When I worked in the corporate world (Wunderman and AIG), Summer Fridays were great. It was the day to dress down, sometimes enjoy a free bagel breakfast, leave work early, and usually have a bit of quiet time in the office while the management teams were out in the Hamptons or elsewhere. It’s been well over 10 years, but Fridays in the Summer were typically low key.
I should have remembered this yesterday when I sent several outbound emails aimed to sell a couple of domain names. Using my LinkedIn account, I sent a couple of messages to executives about an exact match domain name I think they would use well. I sent a few additional emails to other people as well. No responses. Nada. This is abnormal for me.
A Summer Friday, especially in August, is probably the worse time to send emails to corporate executives to sell a domain name. Many aren’t working, and those who are working, are probably trying to finish up so they can close down for the week and get out of the office. Even if an email gets through and there is interest in a domain name, it will take a while for the decision makers to discuss, negotiate, and approve a deal – let alone bring in the legal team to hammer out the purchase agreement and the finance team to deal with the payment.
In the corporate world, a Summer Friday is the day when people come to work dressed down, if they come to work at all. Many people with corporate jobs take the day off and head out of town to get a jumpstart on the weekend. There are just a few weekends remaining in the Summer, so driving to the shore, hitting the beach or golf course, heading to the mountains or lake, or doing activities with the kids, is what usually takes priority over work on a Summer Friday – as it should.
My Summer Friday ended up being pretty relaxed. I hit a spin class and I decided to take the rest of the day off. I watched Animal House for the first time in years and didn’t do much else. This is not all that atypical from most days I guess, but there were far fewer emails and email discussions.
I should have realized a Summer Friday would be a bad day to do outbound marketing. I don’t tend to email the same person twice about the same domain name (unless I have done business with them before or know them personally), so I effectively burned a few contacts on a bad day to be emailing. My bad. Just a few more Summer Fridays to go.
It’s slow for domain business this time of year, as everyone knows. It sucks, but it comes with the territory.
Some domain deals are being made this Summer, but most were probably already started before the Summer began.
I’ve been receiving domain Inquires this Summer, but mostly low ball offers, like everyone else.
Same thing happened last Summer as well. Multiple low ball $$$ offers for domains I later sold for $$$$ and $$$$$.
A lot of businesses don’t get around to spending money on domains until the fall, unfortunately.
Cheap procrastinators that wait until fiscal year end. They like to make Interest on their money as long as they can before they spend it.
Then there is the Chinese that like to spend money in the fall as well.
They will probably spend more on domains this fall than last fall, since Bitcoin has dropped in price.
They always want their money invested in something and domains are a good long-term Investment, just like real estate.
It just sucks that domains don’t sell as fast as we want them to.
But i think that crypto has helped more people realize that the domain Industry actually exists.
We were always on the map, we just gained more territory.
Hey Elliot,
You make a very important point – it is definitely worthwhile to kick back and watch Animal House every so often 🙂
Not sure I’ll going to be able to convince my wife…
It’s more important to watch Caddyshack, IMHO.
Another good one.
Another great In the same genre – Stripes
Good point Elliot. August on the whole is not a great month – except the last week when people start thinking about the remainder of the year and the cogs begin to move up a few gears.
You haven’t “burned a few contacts though” – just resend later in the month/first week of September with a preface that you’re unsure if the original reached due to some technology issues etc.
Most people don’t mind once the content is professional and signalling strong benefits to the recipient and their business.
And, sometimes it actually assists them get back up to speed rather than trawling through many missed mails when they were in low gear.
Give it a shot – you might be pleasantly surprised!
Paul.