Outbound process for beginners

Hi All,

A lot of people struggle with outbound or complain about having no sales via inbound or marketplace. Well domaining is not a get rich scheme and it takes lots of time , hard-work , capital and luck to succeed in the same.

Though everyone would love to have xxxxx sales however you cant have such big ticket sales without pouring thousands of dollars and wait for long time for the right end users to approach you. This post is for the beginner who wish to have regular xxx or low xxxx sales and keep their domaining journey going on.

3 words Geo/keyword domains has very low chances of getting sold via landing page or marketplace even if you hold them for years. Such domains can be sold via outbound easily however you have to follow the practice properly.

There are number of steps and factors in the same. I will try to list few of them here for your understanding.

Let me first share the basic..

1. Outbound is a volume game. It may happen that you wont receive any response for your first 20 domains and than your 21st domain may get sold.

2. Price is big factor . $200-$499 is a sweet spot for normal geo domains.

3. Searches and cpc matters in case of Geo/keyword domains and its easier to sell domains with good metrics.

4. Follow up matters a lot as it hardly happens that you would sell domain in your first mail itself.

5. Certain niche sells faster than other niches. Location and country matters a lot as well.

6. One need to have lots of patience and a proper schedule to succeed in outbound.

Now back to the outbound process:-

1. Find leads:- There are basically 5 ways to find lead for your domain.

a) Google.com :- You can find the list of existing companies which are presently ranking for your keyword.You can use semrush.com to get first 100 result of google.com if you wish to avoid manual work.

b) Google map/yellow-pages:- You would find names and details of the companies which are registered for that keyword in that region. For geo domains , google map works better than google.com. There are automated tools which can fetch the google map results .

c) ZFbot.com/Domainiq.com :- Both these tools provide you list of the domain which are related to your domain or have same keyword like yours.

d) Socal media:- LinkedIn etc can be great source for finding potential end user for your domain.

e) Advertisers:- It makes sense to contact the advertisers who are advertising for the keyword of your domain. You can find the list of the same from semrush.com.

2. Finding email id:- There are 3 ways to find email id for the leads you have collected from above sources.

a) Whois.com/whoxy.com :- After gdpr whois is no more openly available however you still find email ids in 20-30% cases as compared to earlier days as few registrars still shows whois detail. Whoxy.com is a portal from where you can fetch whois details in bulk.

b) Hunter.io/adapt.io :- Such paid tools are great way to find email id of potential leads. However be aware that even though they are paid tools but still email id accuracy would be 60-70% only.

c) Website:- Lastly you may directly visit the website and collect email id from there.

3. Sending mails:- This is a tricky step as it is very difficult to send mails these days. Free email id provider like gmail , yahoo etc have strict spam policy and most of your mail would land in the spam folder. Now you have 2 options:-

a) Free email providers:- You can create multiple email ids with free email providers like gmail , yahoo, outlook etc.

b) Logicboxes panel based registrar:- There are some registrar which uses logic-box panel and they provide 2 free email id along with every domain. You would have to set up email id there and use their server to send mail. It works like charm as i have tried Bigrock.com and nettigritty.com.

c) Own server:- You can set up your own smtp server and purchase multiple ip for sending mails. It is a complicated and expensive way so wont be suggested in the initial days.

4. Pricing & follow up:-

a) Pricing:- Pricing plays a very big role especially in case of geo domains and 3 words emd domains. If you price them in $200-500 range than you can easily sell them. If it was a hand registered domain or purchased from go-daddy closeout than its a great roi.

b) Followup :- Now follow up can further be divided into 2 parts:-

1. Initial mail:- Suppose you collected 50 leads of end users for a particular domain and you sent mail to them. You may have received 1-2 response and no response from other leads. You can send a follow up mail after 2-3 weeks as its highly possible that many of them may have missed your initial mail or were out of office. Though never send more than 2 follow ups or else you would be spamming in general. Further be very careful not to send mail again to the same person who has already responded "No".

2. Price inquiry:- You have sent 50 mails and have received 3-4 price inquiry. You have sent them the details regarding the domain as well as your asking price. You should follow up every week or 2 regarding their interest. Under normal circumstances it takes 4-5 follow ups to finally sell a domain. It would hardly happen than you send them price and they immediately closed the deal.

5. Closing the deal:- You again have 3 options in this.

a) Paypal:- You can send a paypal invoice to the client and they can make the payment via them. I personally transfer the domain first and than ask for payment. It has never happened with me that client didn't make payment though their were delays in couple of cases. When you first transfer the domain and than ask for payment than it create trust factor in the eyes of end-users and deal closes faster. This works best in case of xxx deals as your risk factor is low.

b) Escrow :- You can create escrow account and ask the client to complete the transaction via that. Be aware that creating account at escrow is a tedious process and many times deal gets cancelled as end users do not want to take so much of headache. Escrow is recommended in case of xxxx and xxxxx deals and not at all recommended for xxx deals.

c) Marketplace:- If your domain is registered with Godaddy than you can ask the client to directly purchase from there or via landing pages like undeveloped.com. It works very well as these marketplace have high trust factor among the general public.


Some personal suggestions based on my experience of outbound.

1. Registrar:- If your domain is with Godaddy than it is easier to sell them . Godaddy is world's largest registrar and due to their massive advertising campaign everyone is aware about them. Most of the end user have account with godaddy or they dont mind opening account at Godaddy. If your domain is with any other registrar tha always do outbound after 60 days transfer lock is over.

2. Response time:- xxx purchases are normally spontaneous decision and end users immediately pay the same. If you receive a offer or end user agrees to your price than try to close the deal instantly. If you delay than their is high possibility that end user may change their mind or look for alternative options.

3. Related domains:- If you have a singular version than always purchase plural version as well if available. Further in case of Geo domain if you are marketing .com domain than always acquire cctld version of the same to be on safe side.

4. Calling :- If you receive a price inquiry than always try to call up the client as the possibility of leads getting closed increases manifold in case of calls rather than on mail.

5. Promo offer:- If you are into hand registered game than keep a keen eye on promo offers offered by various registrar. If you can grab promo offers for .com at $3-4 range than its always a winning game.

6. Expireddomains.net:- Thousands of domains expire on daily basis and you can find lots of decent domains in daily drop list which can easily be sold in xxx range via outbound.

Last but not the least , there is a very thin line between marketing and spamming and majority of newbies dont understand the difference. Outbound is great to have regular sales and to keep the cash register rolling but most of the time we end up doing spamming. Even though i am into outbound but i am strictly against spamming.

 

This needs to be pinned somewhere. Great post and info for questions we see repeatedly.

 

Thank you. Please feel free to add any additional points which i may have missed out.

 

I have tried this 99 times, no headings but I have decided to try this maybe for the last time..
So am dedicating now till Oct ending to find out if I wil be hundred times lucky

 

I have a team of 5 people especially for outbound. I started off in November 2017 . For first 7 months , i just managed to recover my expenses , its from last 5 months that i am seeing decent profit on monthly basis.

In nutshell it takes time to learn the trick of the game and to put proper mechanism and process in place...

Wish you best of luck for your final trail.

 

Thanks @rohitgoyal for your insights...

Wonder why you took Geo domains as an example...

What happened to your plans you last posted...any progress?!

 

As i have initially mentioned this post is for beginners. It is easier for new person to purchase geo domains as its available for hand registration and can be sold easily via outbound for decent roi. Keyword and brandable domains can be tricky niche and they are not available for hand registration so new person can easily burn their finger in the same.

As for that plan , its still in pipeline and background work is going on for the same. it may take couple of more months before its implemented.

 

I would love to give it a try if the pricing is reasonable...
Good luck

 

Great thread.

I just have two questions.

1. How long does an end user normally take to reply if they are interested particularly at a big company.

2 days, same day or a week?

If they don't reply after 2 or 3 days can we assume that they are not interested?

Has anybody replied to your first original email after one or two weeks and bought the domain?


2. Is it possible and do some people sell domains doing outbound for 5 or 5 figures? (depending on the name of course)

Thanks.

 

If you explain your business model well on the domain show some good stats to an industry that has demand, Then yes, there more possibility for selling your domain. you have to put in efforts create a business model and then buy a domain, later you sell it at a good price.

 

Thank you so much for this post! All my hanging questions are answered here!

 

Great post! Great contribution to the community! Keep it up!

 

Interesting read, some of the questions for you since you'd have data and stats!

Do you include the price in first email?

How long is your first email?

Do you try different templates?

Also a suggestion; when you get a no thanks response - thank them for a reply and ask Why not? This usually strikes a conversation and you get better idea of how much the name is worth from end user's perspective.

 

I would love to hear the responses of our experienced members on this one as well!

 

Hi umer... let me answer all.your queries..

1. No I don't include price in first mail. I send price only when they ask for price.

2. My first mail is short and to the point. No one has time to read long mails. If end user is interested in the domain than they reply even with one liner mail.

3. Yes I keep on changing my mail.template as it helps in.avoiding spam.and reach inbox of the end users.

4. Yes I follow the same. Whenever client says no that I do enquire about reason for the same. If client says no after I share price than I mention.that price is negotiable and they can share their offer.. I have closed.many deals this way...

 

Thanks hopefully it was helpful...

 

Learned from.the community so always in service for the community

 

Well to a extent I agree with your point... However with time you just get a guy feeling that which domain might sell and which won't so many times I just book domains without even researching on them and it works fine for me...

 

@Eric Lyon

 

1. Well it's completely upto the end users... sometimes they close the deal.instantly and sometimes they take weeks.to clrose the deal. Yes I have closed.the deal after couple of months as well... in few cases end user themself responded after a month that they wish to purchase the domain if it's still available.

2. Yes you can close deals of xxxx or even xxxxx via outbound. Couple of my friends have done so...

 

@rohitgoyal You've done a lot man, very structured and professional guide for beginners.
Not everyone would've spent 7 months learning before sharing it for free.
Not everyone lives in the US, you're showing lots of people how to come up.
Thank you

 

Another thank you for teaching the establishment.
@allofyou
: )

 

I have wasted first year into domaining making nothing and spending money , time and peace of mind... slowly and gradually heard about the concept of outbound... I tried it myself but could.not continue for long as too much of manual work was required..

Finally hired a team and slowly and gradually learnt the process and started improvising on the same.

When I started outbound there was no one to guide me so I felt that I should already share basic steps with others those who wish to get into outbound and make domaining sustainable without heavy investment...

 

If I get a no thanks or no response I assume that they don't want to hear from me and I do not respond again. I agree with the poster that said a simple thank you and asking why not MIGHT start a conversation, but I don't think anyone owes it to me to explain why they are not interested in my domain name so I would NEVER ask that personally, in any context. I might send a simple thank you and best wishes sometimes, depends on tone of the not interested reply.

 

On my personal preference, I also think the same way since I'm a type of person that goes with the saying "one word is enough for a wise man". I'm still discovering things out, but my limited knowledge as of now is also telling me that it does not apply to sales. Hoping to hear some response from other members as well. A healthy discussion is an avenue for learning after all.