approaching an end user - best methods and techniques

[shags38]

Yes it is me again,

So regardless of whether I ( read anyone - quicker to type I) have good names or not so good names I have them to sell one day, not to put in a trophy cabinet or on a mantlepiece.

I am slowly learning about domaining (very slowly) - what I and I suppose most of us struggle with (or have struggled with / struggle from time to time) is SELLING the names.

Selling AU domains, as I have expensively learned, is not easy. There is absolutely no doubt that there is a market for many of the names that all of us own - finding the market is a task, then finding a good prospect in that market is a bigger task ........ I (we) have found what we believe are some good prospects ( a company selling dresses and we have dresses.com.au) - that company is struggling online PR 100+, or could be ranked PR1 #1.

How do you sell a domain name to a business that is already reasonably successful online suggesting that if they had this name "as well" ?

My question - I REALLY AM LOOKING FOR SOME GOOD ADVICE HERE

What is/are the best approaches to these prospects - direct by phone, email, letter - indirect through another entity. What sort of information do we provide and in what for (graphs, tables). Do you go to the big fellas first or last? Do you make the approach with or without a price? if with a price is it best to be a "starting" price or this is it price. If no price in the initial offering the when invariably asked about price is it starting at, about, market price etc ??

I have tried a number of approaches and find it difficult to get the "prospect" to get interested over the phone and in many cases do not even get replies from emails or letters. Now it could be that the names I am offering are crap but let's assume for the moment that they are in the "serviceable" category (certainly not a sex.com, but not dressesthathavepinkspotsonthemdressshopnexttogrannysjamsshop.com.au)

Here is an actual example - I have OfficeDesksOnline.com.au - taking the oline off the name office desks has some very tidy search volumes (if I was in the office furniture business I would like to have it). So Officeworks are ranked numero uno but have 9 other competitors in the top ten (I have always excelled at maths ).

serious question - How would some of you experienced domainers handle selling this domain? (if you own BestOfficeDesksOnline.com.au then you are excused from offering advice).

looking forward to advice / comments / a glass of Chardonnay

cheers,
Mike

 

[snoopy]

Personally I have never sold a domain to someone who wasn't first interested in it (aside from domainers). Not that I have a lot of experience with this thing but I think those who are able to do it use a combination of email and phone calls from what I have seen. It is hard work though, I think the marketing part is basically a job and it is usually 3 figure sales etc.

Here is an actual example - I have OfficeDesksOnline.com.au - taking the oline off the name office desks has some very tidy search volumes (if I was in the office furniture business I would like to have it). So Officeworks are ranked numero uno but have 9 other competitors in the top ten (I have always excelled at maths ).

Taking off the "online"? How about if you leave it on?

The name *is* officedesksonline.com.au and if I wanted a name that had "officedesks" somewhere in it with another word on the end I could register anything for $19.95.

Now you could say if you were in the office furniture business you want your own name but you aren't, why would officeworks competitors want it? how are they going to make money from it as opposed to any other name they could register?

 

[Shaun]

Start with emails.

I sold Hiking.com.au to an end user.

I started by Googling "Hiking" and identified a group of Hiking stores which could do better online with a premium name, as well as those already in great positions who may wish to protect themselves.

In my email I detail the significance of what a great name can do for your business. NetFleet have a good explanation here:

http://www.netfleet.com.au/Why-Are-Generic-Domains-Valuable.pdf

After a few emails, I got a few replies, had a few phone calls and agreed on a price.

Relatively simple process. Took about an hour and I profited very nicely.

 

[Drop.com.au]

The business case behind owning generic keyword related domains.

Hey Shaun,

Just make sure when you do email potential clients that you get their email address from their website. Don't use the whois to get email addresses, because this can land you into a spot of bother with auDA.

WHOIS Policy (2006-06)
http://www.drop.com.au/my_account/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=19​

If someone displays a contact email address on their site, then my opinion is that they invite contact. Same applies for Yellow Pages adds etc...

PS: I have written an article that may help you with your marketing.

The business case behind owning generic keyword related domains.
http://www.drop.com.au/my_account/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=47

Feel free to link to this article.

Best Regards,
George Pongas

 

[Shaun]

Nice one. Good article.

The more awareness, the more articles that get written, the better.

Perhaps someone needs to write a column/blog for a big newspaper/website???

Contact email forms/visit website for contact info is the best way to get to an end user. In some cases, the who is info will display who registered the URL which may not be the person who makes purchasing decisions.

 

[shags38]

Personally I have never sold a domain to someone who wasn't first interested in it (aside from domainers). Not that I have a lot of experience with this thing but I think those who are able to do it use a combination of email and phone calls from what I have seen. It is hard work though, I think the marketing part is basically a job and it is usually 3 figure sales etc.



Taking off the "online"? How about if you leave it on?

The name *is* officedesksonline.com.au and if I wanted a name that had "officedesks" somewhere in it with another word on the end I could register anything for $19.95.

Now you could say if you were in the office furniture business you want your own name but you aren't, why would officeworks competitors want it? how are they going to make money from it as opposed to any other name they could register?

Thanks for the input Snoopy - in respect to the desks - my thoughts would be along the lines that Officeworks don't need it, but they also do not need a competitor to have it. They could shelve it or have a simple one page site redirecting to their site (which is what I would do). And yes, spending $20 and adding any other word in lieu of "online" is an option the potential buyer has - that could be said about just about any domain name, which is part of the challenge of selling a domain name

Likewise I could have not picked it up at auction and registered it the following day for half the price or less (forgotten now what the bidding was like) - but if we all did that then none of us would sell anything

Some potential customers out there are smarter than others - hopefully someone in the 9 below Officeworks might be dumb enough to swallow my sales pitch

 

[Timmy]

Hey Shaun,

Just make sure when you do email potential clients that you get their email address from their website. Don't use the whois to get email addresses, because this can land you into a spot of bother with auDA.

WHOIS Policy (2006-06)
http://www.drop.com.au/my_account/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=19​

If someone displays a contact email address on their site, then my opinion is that they invite contact. Same applies for Yellow Pages adds etc...

PS: I have written an article that may help you with your marketing.

The business case behind owning generic keyword related domains.
http://www.drop.com.au/my_account/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=47

Feel free to link to this article.

Best Regards,
George Pongas

Actually, even if they have a contact form on their site, it's still spam and can cost you more than a domain name :-|

While 99% of people don't complain about being contacted via a website, the spam act applies to any unauthorised 'commercial' email.

 

[shags38]

Nice one. Good article.

The more awareness, the more articles that get written, the better.

Perhaps someone needs to write a column/blog for a big newspaper/website???

Contact email forms/visit website for contact info is the best way to get to an end user. In some cases, the who is info will display who registered the URL which may not be the person who makes purchasing decisions.

Some good comments there Shaun - which newspaper will YOU write for

Kidding - it really is a good idea. My home page is NineMSN and I found an article in the Finance section a few weeks back that led to FlyingSolo which I subsequently joined. The article was written by a FlyingSolo member and was pretty good - now I'm not sure if FlyingSolo paid for a slot with NineMSN or not (will try to find out).

Let's face it - most publications are desperate for content, topics, subject matter - look at the crap they publish on a daily basis .

First things first though - before going too far with that we need to sort AuDA out. See a new thread I am starting - I know the subject has come up before but sometimes it doesn't hurt to hit the refresh button

 

[Timmy]

Some good comments there Shaun - which newspaper will YOU write for

Kidding - it really is a good idea. My home page is NineMSN and I found an article in the Finance section a few weeks back that led to FlyingSolo which I subsequently joined. The article was written by a FlyingSolo member and was pretty good - now I'm not sure if FlyingSolo paid for a slot with NineMSN or not (will try to find out).

Flying Solo contribute regularly in the 'Money' and 'Finance' sectors of NineMSN. FS has been around for 7+ years and aren't short of connections I doubt whether payment would be necessary as it mainly acts as a platform for ' the experts' to blow their own horns.