Morning Folks!!
Sales are about Buying. Buy shit, get shit. People lose the sale at the beginning. Buying is the start. They lose the sale by what they say. SO STOP TALKING!! SHUT-UP!! Knowing WHEN to SHUT-UP is the #1 key to sales.
Some people teach the world to sing. I want to teach domainers how to sell. Not only how to sell, how to extract maximum value for your assets. YOUR job is to appraise. YOUR job is to believe. YOUR job is to compare & show the value. YOUR job is to be strong. YOUR job. DO IT!
Here are my 10 steps to be a better salesperson.
Lesson 1: If you give a price, YOU LOSE!! Ask a question don't give a price.
Lesson 2: If you give a counter-offer just because they made an offer, YOU LOSE!! You only give a counter-offer when they give you an offer inside your realm of value. Other than that, NO WAY!! They can keep making offers. NEVER counter until they are in the realm. If you have a $1 Million home and someone offers you $75,000, you don't counter. Not at $100k, not at $500k. Not at $750k. You counter when you get a TRULY BONA-FIDE offer! PERIOD! Or YOU LOSE! Why dance to their tune?? YOU set the parameters!
Lesson 3: Don’t negotiate. That’s when you turn it into a conversation. Ask a question. Ask another question. Probe. Discuss. Tell them your own profitable plans. You did buy the domain for a reason. Right?? If not, you are not buying the right names. I buy focus on domains I have an idea for and I can build a future if that was the only name I owned.
Lesson 4: Don't do REASONABLE, Don't do CURIOUS. How to handle "Curious" inquiries "I am curious about the price" 2 responses: 1. Toss it 2. Ask "Why?" That's your opportunity to get info w/o wasting your time. "Reasonable" IS a total waste of time and usually another domainer. If you are selling to other domainers, you are far from getting maximum value. Actually, you are getting minimum value. Reasonable is for losers!
Lesson 5: Don’t wet your pants. So you got an inquiry. Big deal. Don’t get too excited. Don’t jump up and down, calm down. Now is the moment to do the research on your own domain names to find the current value. I'm not going to tell you how to do that. Figure it out! A domain's value can go from Zilch to millions with new products, news, or events. Pre-pricing domains are not the best approach. The day smart glasses came to be in the news, I snapped up smartglasses.com for $3500. I rest my case.
Lesson 6: Don’t be sucked in by BS and shiny object chasers. Let an email marinate!! You don’t need/want a “Hot” lead. You want a strong one! Strong ones don’t lose interest in 24hrs Weak ones do! When you waste time w/ weak, you lose time & opportunity.
Lesson 7. A Domains value is Fluid. Do the research at the time of inquiry. Put your own value on it and stick to it. Assign a value worthy of the domain name. Don’t price it out $1200 cuz the mortgage is due. Want to be a millionaire? Think/act like one.
Lesson 8: Sales is about buying. Buy shit, get shit. Most success or failure happens at the beginning. The end is simply when you find out about it but don’t necessarily figure it out. So the beginning of a sale is the purchase of the domain name itself. Choose wisely. Stop buying crap. If you buy crap, what the hell do you expect?
Lesson #9 Invest in dotcom. You invest in dotcom, you gamble (and lose) on .whatever. Stop reinventing the wheel. Stop spitting in the wind. Start smarter. The internet starts and ends with .com domains so give up the .crap and you will live well.
"You build nightmares on gTLD Domains But there's a solution... When you wake up from the nightmare, the dream is just a dot-Com away!"™ -Rick Schwartz
Lesson 10 Domain Names that are easy to spell are easier to sell. Spelling test = Can an 8th grader spell it right? Radio test = Are there multiple ways to spell or even hear wrong? Hair/Hear/Here Must be easy to remember & pass on (word of mouth advertising is key)
In Review: Part1 Lesson 1: If you give a price, YOU LOSE!! Lesson 2: If you give a counter-offer just cuz they made an offer, YOU LOSE!! Lesson 3: Don’t negotiate. That’s when you turn it into a conversation.
In Review Part 2 Lesson 4: Don't do REASONABLE, Don't do CURIOUS Lesson 5: Don’t wet your pants. Lesson 6: Don’t be sucked in by BS and shiny object chasers.
In review Part 3 Lesson 7: Value of domains is fluid. Stick to your value! Lesson 8: Sales is about buying. Buy shit, get shit! Lesson 9: Invest in dotcom. Invest in dotcom, you gamble (and lose) on .whatever. Lesson 10 Easy to spell means easy to sell.
Remember one thing, you are selling a unique asset. Act like it!
All business people need to be good in sales. Sales takes talent and you get that by practice and rehearsing. Saying the right things. Knowing when to SHUT THE F*ck up! Sales is about LISTENING not TALKING. Listen CAREFULLY. Know what to answer, know what to ignore, know what to look for, know how to answer.
Stop leaving your family's future on the table or putting your future into the pocket of others. Learn to sell. Learn to create value. Learn to be tough, not desperate. If you want to be a millionaire, you MUST think like one, act like one, and make decisions like one! This is your roadmap. GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!
Rick Schwartz
Domainlogist
Perfect post as usual!
THE ASSET COMPANY
Thanks.
Emeka
Bravo
Thank you Rick.
jeff schneider
Hello Rick,
We are Legacy Domainers, and we are some of the most successful visionaries in the space. The big winners in (.comEPAs) evolution, are the Legacy Domainers who Emulated Rick Schwartz and turned a blind eye to Frank Schillings flawed observations. JAS 2/6/2021
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP)
Samer
Thanks Rick!
I bookmarked this post, like so many others.
Samer
Rob
Thank you sir!
Jeff Schneider
Hello Rick,
Most all Int’l buying support is up in smoke as people can now see.We are all witnessing a Sales Capitulation. JAS 2/6/2021
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP)
Morgan Linton
This post is absolute gold, thanks for sharing Rick.
Andrew Hyde
Ditto – Solid gold
steve
I got a Linkedin message from the CEO of a well-funded startup….he purchased one of my domains in December to rebrand the company. His team advised spending the monies on another product build, etc, but he pulled the trigger.
Today he told me buying my domain was one of the best decisions they’ve made. Short sweet name — conveys vision, strenghth. His investors love the new branding and they’ve gotten more customers. This was a BIN domain, so it involved no negotiating.
I still don’t know why most people “don’t get” the value of a great domain name.
Its value is immense.
Jonathan
This is a lot of bad advice for most domainers. Emphasis on most domainers. I can tell by the responses you have way too many follower types.
“Lesson 1: If you give a price, YOU LOSE!!”
Actually having a price results in more sales, not even debatable.
Lesson 2: If you give a counter-offer just because they made an offer, YOU LOSE!
That makes no sense. That’s part of negotiation, counter offering, gets the ball rolling.
Lesson 3: Don’t negotiate. lol
Jeff Schneider
Hello Jonathan,
REALLY ? are you serious ? You know Jonathan ” The most important things you learn are AFTER you know it all.
Your feedback is pure garbage, that needs to be flushed for the turd that it is. JAS
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP)
Matt
“This is a lot of bad advice for most domainers. Emphasis on most domainers. I can tell by the responses you have way too many follower types.”
It is. The non followers read and don’t bother participating.
steve
@jonathan
“Lesson 2: If you give a counter-offer just because they made an offer, YOU LOSE!
That makes no sense. That’s part of negotiation, counter offering, gets the ball rolling.”
I would agree with you per selling most items (tangible property), but negotiating with intangible properties such as domains, patents, and fine art seems to have an adverse effect – you become opponents and there are no clear comps to provide a baseline as in a zestimate, nearby house sales with similar proportions, etc
I’ve had many domain negotiations fall through via SEDO – even after we got very close to each of our desired prices….mainly because the negotiation becomes emotional rather than rational, and time without physical communication (voice to voice, face to face) creates barriers…
having said that, a great salesman can sell just about anything — not sure if this is an innate skill or nutured through experiences and practice —-
and of course, as in that great law of the universe, when you don’t really care about selling the asset, you usually get the highest price …I remember telling an IP broker to not come back with a certain price, as I may be forced to sell at that price
Nothing for 2 weeks — then they came back with that price – done deal
Bill Roy
I always now have this demon called ‘Rick’ that springs up in the back of my mind when I see a domain name for sale, and it is always asking questions about the domain name. “Does it pass the radio test?”, “Is it memorable and hard to forget?”, “Could it be built into a website and what kind of a website?”, “Would that website earn revenue of $1million plus a year?”, etc., etc., etc..
Thanks Rick, it took a long time for this old dog to learn the lesson but learn it I have.
Bill Roy
The whole of ‘Lesson 2’ is:
“Lesson 2: If you give a counter-offer just because they made an offer, YOU LOSE!! You only give a counter-offer when they give you an offer inside your realm of value. Other than that, NO WAY!! They can keep making offers. NEVER counter until they are in the realm. If you have a $1 Million home and someone offers you $75,000, you don’t counter. Not at $100k, not at $500k. Not at $750k. You counter when you get a TRULY BONA-FIDE offer! PERIOD! Or YOU LOSE! Why dance to their tune?? YOU set the parameters!”
The ‘lesson’ is not just the first sentence! That sentence has context given in the rest of the lesson, not to understand that is a mistake.
gene
This post is like a take-away slide from a 3-day, $3,000, world-class, domain name sales course.
Excellent – thanks, Rick.
Hitesh Wadhwa
Thanks for sharing Rick. Bookmarked. :)
tk
Always impressive. Wish I could learn and apply it fast.
Nicco Schaal
Good advice, well taken. Thanks.
Mahendra
Thanks for sharing.
Jose
With you, something new is always learned.
Thanks for sharing.
Bill Sweetman
Rick, this is a masterclass in domain investing and sales negotiation distilled into a single, no bull blog post. Bravo and thanks yet again for sharing your hard-won knowledge. It’s great to see you blogging and tweeting up a storm again.
Mark U
Absolutely top stuff.Thanks a lot for sharing!
Anita Walker
Superb post Rick! Thanks. It’s as simple as “Do we negotiate on the price of a car”! Never. You would haggle at the fish mart and it’s likes. Rick’s logic is always sound for those with shrewd minds not for the simpletons.