For the last couple of years, I have really cut back on my outbound marketing efforts to sell domain names. I would say that I probably target a handful of domain names a month to try and sell via outbound marketing emails, but it hasn’t been much. That being said, I have pretty much stopped doing outbound marketing to sell my domain names in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, with one exception.
The only time I have done outbound marketing in the last few weeks was after receiving an acceptable opening offer for one of my domain names. The offer was not high enough to accept right away, but I also did not want to lose the offer in the event that other buyers were not interested in making a better offer.
I sent an email to 13 other prospective buyers found via Google to let them know an offer had been received on my domain name. In the email, I asked if they would have an interest in submitting a better offer to close a deal. I heard back from five prospects. One submitted an offer that was too low. Three asked for a price but did not submit a better offer than I had. The fifth person replied after I had already sold the domain name.
Out of the five prospects who replied, only one mentioned the current pandemic. It was mentioned related to not being able to purchase the domain name at the price I asked rather than in response to my outbound email. Nobody else mentioned the pandemic or coronavirus at all.
As mentioned earlier, I ended up reaching a deal to sell the domain name to the company that made the initial offer. The accepted offer was a bit higher than the best offer they initially put forth.
The reason I was willing to do outbound for this type of situation was that I was confident I could reach a deal with the company that made the initial offer if nothing else panned out. Because that would mean the domain name would be sold, I was not concerned with burning leads for the future. Of course, I was a bit concerned that people might be upset with my outbound outreach during these strange times, but that did not seem to happen.
Although I am most likely not going to do outbound marketing to sell domain names in the near future, I would consider doing outbound in an effort to get a better offer if I am confident I will at least be able to reach a deal with the counterparty that made the first offer.
Thanks for insights! Agreed, and will try that in the future. Make sense. I mostly stopped outbound except for one domain in crypto space. Where it seems to be less of affect by covid.
Hi Elliot, thanks for sharing your valuable experience and insight.
Stay safe. Be Well. Stay in for now. Healthy Passover
I tried this but I believe the other contacts thought I was lying. Also suppose you get a better offer from another. You tell the 1st buyer you now have a higher price offer from a 2nd buyer. 1st buyer decides to bow out and then the 2nd buyer changes his mind. Now you have lost both buyers since the 1st buyer has lost confidence in you.
That’s a very good point and a risk of doing this at any time.
Elliot, thanks for sharing your experience with us.
I make two sales with end users, better this than anything, in these difficult times for everyone.
I hope you are well and take care of ourselves, we will win together.