The Sweat - A Negotiating Tactic

[Spade]

Negotiating a domain sale is a lot like poker. The buyer and the seller both have a hand of cards. Those cards represent facts ranging from attitudes to price tags.

One sales tactic that I must stress is something I call "The Sweat". How quickly you react to conversations, emails, or offers can often times give a "tell" about your willingness to part with a domain name. The obvious tells are when you are quick to react, your a wheeler/dealer meaning that you have the ability and the desire to negotiate and you are eager to make this deal happen.

If you lag on a response (This is the Sweat) it demonstrates a lack of urgency, and no strong desire to make a deal happen. In this period of negotiations if you were to leave the potential suitor with the idea that your not a fan of the offer, but will consider it. You've gone ahead and asked for another offer, without flatly rejecting the current one.

Response times can be key in negotiations. Never respond to quickly unless the situation calls for it. Desperation in negotiations leaves the other party in a much stronger position. By applying the Sweat, often times the interested party will reveal a little more about their intentions and needs, putting you in a strong negotiating position.

Happy Negotiating!

Justin

 

[Jeff]

^ I love it ... be patient, and stay cool friends! :music: :talk:

As always, thanks for your input Mr. Spade. :yell:

Off to call (and negotiate) with two End users for one of my $ Geo .ORG's ...
-Jeff

 

[JoshuaPz]

Excellent tip, Justin. I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[tepies36]

What would be considered responding too quickly...w/in 24 hours?

 

[mhdoc]

I had a buyer get back to me 8 months after we had negotiated a price

 

[GF]

Justin -
This is fantastic advice, and probably where I screw up the worst.

I have a Blackberry, so I'm pretty quick at replying to e-mails, and ESPECIALLY when receiving an offer on one of my domains.

I will begin to employ "The Sweat" now. I'll update you on my successes :tu:

Galel

 

[-Adam-]

I have normally waited 24 hours although every ounce of me has to fight the urge to reply asap.

 

[Spade]

What would be considered responding too quickly...w/in 24 hours?

Its going to be relative, but typically your first response CAN be within 24 hours. You do want to come off as a professional who checks their email often, you just dont want to come off as a quick to move seller. I usually respond to inquiries/offers between 6-8hours later.

Often times you can get a live dialogue going via email. Where you send an email and within minutes you get a response. Thats where you want to be careful and whenever considering a price - make sure you dont respond too quickly. Wait at least hours and sometimes even 48-72 hours. You'll really need to try and read the situation because each one is very different. I have negotiated $x,xxx sales in a matter of minutes (which is usually a very poor strategy). But in the right situation - it can work.

Justin

 

[lzy]

Very true, thanks for pointing it out. :]

 

[Steven]

Excellent point Spade
Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[tepies36]

Its going to be relative, but typically your first response CAN be within 24 hours. You do want to come off as a professional who checks their email often, you just dont want to come off as a quick to move seller. I usually respond to inquiries/offers between 6-8hours later.

Often times you can get a live dialogue going via email. Where you send an email and within minutes you get a response. Thats where you want to be careful and whenever considering a price - make sure you dont respond too quickly. Wait at least hours and sometimes even 48-72 hours. You'll really need to try and read the situation because each one is very different. I have negotiated $x,xxx sales in a matter of minutes (which is usually a very poor strategy). But in the right situation - it can work.

Justin

Great info..thanks.

 

[jeffoverman]

i second this one... happened to me this morning and had an offer before this thread was formed and we went back and forth

thanks in forming this thread, when emails me back, i will not respond so quickly.

great thread and advice..

Justin -
This is fantastic advice, and probably where I screw up the worst.

I have a Blackberry, so I'm pretty quick at replying to e-mails, and ESPECIALLY when receiving an offer on one of my domains.

I will begin to employ "The Sweat" now. I'll update you on my successes :tu:

Galel

 

[Pred]

definitely some truth in this. but dont forget the other angle, strike while the iron is hot

with endusers, i would say leave one or two days. theres so many timewasters anyway.
i recently read Rick Schwartz only gets back to about 10% of enquiries with endusers. i bet most of us, myself included get back to 95%, and 95% of them waste our time by not getting back, as they were scammers, lowballing domainers with gmails or simply wanted to pay peanuts etc

with domainers its different. if you wait a day or two they probably have simply moved onto something else especially now as so many deals on table. buyers king and everyone knows it right now, unless you have a special name you really dont want to sell or someone is just lowballing you

a lot of domainers simply waste time and dont read the initial post either. often noobs

i think best policy is get back quick in most cases, ie couple hours. with time zone differences, if an american guy contacts me in his early eve it might be 2am here and im off to bed any second or asleep already. so it will have to wait til next day, so i like to get back then, in those circumstances. then i may have a nice pm for breakfast!i prefer to be black and white when dealing with domainers, and if i dont get my bottom price it comes off the table til another time or developed or enduser

it is nice though when you have a cracking domain and lots of interest when people know you will prob sell at a fair price. the sweat can be applied in a different way. where they know for a fact you are dealing with others and being as open as possible and its really down to someone just to move and take at bin or offer a very fair price just to make sure they bag it

bit like an auction in front of your eyes via pm

we can call it the 'sweaty pm' ® :sold:

 

[Spade]

with domainers its different. if you wait a day or two they probably have simply moved onto something else especially now as so many deals on table.

Im not entirely disagreeing with you. However, I should have made a point that im refering to end-user negotiations - not with domainers. Frankly, I hate dealing with Domainers - its like negotiating with myself.

 

[Pred]

Frankly, I hate dealing with Domainers - its like negotiating with myself.

why, do they make you sweat?
:D :sold:

 

[mntor]

True to an extent when you deal with end users.

With resellers i feel its the other way. :tu:

 

[Spade]

why, do they make you sweat?
:D :sold:

No, they just annoy me. I know exactly what they are going to do - lol, Because I would do the exact same thing.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

While I have never sold an undeveloped domain for five figures, I'm guessing that the negotiation between premium and anything less is much different.

There are only so many premium domains and buyers for them, so I suppose either side could make the other sweat.

Non premiums are so common that I can't imagine many buyers are sweating. There is really no reason why non premiums can't be negotiated in just a matter of minutes if both sides are serious.

 

[Giode]

This is sound advice, and agree 100%.

 

[wot]

It also depends on the response of the potential "buyer".

I usually respond within a day. If I get a rapid negotiable price response (On the way to my price expectation) I will respond almost immediately. Sold a name for $12K like that in less than three hours total of 7 emails between parties.

My general rule of thumb is "the sweat" approach.

But whatever approach you take try to determine who you are dealing with if possible. Google the email and the username etc.