Something I find quite frustrating in a negotiation is when I learn the buyer is not ready to purchase the domain name. It is incredibly annoying to spend time exchanging emails, texts, or WhatsApps to come to terms on a deal, and learn there is someone else or another group that has to approve the purchase.
One question I need to start asking at the beginning of a domain name discussion is “where are you in the decision making process?” Getting this information can mean the difference between offering a nice price to get a deal closed right away vs. sticking to the asking price regardless of current conditions.
There will still be offers via platforms that are accepted only to find out the buyer didn’t realize they were making a binding purchase offer. Some people think that they can make an offer to lock in a price and then discuss the domain name and pricing internally. While that’s not cool in my book, most people aren’t going to the trouble of litigating small deals with the hope of forcing a prospective buyer to close.
When I am giving a price, I will generally give the prospective buyer 48 hours to agree to a deal. I will say something like, ‘the price is $25,000 if you purchase the domain name within the next 48 hours. After that, the price is subject to change.’ This can light a fire under the buyer who knows the price can change or offer revoked if it’s not accepted quickly.
I need to start getting a better understanding of where a buyer is in the decision making process before engaging in a drawn out negotion.
Anything being bought with investors money or a corporations money takes time. Hoops to go through. They should go through them before they start asking price but they don’t. They want to get a price before they go back. Ask big price, have big patience
They are just toying around with you.
Buyers just want to play around with your patience.
Move on and just wait….
Those buyers are not decision makers but maybe delegated to reach out and then they start to act like the decision maker .I call their bluff.They then go back to tell the real decision maker that the price is too high or they should go with another name because the seller has been tough in their response.
I had a buyer offer me 100 euro and I told him not going to work and he said he can get another. The real decision then contacted and we negotiated to $5k .
I told him someone from his staff contacted and his attitude as he doesn’t know the value of what he was making an offer for .He apologized and deal got done. When next you get a lead ,research and email the company if you feel the buyer is not the decision maker and then be patient .
Some decision makers are just plain clueless.
Very good point Elliot. This part: “where are you in the decision making process?” – essential question. Unless they are the authority, the dialogue shouldn’t continue.
As you rightly pointed out, if often breaks down because a ‘partner’ disagreed. That is nonsense, and weakness on the part of the buyer. It’s a game that lost interest when you said ‘yes’. Lots of nos make a good deal come to fruition and the right framing.
This is really valuable advice that I hope people actually heed.
How about asking “Are you the only decision maker?”
This is why I like being on the phone or Zoom with buyers. It is easy to ask these kinds of questions. When we are dealing with larger sums of money I like to say things like, “Since we are dealing with such large amounts of money how about you put your offer in writing? I can send you a letter of intent, and you can fill in the blanks.”
On that document it states the amount paid, when it is paid, where it is paid, the date it will be paid. The company, company address, and someone who has the authority to bind the organization has to sign it. If they arent serious they will not sign it. If that “scares” away the buyer they were not serious about it anyway.
Sometimes asking the awkward questions is hard, but it gets rid of a lot of hard ache down the road later.
Heart Ache not Hard Ache…Either is not very good!!
Buyers just want to play around with your patience.