advice How would you respond?

[ScalableDomains]

How would you respond if:

Here is the background -

Sent an outbound email which created an inquiry for a domain name.

I sent the price for the domain name along with the make offer option (efty link).

The person was not interested. I had another outbound inquiry in which I repriced the domain name with no response. I also sent a follow-up email to the first inquiry to inform them of the re-priced domain name.

The response to the first inquiry was from an Exec VP.

"Please discontinue your emails unless you accept $XXX (Which was the minimal offer). No Negotiation."

I accepted the offer. (it gets better). I offered two options to purchase.

Today I received the email

"Let me think about it"

How would you respond? I will let you what I did after a few discussions.

 

[karmaco]

The second he talked to me like a dictator would have been the last time I contacted him. You should have asked him what business is negotiation not part of in some manner— his?In any outbound it should be short and not seem desperate. People dislike marketers in any business so it’s good you brushed it off.

The mistake was lowering the price. It gives off an air of weakness. Any reduced offer should be good for 24 to 48 hours only if you have to go that route. I would approach no one unless I was pretty sure I know what amount I am willing to sell it for. Also don’t oversell— being accused of being a spammer is not a good look which sometimes happens when you overmarket.

 

[GCCinternet]

You are too desperate to make a sell; it shows pure weakness on your part.

I would place a BIN on the domain and renew for 5 years and not think about it again...

If the buyer is serious, they will return at a later date; learn from this negotiation...

Additionally, I’d increase the price at least 100%-500% depending on your current price.

It’s a reality of domaining. A lot depends on this particular domain name, ie. whether this client really needs it or not... If he does, don’t be desperate to sell... Being desperate to sell makes a harm to a seller in every business. Your leads may ignore you or play with you.
Success in sales starts from customers’ demand. Without demand you can give away for free or 90% discount. This isn’t a business. If you’re now angry at domaining, well this is a long term run. But even in long term you as a seller must have an asset which is in lesser or bigger demand because without demand there is no future for your product.

IMO, outbound domain sales aren’t good strategy. It devalues a domain (not always, depends on a style of your outbound communication).

All the best,
Adam

 

[J.D.]

Additionally, I’d increase the price at least 100%-500% depending on your current price.

IMO, outbound domain sales aren’t good strategy. It devalues a domain (not always, depends on a style of your outbound communication).

I have been domain speculating a little over two years now and the 5 sales I have made so far were all inbound sales, except one. I've done outbound marketing, but it has netted me only one sale so far of portfolio of (100 dot-Coms). That's why I don't like PPC, for some reason the default page that GoDaddy uses works best form me because it allows them to contact a broker to inquire about your domain.

Likewise, I don't see the point in having a PPC page unless you have a premium domain like Sex.com or Money.com and hold a trademark too.

 

[lock]

You heard him move on if he feels he is missing out he will be back.
If you exhausted your 2 leads on the domain then how many customers can the domain bring if you only can come up with 2 leads? Work on another domain and clear your head.

 

[Brian Harbin]

Thanks for posing the question as it's helpful for people to think through how to handle these type situations. When he replied 'let me think about it', I would respond back with 'sounds good, thanks'. I would then set a reminder to follow up in 3 days. I would then say, 'hey, just touching base to follow up and see if you had a chance to think through the two payment options and decide which works best for you. let me know when you get a chance.' I would then set a reminder for 3 days and have another follow up question 'just following up to see if you received my previous email. Are you still interested in pursuing this domain? thanks'. with no response still, i would set another 3 day reminder and then pose another question to elicit a response. Still nothing, then I would set a reminder for 6 months and touch base again.

In this business, when you rely heavily on email, it's important to have good follow up and consistency in order to prove trustworthiness. If you can get them on the phone (recommended), then you can usually help them overcome their fears/skepticism sooner. Keep in mind that we all know buying a good domain for a good price is a good business decision and there are safe and legitimate ways to handle the transaction. But to a lot of business owners, the idea is a new concept to them, they are initially skeptical, and they are busy and bombarded by salespeople all the time. But keep dripping on them, be polite, educate them, and they might eventually come around. If not, then move on to the next domain/prospect. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[maxtorz]

How would you respond if:

Here is the background -

Sent an outbound email which created an inquiry for a domain name.

I sent the price for the domain name along with the make offer option (efty link).

The person was not interested. I had another outbound inquiry in which I repriced the domain name with no response. I also sent a follow-up email to the first inquiry to inform them of the re-priced domain name.

The response to the first inquiry was from an Exec VP.

"Please discontinue your emails unless you accept $XXX (Which was the minimal offer). No Negotiation."

I accepted the offer. (it gets better). I offered two options to purchase.

Today I received the email

"Let me think about it"

How would you respond? I will let you what I did after a few discussions.

You are the confused gazelle and the Lion ate you!

1.First off you are dealing with a "lion" VP that is trained and experienced to negotiate like a PRO. That's what he does so it's all good!
2.You should always FOLLOW UP, but Never follow up discounting price!(When you DISCOUNT price the VALUE of your domain drops and HIS INTEREST will drop because if YOU don't believe in your pricing and are not confident nobody else will);
3. You accepted the lowest offer too quickly (which again sends the wrong message to the buyer, he was just messing with you man to see what he can get away with)
4."Let me think about it" is the final blow, there's not much you can say or negotiate against, he has full control at this point bc. the value of the domain dropped and you lost control of this negotiation.

After his reply "Please discontinue your emails unless you accept $XXX (Which was the minimal offer). No Negotiation." I would have replied like this:
"Sir, I agree with you and I take full responsibility on pricing. What else would be keeping you from moving forward with this deal?"
I would then wait for a reply....if no reply after 24hrs I would email again an say this:
"Sir, could you please allow me 5 minutes of your time to discuss this today? I promise not to waste your time." (at this point if you have his number in his signature etc. I would let my email tracker let me know when he opened my followup email and I would CALL HIM, I would NOT wait for him to say YES call me or NO don't call me.)
This approach simply shows that you are not just spamming his inbox and you are serious about what you do and you are ready to backup your pricing and provide reasons WHY the name is worth the price you are asking.
Now you are no longer a confused gazelle, you are in control and you actually have a good shot at closing the sale. You are not gonna get ATE UP' when you are in control of a negotiation against a lion. hahaha
I did these same mistakes and I used to discount price to negotiate which is wrong. I missed so many sales over the years because I was hoping it would all work out and didn't know what I was doing, and had no confidence really....

 

[maxtorz]

They are playing games, doesn't sound like much will happen. When someone makes an offer, and you accept, and still nothing happens, it means they are not serious.

I had a situation where via Afternic a company brought their offer up to 5000 on a domain that actually I wanted about 9500 for. The broker told me that he had brought them up from an initial 500 offer, so it seemed like they were in earnest. The company said that they were ready to pay that same day if I accepted the $5000. I told them that I would accept 5500 if they handled it immediately, or else I was going to raise the price back to where it should be, 9500. I wanted the extra 500 to offset at least some of the 20% Afternic commission. The company kept stalling, and then after a week said that the deal was "on hold" and disappeared. I then reverted the BIN on the domain to the correct 9500.

Who makes a $5K offer and then disappears over an additional $500.? lol People who don't know what they want. Sounds like your Exec VP is more of the same.

Dropping your price from $9500 to $5000or $5500 is absolutely ridiculous.
IF THEY went from $500 to $5000 with the contingency of doing it TODAY that's a RED FLAG for me.
That's a PRO negotiator right there. THEY are probing to see if you are willing to DROP your price in half and then of course they will stall or ask for more changes latter on. The worst part is You can build VALUE going up easily, but once you go down and then try to build the value back up is hard.

I would have told the Afternic broker: Hey I understand that they want a better price BUT I am valuing this name above $15,000USD+ for these reasons A,B,C and $9500BIN is already a great price. They would have to do better then $5000.
At this point they should counter with a better offer if they are serious about buying your name.
If they drop out, no problem! I would then BUMP my BIN price to $15,000USD for that domain.