Phone Call From Enduser...need some veteran feedback

[ZandyMan]

Hey there,

So I normally sell my domains on the forums, but decided to be a little bold last week and fired off some emails to some end users. In particular, I emailed a company whose acronym equals LLLL.com I own. Since they obviously don't own the 4 letter that matches perfectly, they use the 4 letter with an "a" at the end. I sent a polite email asking if they would be interested in acquiring the 4 letter.com. I got a phone call today from an Ad agency that represents the end-user. The woman asked for my asking price and I gave it to her ($650...not unreasonable if you ask me...though of course I'm biased). She said she would present it to the company, but that she "didn't agree with what I was doing." I replied that I was simply offering them a product like anything else and that they were free to reject it. It is now 10 minutes after the conversation and what she said is really bothering me. I was wondering if I approached this the wrong way. Should I have taken a different tact? I'm looking for some input from vets who have experience dealing with endusers. Thanks.

 

[banners]

Personally I would just withdraw the offer. If the company contacts you asking why you can explain how much of B*& she was.

You do not have to do business with these people.

I'd sit on it , i'd think you would eventually get a better offer even if it is x years later.


DISCLAIMER.
This is just how I would do things, not necessarily the best way to go about it. But I would not continue business with a remark like that.

 

[Whogister]

For one thing it isn't her job or place to tell you her opinion about what you are doing.
Obviously her client is interested since she's been instructed to contact you.
If my representative acted like this they would be short one client in their portfolio.

 

[owntype]

I would suggest you send another email to the company, letting them know your asking price and preferred payment method.

Simply ignoring that call, at least you know they are interested in buying the domain name.

 

[Chapel]

If she was from an ad agency - it's funny she's bothered by either the price you gave her (which i think was more than fair(i would've charged way more)) or the fact that we "domain" as a business and she thinks of "Squatters".

On the other hand if she's bothered by the price - coming from an "Ad agency" (i used to work for one) I know what they charge companies like Ford for an animated banner $XX,XXX so it's laughable that she might think your charging "too much".


Don't let it bother you. And when the owner of the company calls you mention her name and tell him the price is triple cuz of her. lol j/k (don't do that)

Personally I'd withdraw the original offer and contact the client directly.

 

[The Stealthy One]

I seriously would not worry about it. Who cares how she acts? If they are interested and end up purchasing it, you have your money, right? And that's what matters. :D

 

[-Adam-]

I would suggest you send another email to the company, letting them know your asking price and preferred payment method.

Simply ignoring that call, at least you know they are interested in buying the domain name.

^Best advice right here and well said. (Look up..)


If you consider yourself a businessman you will take this with a "grain of salt." Just chalk it up to being Monday and she was having a case of it. Your job is to be professional and as long as you aren't doing anything unethical or immoral she is just a person who is in the dark as to what we do and who we are. However if she continues to be rude just politely ask to speak to her superior and explain the situation to him/her and let them know you do not appreciate her approach. There is no reason not to make a sale because one person disagrees with what your doing due to lack of knowledge.

 

[Michael]

I agree with owntype as well. Don't withdraw your offer, but try to deal with the decision makers directly. She obviously isn't a decision maker if she needs to run it by people. As to why she was so rude, she probably sees you as a cybersquatter trying to extort money from them.

I doubt it had anything to do with the price, because they probably pay more than that for a small ad buried in the Sunday paper that only gets seen for a few days and is gone. They can't put a price on securing their brand online forever, so I doubt she was balking at the asking price (I would have asked for 10 times that).

Just be careful to search for TM issues when approaching end users, and if the domain is parked, make sure it isn't showing ads for them or their competitors.

Good luck with your negotiations, and please keep us updated on your progress.

 

[seven]

Hey there,

So I normally sell my domains on the forums, but decided to be a little bold last week and fired off some emails to some end users. In particular, I emailed a company whose acronym equals LLLL.com I own. Since they obviously don't own the 4 letter that matches perfectly, they use the 4 letter with an "a" at the end. I sent a polite email asking if they would be interested in acquiring the 4 letter.com. I got a phone call today from an Ad agency that represents the end-user. The woman asked for my asking price and I gave it to her ($650...not unreasonable if you ask me...though of course I'm biased). She said she would present it to the company, but that she "didn't agree with what I was doing." I replied that I was simply offering them a product like anything else and that they were free to reject it. It is now 10 minutes after the conversation and what she said is really bothering me. I was wondering if I approached this the wrong way. Should I have taken a different tact? I'm looking for some input from vets who have experience dealing with endusers. Thanks.

Sounds like a very fair price to me. If I was company, I'd jump at it. I don't know where this rep got the impression they had standing to say that. If it was me, I'd say tell her to forget it then. I don't email potential endusers so I never find myself in your position, but you always have to remember that you're in charge during negotiations.

I never let anyone give me any flak. If they do, I'll walk away no problem. Remember that you are the one with the commodity. If I was in your situation, I'd cut off communication with that company. It's at this time, a more intelligent hierarchy is going to realize what they just lost out on. When they come crawling back, you just might be in talks with someone else.

 

[TestCase]

Strange that they have their ad agency dealing with you.

I can pretty much guarantee the ad agency will be tacking on some sort of mark-up before they pass it along to their client. For example, on a typical print ad I believe they get a 15% discount off the normal rate you or I would pay if we placed it direct ourselves. They then bill the client the full retail rate and the 15% is their profit.

I would suggest you contact the primary company and let them know what your asking price is as well as how the ad agency rep treated you. If nothing else, in the end they'll find out how (badly?!?!) their ad agency did or did not rip them off on the price .

By the way, the price seems VERY fair to me.

 

[Earthian]

I don't think she said that because of the price




I think she either said it because she thinks that all domainers are cybersquatters (common misconception)




or because she thought you specifically registered that domain to sell it to the company ... in which case (supposing that you registered it in good faith) you should point her to an article or forum thread that explains that all LLLLs have been registered for more than a year now (even strange/obscure letter combinations) and that you bought this domain due to its scarcity and not so as to "blackmail" the specific company about it




it is wise to check for trademarks in relation to the domain/initials ... as well as the date of the domain registration in relation to the date of the trademark registration (if any)




you could also try to "circumvent" her (by trying to contact her supervisor) but that might not necessarily be easy if the company has given her/her-ad-company the task to acquire the domain (and the original company is not familiar with marketing or the internet)

​

 

[ripley]

If you're in an industry that has a reputation for using shoddy business practices, I don't think that you can be surprised or get your feelings hurt when someone hints around about it. All you can do is show that you're a professional business person through your own dealings, and disassociate yourself with those bad elements (in this case, cybersquatters). There's no way at this point to really bring it up now that the conversation is passed, but next time I would simply respond with something like:

"I know some people have tarred us all with the same bad brush, but I'm a serious investor in domain assets and I do not knowingly purchase ones that infringe on someone's trademarks. This domain has been registered for XX time and is so generic that many dozens of organizations could be interested in purchasing it, potentially." Or something like that. If you really want to put them on the spot, depending on the level of abuse being hurled at you, you might also ask them -- politely -- to point you to their registered mark. If they can't do it, well......

At this point, probably the best thing to do is let it roll off your back. It smarts, but if you end up with a sale, does it matter? You know you aren't trying to rip someone off.

ripley.

 

[JoshuaPz]

Check out my post #821 is the "Selling to end-users" thread. Many end-users prospects consider domain investment shady but become more sympathetic once you provide an analogue with brick-and-mortal real estate.

Incidentally, a few months back one of my pitches elicited the more acerbic response "I abhore this practice, but name your price." The domain I was selling him was GiantInternational(.)com and his current (obviously inferior) one was GiantInter(.)com. We settled on a $400 tag and the subsequent transaction went very smoothly, amounting to a 40x ROI.

 

[FreshAvails.com]

Who cares what she thinks? If you are confident in your own ethical dealings, it doesn't matter what she thinks. She is entitled to her opinion. Do not call her supervisor, you will sound like a baby. Also do not contact the client again. They sent her to deal with you. Don't make this difficult.

The reason the ad agency contacted you is because they probably design and manage the website. I would hold firm on your price and make sure that they pay for any financial transaction fees.

Make the sale and move on. Next time an agency contacts you, set your price higher. Also do some research on the company/industry you are contacting to get a true picture of value. If you had been able to frame the domain as a business opportunity, you might have gotten a call from the company rather that the marketing firm. The idea is to get them excited by the opportunity of owning a better more valuable domain name than they have, not an unwelcome expense. Good Luck

 

[Earthian]

after reading MrSpartan's post it occured to me that in my previous post I might appear to suggest that you should try to contact her supervisor ... actually I do not , I think trying to explain the LLLL sellout/scarcity issue might be more appropriate on this case since I think she probably just thinks you regged the name so as to sell it to the company







on the other hand , if she is negatively predisposed against domainers in general (or just towards you specifically , because of the reason described in the previous paragraph) ... then it might be a good idea to try to contact her supervisor (or the original company) because she might stubbornly disagree for a fair deal with you (or insist on a really low price) because she would not be seeing what you do as legitimate

you would not want to lose a good deal for you and the company because of the ad agency employer's opinion towards domaining

also she could be just bluffing (or playing tough) so that you lower your price or accept a lower counter-offer

​

 

[ripley]

I really doubt trying to go above her head will in any way help your case and might actively hurt it. A) She may not have a supervisor; what if she's the principal in the agency? and B) if she does have one, he or she may think the same way she does, and in the end you'll just make two people angry and possibly make yourself look like a difficult crank to boot. I can't envision any possible advantage to calling her supervisor (or the company she's representing) to complain about her not being nice to you; it isn't as if she's your customer service rep -- this company owes you nothing. It won't help you make a sale and might actively hurt it.

ripley.

 

[ZandyMan]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess I was wondering if my initial action of initiating contact with a potential enduser was a questionable practice. No one so far has said that it is. After having a day to reflect on the phone call...I think she simply was ignorant about the legitimate practice of domaining. She definitely was of the impression that anyone trying to sell a domain is a cybersquatter and nothing I could say was going to change her mind. Anyways, I have moved on. If they call back and want to make a deal...great...if not...that is ok too...and I will still have a very good llll.com that will gain some value over the years. Cheers.

 

[ripley]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess I was wondering if my initial action of initiating contact with a potential enduser was a questionable practice.

It absolutely is not, provided you aren't infringing on someone's trademark and trying to essentially hold a company hostage by offering to sell them their trademark. Otherwise, it's a product you're marketing to a business just like any other. I have closed three enduser deals for generic domains over the past two weeks in just this fashion. Sometimes people get cranky about this stuff (usually because you have what they want and they don't want to pay for it). Sometimes people are just ignorant. But you aren't doing anything wrong by marketing a product.

ripley.

 

[Earthian]

ripley - I did not say he should try to contact her supervisor or the original company per se (by the way , I was referring to the original company when I said company in my previous post and not the ad agency)

I was just mentioning that there are cases that ... a. you don't want to mess a deal because of an employer's personal opinion about domaining ... and b. the original company might be more than willing to pay the mid $XXX asking price while a stubborn ad agent might not be willing to pay more than reg fee





ZandyMan - I have also talked in the past to someone (in some company) with a rather similar opinion about selling domains ... my reply was that since domains need money to register and money to renew every year (as well as time and effort to select-which-to-reg-or-buy and to administer) they are an investment and not just a "squat" on a free resource

as an investment the selling price would be defined by demand and supply (and not necessarily by cost of acquisiton) ... just because someone bought Microsoft shares for a buck back in 1990 it doesn't mean that he would also sell them for a buck nowdays that investment has appreciated

​

 

[JamesDavid]

I don't think she said that because of the price

I think she either said it because she thinks that all domainers are cybersquatters (common misconception)

​

It is funny you say that. i was telling a new friend the other day how I make extra cash doing domaining. When I told him that I buy and sell intellectual property and market it to companies, his exact response was "Oh... a cybersquatter" after about 10 minutes explaining to him the value of domains and potential and how they are a product and investment he understood.

It is just sad that it is so widely considered a bad trade.....

As for your offer I would hold out, you did nothing wrong as long as its not trademarked. It is her problem if she thinks it is wrong. The biggest thing is when i pitch a name to a company I always remove it from parking sites, etc.. I usually put a blank page up there or something to make sure it never EVER has their ads on it then it coudl be bad....