question Outbound Sales $

[Cdomains]

I was just wondering what your experience has been with getting higher $ amounts for domains when contacting end users with outbound email.

My experience has been it is hard to get good $ when you contact them, and you must give a price to get a good response rate.

Excluding Geo domains (which seem to always go for less than 1k, and mostly in the low $xxx) I have found it is usually hard to crack the 2k mark when you contact them.

What do you think?

 

[Cdomains]

"Expensive" is just a perception based on investment level.

Good point.

 

[wormfood]

Aren't there some kinds of domains that will probably never sell if you don't do some kind of outreach?

For example, if you have a three-word geo domain parked and you are getting consistent revenue and traffic, but no business owner knows about the domain (or cares / understands / etc.) and that it is for sale, how are they going to find you? I guess some might, but it seems unlikely. Instead, you can pitch it to them and show stats or explain how it will improve their current name that is four parts, two of them being strange abbreviations for words.

There are lots of domains on the marketplaces. It's easy to say people will find you if your domains are in high demand already, but just because a domain isn't consistently in demand doesn't mean it's too low quality to contact end users about. If you are getting very little interest by putting it in the marketplaces, it could just mean the 10 end users who could really benefit (really, not just you think they might) from the domain are focusing on much more important things than this.

 

[DomainVP]

Aren't there some kinds of domains that will probably never sell if you don't do some kind of outreach?

Yes, those are called bad domains.

Those are the ones that will likely never sell with outreach as well.

Maybe $20 - $50 profit is fine by some people that just want to huckster bad domains for little profit.

I guess it's all perspective. If you want nice paydays, you protect your intellectual property, and you wait for inbound inquiries.

OR

If you want a $200 sale from a $8 buy (plus renewals) you made three years ago, then outbound sales is the way to go.

 

[Cdomains]

How do you explain the success of brokers?

Domain Name Sales for instance, they do outbound and apparently have much success with it.

Nuff Said!!

 

[DomainVP]

How do you explain the success of brokers?

You mean the people that 'accept' premium domains and start doing outreach?

Easily explained; owners don't know what to do with domains, or how to make them attractive to buyers without doing outbound sales.

There are better ways besides doing outbound sales... but thats just knowledge acquired over time.

Any time you do outreach; you are leaving money on the table in favor of the buyer.

 

[Cdomains]

Any time you do outreach; you are leaving money on the table in favor of the buyer.

I can't argue with that statement and I agree with it, however outbound does have it's place and can be effective.

 

[wormfood]

I would like the business I do to be win-win. So I don't need to worry about leaving money on the table as long as I get a decent profit, the buyer doesn't show signs of feeling like they are getting ripped off, and the settled-on price feels reasonable.

I can't possibly know the budget of every person who would be interested in my domain, so any BIN price I set could scare away a lot of people who would still pay a fair price..or maybe get close to the BIN with negotiation.
And if I set it to make offer, how will I know if the interested parties aren't just other domain investors who see an opportunity and are willing to go contact that obvious end user that isn't actively looking for the domain.. and sell it for a nice profit because I wasn't willing to? Unless I am supposed to make a guess at what that company is willing to pay and then sell it near that price.

What percentage of "good" domains are just going to bring offers to your inbox? Because not everyone can own "great" domains when they start.. or maybe they prefer doing simple geo domains where there isn't generic appeal and lots of demand. I guess I will try to figure out the better ways of selling besides basic inbound and outbound.

 

[Cdomains]

I would like the business I do to be win-win. So I don't need to worry about leaving money on the table as long as I get a decent profit, the buyer doesn't show signs of feeling like they are getting ripped off, and the settled-on price feels reasonable.

I can't possibly know the budget of every person who would be interested in my domain, so any BIN price I set could scare away a lot of people who would still pay a fair price..or maybe get close to the BIN with negotiation.
And if I set it to make offer, how will I know if the interested parties aren't just other domain investors who see an opportunity and are willing to go contact that obvious end user that isn't actively looking for the domain.. and sell it for a nice profit because I wasn't willing to? Unless I am supposed to make a guess at what that company is willing to pay and then sell it near that price.

What percentage of "good" domains are just going to bring offers to your inbox? Because not everyone can own "great" domains when they start.. or maybe they prefer doing simple geo domains where there isn't generic appeal and lots of demand. I guess I will try to figure out the better ways of selling besides basic inbound and outbound.

A good perspective.

 

[Bullock]

If you want a $200 sale from a $8 buy (plus renewals) you made three years ago, then outbound sales is the way to go.

Why don't you consider this as a 'business model?

For someone is better a good ROI today rather than a big stroke who knows when

I don't agree in the analogy outbound = discount/low price because if a prospect replies "how much" means him/her is interested!
So, at this point, the negotiation resumes his power.

 

[Cdomains]

So, at this point, the negotiation resumes his power.

Good point, if someone replies perhaps they are interested enough to pay a decent price.

After all, in a busy world with lots of distractions, somebody who takes the time to respond to your offer must have interest in what you are offering if they take the time to respond to it.

 

[Edward Smeu]

I would like the business I do to be win-win. So I don't need to worry about leaving money on the table as long as I get a decent profit, the buyer doesn't show signs of feeling like they are getting ripped off, and the settled-on price feels reasonable.

Excellent.

 

[SBS66]

..owners don't know what to do with domains..

... but thats just knowledge acquired over time.

Any time you do outreach; you are leaving money on the table in favor of the buyer.

I'm curious how you gain that knowledge while you wait for inbound? Let me guess...read, read, read. Because it's obviously not an action taken by people who wait for inbound--by definition, they are just waiting for the inbound.

As for leaving money on the table, time is money, is it not? So how is that time waiting for the inbound $X,XXX valued?

It's interesting that domaining seems to be the only business where inaction is favored, at least if I am to judge by the comments here that advocate the rocking-chair method, that is, wait for inbounds.

In no other business does anyone advocate that you learn to buy inventory and wait. There is obviously a difference between an investment and a business. If a business then you have to do something, and you also learn by doing, even if that means spending some money initially to buy worthless crap (like I've done). Usually you learn where the investments are to be found. Example from another industry: real estate, where as an agent you learn to sell and also learn to invest.

I was "spammed" recently by a domainer with a free email account who offered me a type-in domain associated with my business. I paid what they asked (which was under $200)...didn't even haggle because I know what it's worth to me but they didn't. Those that speak of spamming miss the link between sending an email that has a connection to the end-user and offers an opportunity.

As for owners not knowing what to do with domains, I would think that I would stop buying stuff I don't know what to do with--in my book, it's called hoarding for no good reason (!)--they could just let them expire or sell them cheaply here. Or maybe it' more of they'd rather wait or let someone else do the sale.

 

[DomainVP]

I'm curious how you gain that knowledge while you wait for inbound?

It's out there.

 

[Federer]

There are plenty of profits to be generated via outbound sales if you are buying and marketing the right types of domains (product/service), and contacting the right people at the right companies.
Of course, the passive approach is more profitable - but whilst waiting for the inbound sales to mount up, the active marketing strategy can yield excellent results if you are committed, disciplined and consistent.

There are many, many .COM/.NET domain names that drop each day with some kind of commercial value. Many product/service types (or GEOs) can be flipped for 50-100x ROI (speaking from experience).

Yes, you will need to get out of your comfort zone - most domain investors are lazy. But the results/ROI is worth it. Re-invest a large portion of the profits into domains that will sell over time (passive).

 

[DomainVP]

There are plenty of profits to be generated via outbound sales if you are buying and marketing the right types of domains (product/service), and contacting the right people at the right companies.
Of course, the passive approach is more profitable - but whilst waiting for the inbound sales to mount up, the active marketing strategy can yield excellent results if you are committed, disciplined and consistent.

There are many, many .COM/.NET domain names that drop each day with some kind of commercial value. Many product/service types (or GEOs) can be flipped for 50-100x ROI (speaking from experience).

Yes, you will need to get out of your comfort zone - most domain investors are lazy. But the results/ROI is worth it. Re-invest a large portion of the profits into domains that will sell over time (passive).

Or by marketing your domain you are cheapening it's resale value to the point where someone who would have been interested at $x,xxx now is just waiting for you to drop it.

Your budget is also a lot different that the guy who is just starting out in 2016. So those .COM/.NET names with commercial value that go for auction at $500 and up are unattainable on a regular basis.

Waiting for inbound isn't a function of laziness, it's a function of smart selective strategy.

 

[Federer]

You are not seeing the point. I am not talking about marketing your better/best .COM/.NET domains.
I am talking about the countless opportunities there are daily to pick up $x expired domains (after they drop) and flip them for $250-$500. You do not need a great amount of capital for these.
These types are NOT the type that go for $x,xxx in passive mode.

 

[trp3]

most domain investors are lazy

Exactly this.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Investors and flippers are the different terms/things.

 

[Federer]

How is a domain flipper, not an investor? They invest in domain names (dropped/expired/at auction) with the intent to reach out to end users and sell the domain name for a profit.

There is nothing wrong with passive sales (best strategy for max. ROI) and there is nothing wrong with generating liquidity with outbound sales. They are 2 different strategies and there are many domain investors that actually mix the 2.

 

[wormfood]

How do you gauge the end user demand for a domain name before buying it? It's probably not that hard for "top" domains. But for some domains, I don't think we can say that if only you would wait long enough, a buyer would probably come offering x,xxx. You can believe it, hope for it, or maybe play a numbers game and have so many good domains that you are bound to get those offers at least a couple times a year.

I guess you wouldn't call a person who buys houses or property purely to flip them quickly an investor? A real estate investor is someone who just sits on their property, puts up a for sale sign, and doesn't do any outreach?