We’ve just spent some weeks working with our team developing our new website (yes, hoorah we’re excited about it – have a look at http://www.howtofranchisesimply.com.au/ and tell us what you think at info@howtofranchisesimply.com.au) and after lots of research here’s what we’d like to share with you.

Does your Homepage or headline clearly state the number 1 problem that your prospect is facing right now?

And do you offer a solution to that problem?

In these days of high-speed media offering a huge choice of anything we are looking for… whether it be a service a product or information, we have all become fairly impatient when looking for a solution. The plain fact is that no one reads all the copy. Just think about flicking through a magazine in the doctor’s surgery or when sitting in an aircraft. It takes something to catch your eye for you to give it your attention and read the story.

This is nothing new.

In the world of exhibitions, this very brief opportunity to grab someone’s attention has been acknowledged for decades. If you’re walking past a stand you’ve two seconds to grab someone’s attention and a further 10 seconds for them to scan and absorb your message before they walk on to the next booth.That’s exactly the story online and why a wonderful story of your history with lots of copy and your name blazed across the headline serves nothing more (and you might not like this home truth) than to build your ego.

It’s really very simple — if you’ve got a headache you want a Panadol and you don’t have the patience or indeed the interest to read the details of all the contents etc. etc. All you want is to fix the problem. Just think of the product you offer in the same light — whether it’s clearing up acne, cleaning a dirty house or repairing broken tap washer.

And – this is critical – it all needs to be above the fold – in other words on the opening screen without the need to scroll down. If your headline and the subsequent solution you offer does the job, then your visitor will want to look further but otherwise it’s likely they’ll be off to the next competitor and you’ll have lost them for good. [Read more…]

With the acquisition by Eagle Boys holding company of Degani’s Bakery Café – an interesting and diverse Melbourne based chain of 60 stores, the growth of the major franchise investment groups shows no sign of slowing  – this healthy demand means a lot for the value of all franchisor businesses and will encourage more entrants to join the sector.  Read more here

I was reminded again the other day that great marketing is one of the foundations of a great franchise.

I don’t mean just the advertising component of marketing but those first steps most businesses often overlook – working out exactly who wants your product, exactly what the product is they really desire and exactly who your customer is – the nitty gritty of the demographics of your perfect customer. This is the marketing strategy and it is essential to get this bit right from the beginning.

One of my clients in the building maintenance industry, who shall remain nameless, contacted me after a break (he simply disappeared half way through the program) to let me know that he had not gone missing in action. He was just not able to continue building his franchised business in the short term because his business had taken off as a result of the work he had done refining his marketing strategy. He was too busy looking after new clients and working out how to leverage himself out of the day to day so he could return to building his franchise business. His turnover has increased from $700,000 to $1,200,000 over seven months!

What a great problem to have.

And I have to say he is not the only one of my clients who has reported such results. Another examplethis year is a family-owned training business that has had to recruit extra staff to handle the growing workload. This all took time of course, but finally they contacted me this week to urgently arrange the franchise agreements as they have started advertising in a new location and just couldn’t handle the increased demand. They quickly decided that the only solution was to make this new location their first franchise territory, establish their first franchisee and use this new business as a pilot outlet.

A good marketing strategy is such an important foundation to any franchised business. Not only does it often lead to significant increases in sales, it also provides a critical foundation to the franchise structure.

1. It ensures you get your market segment right so that you can brand and promote your product to the right people in a way that ticks their sales buttons.
2. It ensures you can make every outlet look and feel the same, deliver the same great, proven product and level of service, and in fact behave like a franchise.
3. It provides the demographics that underpin the budgets and cash-flows you need to do to ensure that every outlet can cover its own expenses (including those essential fees and payments to you the franchisor) and make a profit.
4. It provides the demographics which underpin the decisions you need to make about the size and distribution of each territory or the rules which govern how non-territory based outlets will relate to each other.

Get the marketing strategy right, know your product and your customer and you will have a fantastic start to the franchise business you dream of.

It doesn’t surprise me Australia is at the top of the list when it comes to producing great entrepreneurial business people. I see the signs each and every month in my Franchising workshops when business owners come to learn how to grow their latest enterprise through creating a franchise group. I’d love you to read through this, digest my comments at the end and let me know what you think.

Rose Powell reported in Start Up Smart on 19 November 2013 that Australia is one of the world’s most entrepreneurial countries. She bases her article on new global research.

Visit http://www.startupsmart.com.au/ to see the article. I have however put the whole article below because I think it is worth reading.

Rose Powell reports:

The vast majority of Australians are pro-entrepreneurship and are interested in giving it a go, according to a new global report into attitudes towards self-employment and entrepreneurship released today.

The 2013 Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report surveyed over 26,000 people across 24 countries. Australia had the third highest rate of positive sentiment towards entrepreneurship with 84% of respondents, only 3% behind world leaders Finland and Denmark and 14% above the international average.

Small business and entrepreneurship academic Professor John Breen told StartupSmart he suspected the high positive rate was due to focusing on entrepreneurship rather than running a small business.

“A lot of research into attitudes to small business finds Australians view it as hard work. The emphasis on the word ‘small’ seems to imply you’re on your own and it’s going to be tough.” Breen says. “But there is a difference in perceptions between small business and entrepreneurship.”

The report found the leading reason for pursuing entrepreneurship was independence and being one’s own boss, and especially in Australia with 62% of local respondents listing it as a key attraction.

Pro-entrepreneurial spirit was especially high among Generation Y respondents, with 83% saying they were keen to become their own bosses.

“The changing nature of work these days has had a big impact on Gen Y. They’re more aware that lots more people have to create their own careers, and that with the growing up with apps and computers at their fingertips from day one, they’re more aware of the changing nature of the world,” Breen says.

Breen adds Australia’s successful navigation of the global financial crisis has probably also contributed to the positive attitudes to entrepreneurship.

Fear of failing was cited by two thirds of the respondents globally as an obstacle to starting out on their own. Just over half of Australian respondents (53%) reported it was an issue, and the most fearful countries with more than 90% of respondents in Japan, the Czech Republic and Italy.

For Australians reporting a fear of failure as an obstacle to launching a business, the leading concerns were financial burdens up to bankruptcy (38%), threat of an economic crisis (20%), threat of unemployment (15%) and legal consequences such as lawsuits (12%).

Only 4% of Australian respondents feared not being given a second chance.

The key points I take from reading this are

a) Beware the word ‘small’ as in small business – I think it leads us to adopt a small-focused mindset, and ultimately accept it as a barrier, and

b) Remember, if you’re in business you’ve already crossed the most difficult first hurdle.

Making the move to franchise is really a repeat of overcoming the same barrier you had to climb over when you launched your business in the first place. You are lifting yourself and your business to the nextmuch higher level. From my experience in many ways this second barrier is actually easier to cross, especially once you acknowledge it and know how to overcome the mindset barrier.

I look forward to meeting more of you next year when we start the 2014 Workshops in February

This morning I visited the Brisbane Franchise Expo.

In days gone by, I used to exhibit at Franchise Expos in all the major cities in Australia, both as a franchisor looking for new recruits and as a consultant looking for prospective franchisors. I recollect huge halls with at least 150 exhibitors, thousands of visitors and very busy days talking to all the new prospects. Followed by crowded seminars each evening.

So, join me in the queue on Saturday with only ten of us waiting to enter the Brisbane Franchising Expo at 10:00 this morning, and you might have also wondered if this heavily promoted event was really representative of the mighty franchise industry. And my observation was that every one of us had obtained a free ticket online rather than pay the $15 at the door!

Fast forward an hour and you will have circulated all the stands, mingled with the sparse number of visitors and seen a total of only around 40 franchisors displaying their product – and noted that a further dozen or so exhibitors were magazine publishers, government departments, industry body Franchise Council of Australia and several consultants and brokers.

If you were collecting evidence to prove that franchising recruitment efforts are seriously online, then this was it. The fact that there were less than ten offerings from franchisors you would possibly recognise is the proof in the pudding. And the remaining stands were dominated by start-ups and fairly new franchises – some of questionable interest to the majority of people attending.

“Yes,” as one exhibitor confided in me, “If you want to recruit franchisees, there are other more cost-effective options. Exhibiting here is an expense of many thousands of dollars you can invest elsewhere in your business with far better returns.” And he went on to question why he was still attending after 20 years of shows. Old habits die hard!

And then by midday, when you saw that many of the exhibitors were chatting among themselves rather than to visitors (because there were none), it was clear the view that the heady days of expos with scores of exhibitors and literally thousands of attendees is well past. I was just relieved that I wasn’t the event promoter.

Of course I may be totally wrong – but I know where I’d be I investing my recruitment dollars. It wouldn’t be at a Franchise Expo. To see what I mean look at Seek Commercial and Franchise Buyer.