Educating potential end users on the value of domains

[DaveP]

Second time in just a few weeks I've been rejected by a company who operate on the .uk.com equivalent of my .co.uk + .uk pairing. It seems no matter what I say I can't persuade them to realise that quite basically their current domain stinks and they should want and need to buy mine.

What tips can you give me to help persuade better in the future? To make them realise what good having the .co.uk and new .uk will do them? Or are they a hopeless case because they chose .uk.com in the first place?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[websaway]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it put it's swimming trunks on.

Move on.

 

[monaghan]

Unless it is a decent value domain, is it worth your time & effort trying to educate the public? It's usually the bloke in the pub or the corner office that knows it all that a lot of people listen to as they always know best or have an app for it.

 

[Adam H]

Ive got a client which is going through a rebrand for various reasons for the UK, he's registered the uk.com and branduk.com ( the .com is owned by the US section of the company ) when they enquired about a .co.uk it's going through domainsales.com which instantly puts people off because you always going to pay more for the privileged.

They enquired and wanted 15k for it, 15k simply isnt worth it for their business model for Manufacturing machinery for business to business sales.

You can educate people as much as you like but if the value of the domain doesnt make sense for return on investment ( to them ) then people wont bite.

Someone has the .com version of one of my domains, emails me once a month normally to try and persuade me ( again domainsales.com ), yes id like to have it but 8k it simply isnt worth the investment, that 8k could be used on marketing which would be much more beneficial.

 

[AssetDomains]

Do they advertise on the term mate if so you could point them to the official nominet figures on UK consumers preference for .uk
http://db.nominet.org.uk/node/preference-by-activity/
Explaining the .co.uk would likely improve ctr and quality score ultimately giving them more bang for there buck with advertising

 

[DaveP]

Do they advertise on the term mate if so you could point them to the official nominet figures on UK consumers preference for .uk
http://db.nominet.org.uk/node/preference-by-activity/
Explaining the .co.uk would likely improve ctr and quality score ultimately giving them more bang for there buck with advertising

That's a great shout mate, I'll be sure to include that in future in any emails sent. A short paragraph with the link.

I can see what others are saying, sometimes the domains are just a nice to have but not essential to them personally.

 

[Murray]

If you need to explain why someone should want the domain then they aren't the right buyer.

 

[Skinner]

Just put your veg in a vice, won't be as painful as trying this.

 

[arkvard]

The biggest problem is that most end users are being educated by or take advice from their web designers, and at the end of the day who are they going to take notice of, you or them? So wouldn't waste your time if I was you.

 

[scooter]

"Hello, thank you for calling. So you say co.uk and .uk are the best domain extentions to have in the United Kingdom? and way better than our uk.com that we have been trading on for the last 5yrs?

Can I ask you a couple of questions?
1. Are they going to make me higher in google?
2. If so, can you prove it? If not, why are you wasting my time?

What is the difference between co.uk, .uk, .london,?
Why should I buy from you when I can reg the other at reg price and i'm based in London?

Sorry, you are trying to sell me something I don't need. I think we will just stick to the name we have as it has served us well."




.

 

[domainseller200]

If you need to explain why someone should want the domain then they aren't the right buyer.

Agree 100%

 

[julian]

There are a couple of unknown variables here that don't put us in the full picture..

a. you could be asking too much
b. you could be a good domainer but a useless sales person*
c. you could be talking to the wrong people in the organisation
d. you could be talking to the right people the wrong way (sales pitch) in the organisation

*(I am useless sales person myself, I used to think I was good until I saw a true hard core sales person in action. Good sales people (in any sector) are very underrated imho.)

Second time in just a few weeks I've been rejected by a company who operate on the .uk.com equivalent of my .co.uk + .uk pairing. It seems no matter what I say I can't persuade them to realise that quite basically their current domain stinks and they should want and need to buy mine.

What tips can you give me to help persuade better in the future? To make them realise what good having the .co.uk and new .uk will do them? Or are they a hopeless case because they chose .uk.com in the first place?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[DaveP]

Apologies, completely forgot to reply to this.

Julian I think you're right, good sales people are very underrated and I admit I'm lacking in that part, but you would think if for example you own the .co.uk/.uk version of a non trademarked term and they're using .uk.com it's a no brainer they should want the .uk + .co.uk? I was actually talking to the managing director of this particular company and only asking few hundred.

 

[bluerock]

Ive never cold called because its either something your comfortable with or not.
Ive had success with direct email though. Just try and make sure that email gets through to the right person. Dont just fire it off to sales@ but look at the "about us" page etc. Its less time consuming and once you have your email worded right it just takes a couple of seconds to amend it.

 

[websaway]

Apologies, completely forgot to reply to this.

Julian I think you're right, good sales people are very underrated and I admit I'm lacking in that part, but you would think if for example you own the .co.uk/.uk version of a non trademarked term and they're using .uk.com it's a no brainer they should want the .uk + .co.uk? I was actually talking to the managing director of this particular company and only asking few hundred.

Did you catch the name ?
If so the last person to own it may have tried to sell it to your prospective purchaser.
There are a multitude of reasons a sale can't be successful.

 

[scottmccloud]

Apologies, completely forgot to reply to this.

Julian I think you're right, good sales people are very underrated and I admit I'm lacking in that part, but you would think if for example you own the .co.uk/.uk version of a non trademarked term and they're using .uk.com it's a no brainer they should want the .uk + .co.uk? I was actually talking to the managing director of this particular company and only asking few hundred.

Depending on the size of the company, it can be worth talking to someone else in the organisation, whether it be the commercial director, IT director etc. Just because one member of the management team doesn't see the benefit, doesn't mean another who may understand the value of domains won't. Of course, it depends on how much you're selling it for as to how much effort it is worth putting into the sale.