I Don’t Respond to Unqualified Prospects

When you have an inquiry or make offer form on your undeveloped but valuable domain names, you likely receive a substantial number of inquiries and offers. The vast majority of these come from unqualified prospective buyers. These people either do not have the budget to afford the domain name, or they do not value the domain name at the level it is worth.

Over the weekend, Rick Schwartz shared some advice about not wasting time negotiating with people who are unqualified:

You are not compelled to negotiate with every #Domain inquiry so my advice is STOP NEGOTIATING!

Only negotiate with qualified inquiries. What makes an inquiry legit?? Learn! Learn how to tell the difference. They are like night and day!!

Stop spinning your wheels!!#Domains pic.twitter.com/en4xlfksMC

— Rick Schwartz 👑 The DomainKing® 👑 Since 1995 👑 (@DomainKing) August 9, 2020

Rick added some clarification about how he identifies unqualified buyers out of the gate:

You don’t answer offers for $100

You don’t answer other domainers

You don’t answer “just curious“

You don’t answer “reasonable”

You don’t answer an email that says you’re not using the #domain

You don’t answer!

YOU IGNORE!

Time wasters!

Wait for 2nd contact!#Domains pic.twitter.com/2EEP7HicfJ

— Rick Schwartz 👑 The DomainKing® 👑 Since 1995 👑 (@DomainKing) August 9, 2020

Responding to unqualified buyers can be a waste of time. It makes no sense to spend time on a discussion about a domain name if there is no chance the buyer is going to pay what I expect for my domain name. Depending on the domain name and its value, I may be more or less inclined to respond to someone who seems unqualified.

I don’t agree with Rick regarding answering “domainers” (domain investors) for two reasons. For one, there are several domain investors with whom I have done a substantial amount worth of deals in the last few years. For Rick, it might not make sense to do deals with other investors, but for me, I am always happy to do the right deal that allows me to grow my business. The second reason is that some domain investors work with qualified third parties to buy domain names, either in an official or unofficial broker capacity. I am always happy to talk with brokers who are working with qualified buyers since they have taken on the educator role.

That said, I thought I would share a few other types of unqualified buyers whose inquiries I tend to not answer, especially when it comes to my more valuable assets:

• Students
• People who use the message box to tell me they have a “small budget”
• Rude people who write demeaning messages about domain investors
• People who say they have a small business, are an artist, or want to start a non-profit organization
• You don’t answer people who want to use the domain name for a personal website
• People who open the conversation with all the reasons they can’t afford to spend much money

Notably, the rules above primarily apply to my more valuable domain names. I would guesstimate that 80% of my domain name portfolio is made of replaceable inventory, and those domain names tend to be more affordable. I don’t mind trying to find common ground with a buyer on those types of names.

As a domain investor, what other conversation starters are actually conversation enders for you because it shows the buyer is unqualified to buy a valuable domain name?