not reported to me. The alternative wordings folks have suggested in this thread have been quite interesting though. I doubt either you or I expected your initial post to evoke sales template suggestions, and when people start threads asking specifically for these, nobody tends to reply! Gotta love human psychology. If anyone else has a template which has demonstrably produced results superior to mine over a large sample size, I'd love to see it posted. Unfortunately though successful domainers rarely share such information for reasons I can't really attribute to anything except ego, as nobody "loses money" by posting pitch templates; as a matter of fact, you would probably gain money long term by helping massive numbers of others absorb more outside capital into domaining industry. Transparency is the future, my friend.

 

[krx]

"Issues" domains are harder to develop, but finding a given hot button issue which non-profits (churches and otherwise) tend to try to tackle, adding on a geo prefix/suffix and building a basic content site with information on how to donate to stop this problem In! Your! Area! is a fairly straightforward procedure, and finding the organisation or organisations in that geo area that are working on the issue is an easy task. Avoid anything that involves political lobbying or social issues over which people can get crazy, eg. abortion. But homelessness, child literacy, drug use, runaways, you name the issue and in any city of any size there is a potential market for a donation-supported information sites.

Again, this is a seriously undertapped market in my opinion, at least in the US. It's not quick flipping, but the work involved is pretty minimal, especially if you already have experience putting together basic sites.


Frank

This is an interesting idea. It would be great if you could post (or PM) some links to sites like this.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

The sales pitch was absolutely terrible, and I am not surprised by their response.

Your bullet points are noob level stuff, and as he responded, pathetic.

"over 2.5 millions queries for "Oxford Shirts" and its singular are entered into Google alone." is like using "This is a 10 billion dollar a year industry" in sales pitches. The decision makers are perfectly aware of their reach.

"Associate concept with brand" is from Marketing 101.

"Outpace the competition" is so noob that it's insulting to even say it.

---------- Post added at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 PM ----------

Regarding the 2.5 million searches,
I understand why google wants to make their default setting "broad". This makes it SEEM to potential ad buyers that there are a lot more searches than there actually are and makes advertisers want to buy ads. It's very misleading. All/most of unethical companies do such things. This puts Google solidly in that group. Absolutely no different from some other scammer trying to rent you a billboard on the side of a gravel road and claiming that "2.5 million cars drive past this here sign every year!" when the actual number is orders of magnitude lower.

In addition to misleading their paying ad customers, this default setting has probably cost tens of thousands of naive domainers countless millions of dollars in useless registrations for keyword phrases that receive only 48 monthly searches instead of the claimed 12,000.

Nice rant.

The broad search figure is to demonstrate how many keyword variant searches that your purchased keyword can appear on.

Read this for more info:

What is broad match? - AdWords Help

 

[MeanerDomainer]

Nice rant.

The broad search figure is to demonstrate how many keyword variant searches that your purchased keyword can appear on.

Read this for more info:

What is broad match? - AdWords Help

OK, I see now... Regardless, I want to blame someone other than myself for some of my bad regs! :lol:

 

[G_C]

Your post was absolutely terrible and, as I respond, pathetic.

Seriously, not that I mind constructive criticism, but you wanna a) get off the high horse and b) actually make constructive improvement suggestions instead of being a jackass?

Overall, the quality of your feedback is noob-level stuff - so noob, in fact, that it's insulting to even say it.

The sales pitch was absolutely terrible, and I am not surprised by their response.

Your bullet points are noob level stuff, and as he responded, pathetic.

"over 2.5 millions queries for "Oxford Shirts" and its singular are entered into Google alone." is like using "This is a 10 billion dollar a year industry" in sales pitches. The decision makers are perfectly aware of their reach.

"Associate concept with brand" is from Marketing 101.

"Outpace the competition" is so noob that it's insulting to even say it.

---------- Post added at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 PM ----------


Nice rant.

The broad search figure is to demonstrate how many keyword variant searches that your purchased keyword can appear on.

Read this for more info:

What is broad match? - AdWords Help

 

[skulldude]

I did not think the original posters pitch was terrible (there were a few issues, but it definitely was not terrible.) The enduser was acting like a jackass, and anyone with an ounce of professionalism would not have responded that way.

I also feel giving a more detailed sales pitch has it's merits. Not one that is super long, but one that at least outlines some of the advantages. The key is to hook the enduser in with the first two sentences, so they feel compelled to read further.

I have encountered several endusers that would probably not have replied back to me had I used a short and sweet initial sales pitch as opposed to one that went into a little more detail and explained the benefits to them. This is because a lot of endusers are sole proprietors or businesses of 3 or 4 people and just don't know the advantages to owning a generic domain name.

I think both formats have their merit. I use both the short and sweet one and I have a more detailed initial sales pitch that I use as well.