ConvergedInfrastructure (.) co.uk

[Domaintial]

@Federer - thanks for sharing - I totally agree, no point doing outbound in my experience, unless you state a price, usually with "will consider near offers" or similar language too - so the recipient knows there is room to negotiate.

Another solution (phone number thing) - get a free number inbound sip number from sipgate, you can use a SIP hardware phone, or softphone on computer/mobile to stay connected to it. Add credit to your account and setup call forwarding to mobile. So you don't miss potential calls. That said, if you don't want the forwarding, enable the sipgate voicemail service, and set a proper/professional voicemail greeting - someone who is serious about buying a name will leave a message.

Alternatively, get a PAYG sim in another phone, and just use that for domain related inbound calls, doesn't matter if it gets spam calls, just hang up on them. Worth kissing the frogs to get the sale - think of the annoying spam as part of the price we pay. T-Mobile still let you receive inbound calls without ever registering/topping up the SIM.

We have our own infrastructure and PBX (good ol' asterisk). Calls route in via SIP, to the phones in the office, and onto mobiles if no one picks up. When we pickup a forwarded call to mobile, we hear "Call from Domaintial inbound, press 1 to accept, 2 to reject" - I never bother screening the caller ID. Like I said, if its a spam call, it only takes a few seconds to get off the call.

 

[Edwin]

If you're going to do a lot of outbound, you'd probably benefit from working on your email deliverability.

It's a somewhat complicated topic, but worth a Google around stuff like:
- DKIM
- SPF
(both the above relate to "validating" the authenticity of the email sender in different ways)
- Reverse DNS (should be set up on the IP address that you will be emailing from, AND on the IP address of your website if they are different; it's probably worth paying £1-2 a month extra for a dedicated IP address for your primary business domain just so that you can have reverse DNS and also so that you know there are no "bad actors" who can send spam that will resolve to the same IP address as yours.)

Get all 3 things above right, and you're much less likely to get filed into spam or have your email "bounce" without ever getting to the recipient. None of them are silver bullets, but all 3 will definitely help.

(I'm assuming here that you will be mailing from an email account under your own domain name. If you're just using Google or Hotmail then you don't have to worry about them, but you also run the risk of appearing less professional)

 

[Adam H]

(I'm assuming here that you will be mailing from an email account under your own domain name. If you're just using Google or Hotmail then you don't have to worry about them, but you also run the risk of appearing less professional)

That's an interesting point isn't it, I always tend to email from my own or company email thats recognisable. But most of the domain proposals I get are from new, non-traceable, throw away emails such as Gmail, hotmail, or are aliases of those accounts.

I did try for a short time using an alias outlook email but never got one response so started using my real email instead, luckily I've only had one angry person accusing me of domain squatting

I'm sure I am not the only one that does a quick search on the name and/or email address and if it doesnt show up with an associated with a company or person then it gets binned.

 

[Edwin]

Most of the actual sales I close (instead of the tyre kicker enquiries) come from recognisable company accounts - maybe 4 in 5 do. If they're mailing from a free email account, then as you say it's time for a quick "sniff test" to see if it's worth replying to them (though if they're mailing about one of our priced domains, I always reply - after all, they've seen the price and still bothered to get in touch - but if they're just asking "what would it cost" then I ignore the spammy looking ones)

 

[TallBloke]

Setting up DKM & SPF on your email isn't too bad a job.

Seem to recall it was straightforward on my google apps for domains account (or whatever they call it nowadays).

Personally, I still find the most time-consuming bit of outbound emailing is finding the most relevant email address to send to.

Searching for companies in a particular target industry, then visiting their websites looking for a suitable contact is a slow process sometimes. Sure you can find [email protected] or [email protected] but are these addresses relevant enough?

Any tips?

 

[Domaintial]

@TallBloke I have a script somewhere that I use to try and guess the emails. If co has an "about us" or "team members" type page, I test using;

firstname.surname@domain
firstname@domain
letter1-firstnameSurname@domain

etc etc combinations against their mail server. If I get "no mailbox here" type message for all but one, I fire a mail to the one that worked. If I get a "no mailbox here" from all, I take my best guess and punt - or hit them each in a cycle, leaving a few weeks gap.

Also, companies house (if UK company) and linkedin are your friends.

CH - look up company, if small use directors name and email address combo, test, send.

LinkedIn - connect/message - I have a paid for Premium or whatever its called account on LinkedIn, and thats paid for itself many times over by letting me track down the right person to speak to.

H

 

[Edwin]

I think you'll find the law is more tolerant of email to sales@ type addresses than it is to addresses targeted obviously at an individual- another consideration perhaps?

 

[TallBloke]

Thanks for feedback.