I Wish Brokers Shared Personal Stats

Whether I am using the Domain Name Sales platform or independently choosing a broker to market one of my domain names, I am doing it somewhat blindly. Because I subscribe to several newsletters and closely follow sales reports, I know many domain names that are being brokered by individual brokers, but I don’t really have a good idea about individual broker statistics.

I wish domain brokerages shared more statistics about their individual domain brokers, including their overall sales and areas of expertise. This would allow me to make a better decision about choosing a domain broker to hire, and that would be helpful to me and beneficial to the brokerage.

When you visit Flippa, you can see how much revenue in sales closed on the platform a seller has under his or her belt. This information is shared as a means of creating trust between the seller and prospective buyers. If private domain brokerages would share sales information for the individual domain brokers working on behalf of sellers, it would be helpful to learn who the best brokers are and individual areas of expertise.

This is some of the information I think would be helpful in choosing a broker:

  • Total sales revenue
  • Average price per sale
  • Sales in the last 12 months
  • Vertical / Industry specializations
  • Total domain names being brokered at a given time

When I am choosing a domain brokerage, I am choosing it based on its reputation. However, the individual domain broker’s reputation is even more important since it is the individual broker representing the domain name and domain name owner. If I am trying to sell a 3 letter .com domain name, it would be great to be able to choose an individual domain broker who specializes in LLL .com domain names and has closed a significant amount of deals in the last 12 months. On the other hand, it might behove me to choose a different broker if I learn that the specialist has 300 domain names under contract with an average list price of $50,000 when I am looking to sell a $10,000 domain name. More listings and a higher average price could mean that my listing would go to the bottom of his or her list.

In my opinion, there is another advantage to this level of disclosure: competition. I am sure the brokerages closely track how their brokers are doing each month. This internal competition is probably helpful in driving sales. If this information was publicized, even if only a fraction of what I am seeking above, it might increase broker competition. This increased competition would likely produce more revenue for domain owners.

I love the Domain Name Sales platform. Even though I haven’t closed many sales with its brokers because I generally negotiate on my own, there are some brokers I think do better than others when it comes to negotiating. I wish I could choose an individual broker to hand off my leads to rather than having them be assigned based on who gets the next lead. Similarly, there are certain brokers I have great respect for, but I know they are very busy with high value names, and I wouldn’t bother them to try and close a lower level deal. If I could know what other brokers are competent, I could hand select a broker. Knowing that I could do this, I would probably be more inclined to hand off leads to a specific broker.

In the real estate business, real estate agents share their internal company sales awards on their website. They also have listings under contract and their specialties listed on their websites. It’s easy to see what properties they’ve sold and at what price ranges. I wouldn’t hire a real estate agent that specializes in Upper West Side brownstones to sell my 3 bedroom condo in Tribeca, and there is a parallel with domain names.

I don’t know if this request is feasible because of the proprietary information involved. I also don’t know if individual brokers would be interested in releasing this information for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, the transparency would give me more comfort, and it would help drive sales.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

8 COMMENTS

  1. I actually suggested this to DNS when they began their brokerage services option. I thought having a ‘brokers scorecard’ would be very helpful…as you explained here. No one from DNS ever replied…

  2. Elliot,

    You have made a very valid point, and a very valid request. My answer is going to be a little all over the place so bare with me:

    First and foremost Elliot…You can pick one Broker on DNS if that is who you would like. We can have a discussion of who you like or the type of person you want to work with on your leads at DNS. We should have a call later today about it if your not already on your way to the beach :0)! That is possible.

    To say “I want your best Broker!” That is a loaded question. As you mentioned before…When it comes to a 3 letter is it a million dollar one like ADD.com where you require cold calls to pharmaceuticals and drugstores? Or did you just pick this one up on NameJet for a great price, and now you want this broker to canvas the industry to make you a quick few grand? Those are two entirely different types of Brokers.

    I have had the opportunity to work at different Domain Brokerages. I have been a Domain Broker, and I have had the pleasure of managing Brokers. I know what it is like to do both, and see it from both sides. The reality is I started my career in this business in Mid May, learned a little bit in June, then sold over 1M in July (Server.com, GoldTrading.com, OMG.com). Did I have history? No. Did I truly understand the business? Not really. Was I hungry? Hell Yes.

    My suggestion would be if you have a great domain name you want sold by a Broker…Interview them. Ask them every question you can think of. You are hiring them to preform a service. Do everything you can to help them achieve the goal…Forward all the old inquiries. Send them suggestions on leads…Be open and honest with them.

    When I interview people for a sales job here I ask them if they are hungry. Then I do things to make them prove it. I can teach domains, I can teach sales tactics, but I cannot teach hunger.

    When it comes to DomainNameSales specifically we have built an environment where our Brokers are treated fairly. We have an automated system that assigns leads based on time of day, the languages they speak and a few other metrics. The supposed hot shot in the office is not getting better leads than anyone else. We have a sales trophy we have contests, and we discuss ways we can get better. We go out as a team for drinks, dinners, and trips to places like Miami for fun.

    Last week a Broker completed 95 deals in 3 months. He took a week off during that time as well. How did he do it? We asked him, and he shared with us his tricks of the trade. We share. We help each other. As VP I do not have all the answers. Sometimes mine are not the right ones. I am a student everyday here. Later that day one of the Brokers in the office was sitting at his desk learning from him. There is no pride there.

    As for the relationship with our clients we keep things transparent because this is a marathon not a sprint. We are going to win together and we are going to lose together. The buyers come and go, but our clients remain for next time. We want to create long lasting mutually beneficial relationships. They trust my advice when I say, this is it, it is a yes or no….Or I say you need to sell here. OR yes lets go get more even though your ready to take it….

    In any event I would like to wish everyone a Happy July 4th. Thank you for your business, and Elliot thank you for another great article and mentioning us.

    Jeffrey M. Gabriel
    Vice President of Sales | DomainNameSales.com
    O: 1-800-818-1828 x 6261
    D: 1-345-623-6261
    S: JeffreyMGabriel
    E: Jeff@DomainNameSales.com

    • I’m impressed with Jeff’s frankness.

      It is difficult to see if one of the brokerage houses has a better record than another if you don’t know which domains they are brokering. Some/many do not disclose the domains they are brokering. You might only know about some. And, if they published the sales data, are the numbers being fudged because last month a different brokerage house had higher numbers?

      As I mentioned to one of the brokers at DomainHoldings a couple weeks ago, one of the secrets of being a successful broker is giving feedback/updates without the domain seller asking for it.

      I use to occasionally track one of the brokers (who is no longer around) success rate. Actual sales (after 8 weeks) compared to the ones in his daily offer list.

      I’m not sure if brokers sales statistics were published, if it would be beneficial.

  3. I have to say that the request is totally reasonable, mostly because the domain name market is soooo vast. Sales that range from $1 to millions, there has to be at least some opened minded business practice.

    • One thing I’ve learned in this business is that if I don’t request something, I won’t get it.

      See Jeffrey’s comment above. I did not know I could choose a specific broker at DNS, and now I know. I assume the ability to do that came from someone who made this request. Had they not requested something like this, it might not have been possible.

  4. Elliot,

    DNS has a request form on its site that I use occasionally. I usually get a response and/or what I asked for.

    Here’s where it is if you or your readers don’t know already:

    1. Go to More in the top nav
    2. Select Help
    3. Click on “Submit a Request” and then do so

    Logan

  5. Congratulations Mr. Silver, this is a post like some you was used to do time ago. It’s a pleasure see you focused again on somethng really much much important.

    The truth is: domain holders can hire a broker, but they have practically no info. Completely lack of transparency. I think this is like the domain cake with new TLDs: a cake that is growing without a real very strong battle between old and new domains. Adding transparency to the brokerage job would bring the same: more trust, so an increasing cake for registrants and for brokers too, which would take many more assignments.

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