Outbound domain name marketing tends to result in lower offers and sales prices than inbound lead generation. It makes sense because outbound marketing is essentially cold calling people who may or may not have an interest in the domain name, and they may or may not have the budget to buy the domain name. With inbound lead generation, someone has taken at least the first step to buying a domain name and are willing to discuss the purchase price.
Although I have done less outbound marketing of my domain names during the prior few years (especially this year), I want to share when I think it might be beneficial to do outbound marketing.
More often than not, when I receive an inbound offer or purchase inquiry, the prospective buyer is unwilling to pay my asking price off the bat. Maybe I priced the domain name too high, maybe they are trying to get a better deal, or maybe they simply can not afford to pay the asking price. There could be many reasons for why someone is not willing to pay what I hope to get for a domain name.
When I receive an offer for a domain name that is less than my asking price, I take it as a good opportunity to do outbound marketing to other prospective buyers. My sales pitch email will say something like “I received an offer” for this particular domain name, and before I sell it, I want to gauge interest from other prospective buyers.
The difference between this strategy and standard outbound marketing is when a prospective buyer says the price is too high or tries to negotiate, I already have something like a stalking horse bid in my pocket to share with them. Because they know another offer exists, there may be a time constraint that would not ordinarily exist when doing general outbound marketing. Having the other offer in my pocket illustrates the demand for the domain name and can help reinforce the price/value of the domain name.
Generally speaking, I will not do this type of marketing for “brandable” types of domain names. For instance, I don’t think it would be fruitful to try and outbound a domain name like EnoughSaid.com or KnockItOff.com after receiving an offer or inquiry because outbound marketing is challenging for those types of domain names. That said, I would not hesitate to reach back out to people who had inquired in the past to let them know I am considering an offer and see if they still have an interest.
Doing outbound marketing with an offer in hand is a strategy that has worked for me. In addition, a prospective buyer who made an offer may be more willing to improve the offer if he or she knows I will be seeking out other competing offers and bids.
good strategy to gauge interest of other prospective buyers.
I do close to zero outbound, but wouldn’t hesitate to try this out in the future. Thanks for the tip Elliot!
When I received the offers…my response is….If you don’t get it, your COMPETITORS will!!
FOMO.
Regards,
BullS
MBA,PhD
Magna cum laude
Graduate of Domain King Academy
MBA-My Big Ass(all of you have one)
PHD-people having dickheads
Nice info Elliot. The old Elliot is back.
After stating that you have received an offer, do you state the amount of the offer received, or your asking price? Rather is your approach wait for one of them to request a price? Thanks you.
I wait until they request the price, and I keep the offer in my pocket until they comment about the price (if necessary). For instance, if they say my $12k price is too high or they make a lower offer, I will tell them about the $8k offer.
You can offer them at 15K and the offer ends today because you can tell them that your competitor is offering 14K for that domain.
The FOMO effect.
You snooze you lose
I’ve tried this type of outbound a few times, not sure it worked but may have resulted in a sale further on. And it’s likely a few inquiries resulted from the outbound, so at least they’re ‘in the loop’ or pipeline. I do typically mention if there’s other interest, however not immediately or by name. In general (with rare exceptions) I think it’s poor form to throw out names or bids before a serious counter-offer, and for a number of reasons which I don’t wish to detail outright, some which are obvious but also others less so.
There’s no template of course, each response is tailored and usually as short as possible, but often mediated through the broker. Actually the broker often quotes verbatim my thoughts, e.g. “The owner of the name said ‘…yada yada …’ ” but this is intentional. However I don’t ask them do this, because they’re the ones handling things and I’m not always privy to communications, but I assume it just makes sense. It works for sure on a few sales, and resulted in my largest sale this year for a very inconspicuous name.
Simply don’t underestimate the anxiety a buyer can feel knowing they might lose a name, either as a founder or organisation, which I know first hand. It’s different and more intense than losing a great name as an investment only, even bordering on despair. That’s also another reason why I do outbound or reconnecting with old leads, at least then I gave them the opportunity to own the name. I wish more sellers would reconnect with me so that I could submit a ‘best and final’ counter offer. Magic happens when the shit hits the fan.