Connect your website with success

Annette du Bois explains the importance of making your website grab the visitor’s attention from the moment they land on its homepage.

With most people suffering information overload and limited time, your franchise website must grab a prospect's attention within five seconds. Lose their attention and they're off on to another franchise's site.

There's no escaping how quick people are in making judgements and decisions if they are really interested in something or not. The human psyche can't help but judge what's instantaneously seen or experienced, and if your website is not interesting, exciting or fails to capture their attention in that small window of opportunity, you've lost them.

That's the harsh reality. There's nothing more sobering than a prospect's instant opinion of the business you've worked hard to create.

As your business grows, it's more difficult to see what others see or don't see as they look through your shop window.

There are two questions to ask yourself that can help you grow your business, and be applied to the business itself and the franchise you offer.

The answers provide a greater understanding how to capture prospects' attention, keep them interested, and hopefully convince them to go to the next stage.

Question 1: What are prospects buying?

A common answer is simply – a franchise or brand. That's true, but it's much deeper than just buying a franchise, isn't it? When we consider the reasons for someone looking at a franchise they are usually one or combination of the following:

• Family commitments
• Career aspirations
• Being their own boss
• Work/life balance
• Money

Of course this list is a snapshot of the motives why people invest. When you think about your business, industry and your franchise, you begin to discover how your franchise could meet a prospect's needs.

Here's a brief example:
Say your franchise offers mobile beauty treatments, has an investment of £8,000, can be run full or part-time with flexible hours and provides full training.

Because of the type of treatments, your market is predominantly women. It's a flexible opportunity and appeals to mothers. Equally it offers Beauty Therapists the chance to launch a business of their own, without going it alone because you offer full support. It is a business that would complement something they already do, while expanding your market into Fitness Instructors, Personal Trainers, Holistic Therapists, Hairdressers and Nail Technicians.

So you've identified your market and after investigating further, you'll find most of these prospects want:

• The freedom to run a business with ongoing support
• A better work/life balance to fit around family commitments
• Better financial rewards
• Improved self esteem
• Career satisfaction – doing something they enjoy

This is not exhaustive and will differ depending on the person and the proposition. Suffice to say there is a ton of information you can glean to help you really understand it's not just a franchise they're buying, more a way of life.

Question 2: What are you really selling?

Clarity is power and now you're clearer on what your prospects are buying you can begin to position your franchise as the best solution to meet their needs.

So, by using the beauty treatment example again, the best solution is a great career that fits around other commitments and provides the prospect with a rewarding and exciting chance to help people look and feel more beautiful with your beauty therapies. Plus, it helps them grow a successful and profitable business with professional training, ongoing support and allowing them more time to spend with their family.

This question should ultimately create a win/win situation and connect with the prospect as the opportunity to short-list and hopefully become your next franchise owner.

Of course it's important to inform prospects about your background, build market credibility, etc., but it's equally important to identify their needs and provide the solution they're seeking.

When you find the perfect balance of meeting their deepest needs and positioning your franchise as the solution you'll never have to worry about market share again.