[Need Advice] Is it worth continuing the negotiation?

[Fuadiansyah]

Hi Everyone,

I need some suggestion from everyone here who successfully sold by outbound effort.
I am in the middle of negotiation with this family-owned business in US.
I have this domain, let say *TwoWords*.com
They currently own this website, let say *TwoWords*+brand.com. Yes, with "brand" word at the end of the domain.

I've tried to reach out to them and offer them my domain.
They promptly answer back with this:

Hello.
We are *Two Words* Brand.
Yes, having *TwoWords*.com would be nice but I don’t see it as crucial to our business.
If you own that domain, let me know what you have in mind.

I don't want to be rushed in this negotiation.
So, if that's the reply, is it worth to continue the negotiation? If so, what should be my next step?
Thank you.

NB: After trademark checking, they don't hold any trademark for that two words name.

 

[catchmesleeping]

I do a fair amount of outbound for my domains. A few tips that work based on my experiences:

1. I'm not afraid to be the first one to list a price. Otherwise things just feel awkward and the process doesn't move anywhere. Worse, the potential buyer will just throw out a low offer, like $50, or $200. So, my strategy is to start high - maybe 50% to 100% higher than I'm hoping to sell the name for.

2. No matter what, you are going to have to "sell" the domain. Whether they give the first offer, or you give a price first, be prepared to give 5 good reasons why the domain name is worth it. In the beginning, you'll have a hard time with this - but after a while, it will become second nature. Find comparable sales on namebio or dnjournal, explain how there's an active aftermarket for domain names ( most people have no clue about this - but almost any industry has a similar sort of aftermarket, such as second hand cars, construction equipment, etc). Explain the rarity of domains - this is their one and only chance to buy the perfect domain name for their business. Someone else could come and buy it tomorrow, and then it would never be available again ... etc

3. Sometimes this is enough to get a buyer to boost up their offer to a reasonable level, which is great. If not, file it away. You can reach out to the buyer a few weeks later with a special reduced price, or maybe just ping the buyer now and then to see if they are still interested in the name.

4. If you're comfortable with it, go out and put BINs on the names that you are doing outbound for. I would put the BINs at your higher, first asking price (so double what you're hoping to really get). Often times buyers don't feel comfortable dealing with some random stranger over email - but if they see the listing on a well known website like Godaddy or Network Solutions, then they might just go ahead and pull the trigger. I definitely see an uplift in BIN sales on the names that I do outbound for.

Hope this all helps.

 

[Saeid Nejati]

Good luck with your offer. I think they are interested in your domain but they want to show you that they don't want to pay much.

 

[Fuadiansyah]

Seeing as the OP is not a native speaker, would it be better to keep their communication strictly via email?

Thanks to everyone for the brilliant advice. I really appreciate it very much...

Regarding the phone calls, @ison gets it right. Call them by phone surely is a great way to pass all the hurdle but when it's not executed in the right way by speaking and listening smoothly through the conversation, I am afraid it got boomerang effects on me. As English is not my native language, they instead will perceived me bad afterwards. In addition, the cost of phone call from my country to US is quite costly, the signal also not too good, so I should consider it too.

 

[Fuadiansyah]

So, in current condition, I am stick with email to communicate with them. I think they are quite responsive too as they reply my email just under 24 hours after I sent them the offer...

I'll put the domain on GoDaddy premium list and Flippa Classified list as BIN. So, if they still not sure with me, they can use GoDaddy broker to complete the transaction. Thanks to @catchmesleeping.

Wish me luck!

 

[Fuadiansyah]

Additional information regarding the domain.

I've bought it from GoDaddy closeout a month ago at total cost of only $15. So, even $100 sales price is good ROI for me, but yeah surely I'll not put the price at $100...

 

[jideofor]

wow so much good input on here. I would go with Kate's. if it is hand reg target $200-500 walk away with what they offer. Good luck

 

[TDM]

Yeah in that case would definitely stick to email. (We all know that quirky web design calls right? Don't do the same)

Maybe you even got someone to proofread your emails. Though your English doesn't seem bad at all! (I only had school English as I'm German speaking.. so count that in to my statement)

 

[Fuadiansyah]

Yeah in that case would definitely stick to email. (We all know that quirky web design calls right? Don't do the same)

Maybe you even got someone to proofread your emails. Though your English doesn't seem bad at all! (I only had school English as I'm German speaking.. so count that in to my statement)

Active english a.k.a speaking is different with passive english a.k.a writing...
Active needs something more like intonation, comprehend listening (this is my weakness as comprehend listening to variety of accent especially american is quite difficult for me), fluidity in spelling words by words...
If I can give score to my active and passive, 6.5/10 for active, 8.5/10 for passive...

To be honest, I am not too confident in my speaking but I am still doing my best to progress better each day..

 

[TDM]

Same here!


Reading and understanding is way easier than
Writing and
Speaking (let alone negotiating)


Best of luck!

 

[Ayodeji]

There are surely interested but don't want to appear too interested. The pricing is the hard part but it depends on how many end users you have and your size of their company. If you have a good number of endusers, throw it in their faces and play the waiting game...

 

[Domainatic]

>> Can anybody give some solid advice on how to handle calls we get out of the blue like that? (above post)

@goldey

One technique I've used is ask them one of the following two questions during your buyer qualification process.

1) Curious, are you buying this for personal use or is the purchase being handled via a "decision by committee" model?

2) Is this a capital purchase or an operating expense?

A typical buyer purchasing a domain for personal use will say "Say What?" whereas a corporate buyer will know exactly what you are talking about and will likely have a quick / confident response.

If a "decision by committee" or a capital purchase, you are likely dealing with a corporate entity.

Also, if they mention they need to run it by Finance or the CFO, it's likely a corporate purchase and may be a budgeted item for a new marketing project, new product, and they may capitalize the purchase which is typically for project assets costing over $1,000. It is not uncommon for a company to amortize project costs over 2-3 years (GAAP). They will take a hit on their balance sheet so that they can show stakeholders a "perceived" higher profitability the first year for the project by presenting lower "initial" cost outlay and pushing off a chunk of cost to later years. Accounting games where they will post 67% of the expenses in year 2 or 3 as sales from the project rises and can offset the expenses on their P&L statement.

A great rule of sales - N.A.T.M. = Need / Authority / Timeframe / Money

Knowing the decision maker and their purchasing approach will provide you an indicator.

I hope the feedback is helpful...

-Jim

nice advice Jim!
Thanks for sharing

 

[Fuadiansyah]

Hi everyone,

A little update regarding this transaction.
So, yesterday I've sent the next email offering the domain.
In the email, I give a little explanation about how important to upgrade the domain with the shorter one. I give example about Vivo ((https://www.namepros.com/blog/why-did-vivo-pay-2-1-million-for-vivo-com.982734/) and PacificPillows case (https://medium.com/@morganlinton/domain-name-upgrades-the-inside-story-of-pillow-com-c203db8744e9).

I also do a little research on Google Keyword where the TwoWords.com has more searches per month than TwoDomainsBrand.com. Also show them related sales of the domain. Finally, I offer the price for high $xxx and I said it's now on listed Godaddy premium listing and give them the link.
And I think it's worked. I've got this reply:

Hello.
Thank you.
Yes, I am definitely interested.
Funds are a bit tight at the moment.
Perhaps by mid-late January I would be able to make this transaction.

Would that work for you?

Now, I still need to be waiting for them for the fund to be ready. Wish me luck until this transaction has complete. Thank you very much everyone. Your advices and support really help me going through this negotiation.

 

[usernamex]

That sounds lovely. They didn't ask for a lower price, just to wait, which is no issue since you have it for sale anyway, the only thing is if someone else happens upon it and buys it. Although this buyer should understand that is a possibility, it's not like you can put a hold on it.

Also thanks for the update, I always love hearing the process

Great Job : fingers crossed :

 

[Fuadiansyah]

That sounds lovely. They didn't ask for a lower price, just to wait, which is no issue since you have it for sale anyway, the only thing is if someone else happens upon it and buys it. Although this buyer should understand that is a possibility, it's not like you can put a hold on it.

Also thanks for the update, I always love hearing the process

Great Job : fingers crossed :

Thank you. In addition, I had also stated in the email and give clear explanation to keep in mind that it's listed in active aftermarket for domain names, so anybody can acquire it if they like the name.
So, they should also understand it.

 

[ison]

<snip>
Finally, I offer the price for high $xxx and I said it's now on listed Godaddy premium listing and give them the link.
<snip>

Well done. That's a clever move, btw - creating buying pressure after selling the benefits. Thanks for keeping us updated.

 

[slimjim270]

@Fuadiansyah

Thanks for the update on your communication with the buyer. Very encouraging.

Best of luck with your sale.

-Jim

 

[usernamex]

Yes, having it live at a marketplace is brilliant, they know it's there and can be theirs at the click of a button, so they won't dilly-dally when they get the money to make sure they don't miss out. It's created a sense of urgency without being over the top salesy type pressure

 

[parkerpeter223]

keep negotiating .. you can convert this deal.

 

[Elon Swift]

Yes ofcourse ! continue with it

 

[TDM]

Thanks for the update- well done!


I´m in progress of starting similar outbound/outreach. So definitely like reading your experiences here.


One thing i will do differently is:

Listing on marketplace (that´s brilliant btw).

I´m selling ccTLD´s .. the most popular choice in my country wouldbe sedo.
But i will not list on sedo but some other trusted marketplace.
Reason is that on sedo any visitor is overwhelmed with choices.. i don´t want that.

So i´m looking for a place where my category of offerings is not very prominent, effectively reducing distraction plus minimizing the chances of buyer finding something better/cheaper once i directed them to such marketplace (cause i guess that such end-users are not used to buy domains on such places very often. They have rarely even heard about "aftermarket", sedo, etc..)


This way my offer has a good chance to really stand out of the crowd.


Good luck! And please keep us posted

 

[saurabhjaindelhi2008]

If an end-user is saying "It's not crucial to our business", he/she is not aware of the benefits of owning this name and what wonders it can do for his/her business. And, here when he is asking, "What do you have in mind?", he actually wants to know the benefits from your end. So, you need to highlight the benefits. When he will be in a position to appreciate these benefits, price and negotiations come into play. There actually can't be any negotiation if the customer is not convinced and he'll simply start throwing low-ball figures in front of you and will take you for a ride. So, highlight the benefits first.

 

[Fuadiansyah]

If an end-user is saying "It's not crucial to our business", he/she is not aware of the benefits of owning this name and what wonders it can do for his/her business. And, here when he is asking, "What do you have in mind?", he actually wants to know the benefits from your end. So, you need to highlight the benefits. When he will be in a position to appreciate these benefits, price and negotiations come into play. There actually can't be any negotiation if the customer is not convinced and he'll simply start throwing low-ball figures in front of you and will take you for a ride. So, highlight the benefits first.

Done. See my last posts on this thread...

 

[saurabhjaindelhi2008]

He is actually not yet convinced, even if you have done your 100%. A bit more of work will close this sale. Believe me, it's a sale. If a prospect is not interested, he doesn't care to reply back. When he is replying and asking you something, believe me he is interested.

 

[saurabhjaindelhi2008]

When I am saying "Convinced, I mean to say, "100% Convinced". He seems to be interested, but not 100% convinced.

 

[Fuadiansyah]

When I am saying "Convinced, I mean to say, "100% Convinced". He seems to be interested, but not 100% convinced.

So, what should I do now to make them 100% convinced?
Any hint? I mean practical hint...