Closing the sale

[neddy]

Sold a nice real estate domain today on an extended settlement. And yesterday I sold a Gold Coast suburb geo to a real estate agent - also on a payment plan.

And I used one of my own blog articles to get both of these across the line. (I know it helped because both parties thanked me for the link!)

One of my other favourites which I use regularly is this Smart Company article.

In my experience, buyers really respond well to "authoritative" 3rd party links. If used judiciously, they can help you close deals at reasonable prices.

Imho as always.

 

[eBranding.com.au]

Great tip!

 

[James]

Good one Neddy, good articles and promotion on Linedin too.

 

[findtim]

........simply re-direct it to your agency site. Wouldn’t you rather have the “exact match domain” rather than your competitor?

thats a GREAT line.
smart company: nice article, explains it all very well.
tim

 

[Chris.C]

also on a payment plan.

I'd be very interested to read a Domainer blog post on how you structure your payment plans and how you collect the recurring payments.

I actually had a chat with a young entrepreneurial fella who lacked the upfront capital to acquire the domain yet was very confident in his business model, so I suggested we work out a payment plan which he was instantly keen on, but I've never done one before so I'm not sure what I should be wary of or provision for.

 

[TrafficSauce]

... how you structure your payment plans and how you collect the recurring payments.

Plain old lay-by has worked for us in the past - do people say "lay-by" anymore??
Agree on a price and a payment time frame/guide. Once the final balance has been paid, kick off the COR.
As a sign of good faith or incentive to see through the payments (depending how you look at it) you could let the purchaser use the domain from the beginning of the agreement.

...but many ways to skin that cat I'm sure.

 

[findtim]

i don't know about it in the domain sales space but this is what works for me in the website dev space so it could help.
basically a payment plan is whatever you can mutually agree with ! to easy.
i've done 12 and 24 month plans on very large jobs and its worked out well, with dev however i've had to do all the work and pray they pay and luckily i've had no dramas, if they didn't pay each month the deal was the site would go down...... end of story till payment was made.
99% of the time i do a 3 month plan , 3rd to start , 3rd on design approval, 3rd on completion, i may complete in 2 weeks depending on client giving me the info or it may drag out but the last 3rd is generally on me completing not the client completing.
its important to put a DATE on the end payment, you need a "line in the sand"
other times i use 3rd 3rd 3rd regardless of time taken to develop.
which basically brings me back to "basically a payment plan is whatever you can mutually agree with ! to easy."

its a balance between getting your money and making or losing the sale.

also be prepared to walk away, i made a small sale this week and i don't sell many and the person was hard yards, in the end it worked out but i was prepared to walk away, it was only $xxx and i think if it was $xxxx + my attitude would be different.

i think the difference for a domain is there is no "work" involved compared to a web dev, + they can be given access to use it instantly without being given the rights to it until final payment.

1 domain i sold i gave access to use without any deposit and the deal was payment in 3 months, looking back that was stupid of me ! i should have at least got some money upfront, but luckily the guy honored the deal and paid up on time, mostly i guess because i didn't hand over control.

i had another person want one of my domains, she agreed to the price but said " can you hold it and i'll pay in 3 months," i gave her no access . nothing ever happened, what i learnt from that was ........... get a deposit....... ANY deposit........ even if its $50 you end up with a beer and a commitment and if they don't come through......no refunds.

if you buy a ticket to the mcg and don't show up...... TOUGH

anyway, i've said enough about a subject i don't often deal with LOL.
hope some of my experiences help.

tim

 

[findtim]

do people say "lay-by" anymore??

lay-by is still HUGEEEEEEEEEEE
mid june and kmart , bigw, target etc would be PUMPING it for toy sales for xmas.
i used it once for a jumping castle for the kids, 50% off pre fin year toy sale, by the time december came i owed $40, it felt like i'd only paid $40 in total.
i also used it once for an expensive camera, it was on special heavily discounted so all i had to do was slap on 20% to secure the price then came back a few weeks later and paid it off, easy.

tim