Finding Buyers

[diverge]

Has anyone at DNF had any success at actively seeking buyers for domains outside the Internet? Here is the theoretical scenario:

1. Buy up domains with universal appeal
2. Draft a snail mail letter to companies who would be attracted to such a name.
3. Sell them a combo package -- domain name along with web design, hosting, email, etc.

May be a lot of work, but given the right sales approach could be very profitable -- and a valuable service to bring small businesses onto the web.

I am curious if this has been done successfully. Would also be interested in horror stories from attempting this.

 

[system0]

its a good idea but i large to mid sized companies who purchase domain names etc usually have their hosting and design needs sorted

sending a letter to companies is a good idea though

 

[diverge]

I was thinking more along the small business route. For instance, I just won "houseofvacuums.com" from NW for $8.75. There is a retail mom-and-pop here in Tulsa by that name. I am thinking of visiting them and offering a package deal. Of course, if this particular store doesn't bite, there are 322 matches for "house of vacuums" on google, so I may go the letter route after that.

Just wondering if anyone else has any tips or lessons learned from this type of "cold call" approach.

 

[PinPoint WS]

Also sell names by listings, if the ..net is taken i have found I immeaditaly sell 25 percent of the .coms to the ,net owners

 

[TexasFilly]

Direct mail campaigns do work.... it's more effort and time.. but end results are all that matters..

 

[beatz]

Besides 1 or 2 exceptions *all* the names that i have sold were sold to retail reallife businesses.

80% coldcall.

Surprises me that this seems to be rather uncommon for lots of people here - funny, as for me the only buyer that *really* makes sense is the retail enduser buyer, not reseller.

And btw - i never needed 1 single letter.

Phone is the key.

 

[diverge]

Originally posted by beatz
Besides 1 or 2 exceptions *all* the names that i have sold were sold to retail reallife businesses.

80% coldcall.

Surprises me that this seems to be rather uncommon for lots of people here - funny, as for me the only buyer that *really* makes sense is the retail enduser buyer, not reseller.

And btw - i never needed 1 single letter.

Phone is the key.

Wow. Great, thanks for the tip! Yeah, that sounds like phone would be best, because you have their attention long enough to explain that you are not just another one-size-fits-all telemarketer, but that you genuinely have a unique item that they should see great value in. I like to work with people who are still as-of-yet unfamiliar with the Internet (and no, not just to take advantage of their naivity). I would imagine if a face-to-face meeting cannot be achieved, phone would be my next bet.

Thanks again for the feedback. Anyone else try this with any success?

 

[whitelion]

Many people say they have success with Spam. But i disagree with this method. I find it offensive and rude.

 

[diverge]

Originally posted by whitelion
Many people say they have success with Spam. But i disagree with this method. I find it offensive and rude.

Do you mean sending a targetted email to people whose business closely reflect the domain name you wish to sell, or blanket mass mailings trying to promote a bunch of random domains (or your domain sales website)? The former doesn't sound like spam to me, since the intended recipients would all be handpicked businesses based on their potential interest in the specific domain (although, I suppose, but standard definition, this is still "spam", since it is unsolicited). The latter, of course, is spam, and "offensive and rude", as you pointed out.

My personal experience, unfortunately, with the targetted email tactic was not successful. However, I have only attempted to sell about a dozen domains in this fashion.

Thoughts?

 

[beatz]

Reasons why email doesn't work in most cases:

- Your potential buyers in not expecting your email so it's very likely your email message gets kicked into the trashcan before it has even been read.
- The email might get read but how do you know if it's the decision maker who reads it?
- What tells you that person forwards your email to the decisionmaker and does NOT just delete it ?
- Etc.,etc.

A good way though is to call them up first, find out who is the decision maker, talk to that guy, THEN send him an email.
This way

- he already knows about you
- your email is awaited
- you can relate to the phone conversation you had
- you can call him by his first name (maybe)
- you have made sure the email reaches the *decision maker*
- all in all your email *then* is already more like a message between two business partners than unwanted spam

Psychology is everything.Besides the phone.

 

[spietreser]

Great tips, beatz!

Now, if you call a large company I guess you can't just ask for the CEO. How do you get to speak the person you need? I would ask for the marketing manager, am I right?

Also, how do you go on setting a price for the domain? I know that some people have made sales for around or over $2k for domains that seem crappy to others. How do you negotiate to get them to pay prices like that?

Any input is greatly appreciated as I'm about to try this telephone method.

 

[Keith]

Originally posted by spfanstiel

My personal experience, unfortunately, with the targetted email tactic was not successful. However, I have only attempted to sell about a dozen domains in this fashion.

I have had 100% success with this way. Then again, I have only tried it with one domain. :razz:

 

[gckorn]

Hello all.

I tried a snail mail campaign with my PrecisionCycles set (all TLDs but .net). Sent to about 50 different Precision Cycles stores throughout the U.S. There was NO response. Still, I think this could be a good route.

gckorn
[email protected]
http://www.Maine.info
http://www.ZouZou.org

 

[David G]

Originally posted by spfanstiel ..... there are 322 matches for "house of vacuums" on google, so I may go the letter route after that.

Sorry to give you bad news, but 322 google matches is extremely low by Google standards.

It may also be a trademark and name used at other stores around the nation, so perhaps someone will want it.

 

[diverge]

322 matches for a generic name is poor. 322 "exact matches" for a phrase such as "house of vacuums" is pretty good. I mean, how many of those refer to anything besides an actual company name or slogan?

Update: I still have not contacted them ("House of Vacuums") yet. Will try and do that this week and will let you know how it pans out.

 

[Duke]

I think so much marketing fails because the seller has priced the domains far to high to appeal to small business. You mentioned $2K. There are precious few small businesses that would ever even dream of spending that much on a domain name. Rather than sit around waiting for a year or two to make one 2K sale, why don't you make dozens of $300-$400 sales and rake in a dramatically higher profit?

Turnover is the key in virtually every business, but for some reason not many seem to get that in this business. Must be the residual effects from the late 90's when everyone thought every domain name was worth a fortune. Anther nice thing about that approach is I have had to do very little active marketing. People land on the for sale pages, see a reasonable price and buy week in and week out without fail. Just sold two more in that range this morning in fact.

Having been a small businessman for many years with real world and interet stores, I have a pretty good handle on their budgeting mindset. I aim to get $200-$500 for almost all of the domains I sell and I have sold close to 300 of them since last fall. That is still a great markup. This is the only business I have ever been involved in where people weren't satisfied making 20 to 30 times their investment! If you are trying to sell a frying pan for $800 you won't sell many (unless you are selling to the U.S. government of course), but at $15 you can sell a lot of them a still make a decent profit.

 

[diverge]

I agree. I don't price that high at all. I was thinking more in the $200 range -- plus some optional upsells for hosting, design, etc.

I tried to sell radios their call letters (i.e., k???.com) for $50 via cold call last summer and struck out miserably. Perhaps the "lie-in-wait" approach is much more effective (and less confrontational).

Thanks for the tip, Duke.

 

[hhunterjr]

Before you let any domain go for $200 though, do as much research on the buyer as possible. There are multimillionaire buyers out there who are cheap by nature and will try to take advantage of this recession that the US is in.

These people with money will argue that your domain name is not worth anything. Alternatively, they'll argue that even if it is worth something, they just don't have big bucks to pay for the name. Basically, they're trying to take advantage of the sluggish economy to get something for nothing.

I made the mistake of not researching the buyer on my last domain name sale. I made a little money off of the deal, but I later found out that the buyer could've afforded much more and was basically taking me for a ride. I wished that I had done my research on the buyer and I definitely will not make that mistake again.

Lesson: Do as much research on the buyer as possible before giving up the domain for pennies.

[email protected]
http://www.domainterritory.com

 

[dotNetKing]

Good tip Harold.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by hhunterjr
I made the mistake of not researching the buyer on my last domain name sale. I made a little money off of the deal, but I later found out that the buyer could've afforded much more and was basically taking me for a ride.

I'm sorry I can't agree with this at all. You are the professional domain name seller. If you don't know what the domain is worth you deserve to be taken for a ride! Why should someone pay more than market value for something just because they have more money than someone else? Again, this is thinking that seems to be reserved only for the domain business. A Chevrolet dealer doesn't say "Hey that guy is a millionaire - let's change the price on this Chevolet from $15,000 to $50,000"!

I can see where buyers should research sellers to make sure they are reputable and likely to deliver the goods once they are paid. But I have never seen any need to investigate my buyers. If anyone wants to pay the price I want for a domain that's why I am here - to sell it!! I have sold enough to know at what price I can turn them over quickly for a very good profit. I put most of them on PPC engines first so if I find out they are earning money and have some inherent value beyond the domain name, I adjust the price accordingly.

The bottom line is I treat this business like any other business. I think these movable prices and sellers refusing to tell buyers what they want for a domain (the buyer is supposed to give a figure first!) are the biggest roadblock most sellers face. When people put a domain for sale list on this forum with no prices I completely ignore it. If you are the seller and don't know what you want for a domain, how am I supposed to know?!

They do business like this is places like Tijuana Mexico but I think it is a huge turnoff to customers in the modern industrialized world. They don't buy any other products that way, so what makes you think they are going to play those games when they want a domain?

The foregoing are my own opinions and they have served me very well in the short time I have been in this business. Your mileage may vary.