Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Comments, feedback, complaints appreciated.

http://www.businessfilter.com

I also created a about page which i haven`t linked to on the site yet: http://www.businessfilter.com/about/ and would like some thoughts on whether the content is appropriate and should be shared on a "professional" service site like this.

Thanks!

As with a number of sites that request reviews here, I find myself calling out a credibility gap.  On something as momentous as selling a business, a stripped down database search form doesn`t inspire the confidence I`d need to feel comfortable pursuing a business opportunity through the site.

As I dove in deeper, I still run into this - I ran a search, and came up with three results - in one, the "Asking Price" listed was $34,000, but when I opened the search result, the asking price was different.  I`m sure it`s just a db error of some sort, but it still led me to question the viability of the service.

In concept, I think it`s great - and I have no problem with your About Us page - I just think you have a high hurdle to overcome with some of these issues.


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chuck fuller

I have to agree with chuck. If you had recommendations for your service, people are more drawn to experience. They are more willing to take a risk than sit back, and wait if someone had a great experience.

Thanks Chuck.

I don`t disagree.  Buying or selling a business is indeed a significant event and not as casual as shopping for clothes or electronics online.  But a more accurate comparison would be buying or selling a home.  You would do your due diligence and homework; narrowing down your criteria and requirements.  You would use resources such as SuN and others for research and to educate yourself.  After all this you would possibly contact a real estate agent, or in my case the business listing broker to proceed to the next steps. 

I think this is a existing challenge with websites, will we ever be able to replace the in-person experience?  I admit I still like to play with something in a store or try something on first before making a purchase.  Any thoughts on translating/simulating this experience online?

Is this the record you were looking at? http://www.businessfilter.com/ad/15/
I`m not sure where you saw the inaccurate asking price.  Let me know as that would be a significant problem.

Thanks again for you comments, it raises some good questions.

I`m sorry, I didn`t capture the location - if I can find it again, I`ll be sure to pass it on.

I suppose one thing that would help would be to set as high a hurdle as possible for those wishing to list a business - you can`t simply post some general information and have a posting, and thus have access to any user who finds the listing.  That`s my primary issue, it seems to be too simple for me to post information (I may be wrong about that, I didn`t have a chance to register or try to post).  If I`m going to take the step of contacting a lister, I want to be confident they`ve provided me with enough details to adequately assess their legitimacy.  Because once I reach out to them, they`ve got whatever contact information (and other information) I`ve passed along.

So as I said, setting a high bar for the level of information, perhaps even having some verifiable info about the health and viability of the business being listed, would really increase my confidence level.


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chuck fuller

I think I read two comments here.

1. Accuracy and legitimacy of the listings.  This will be a issue, to prevent spam and posting of "schemes".  A approval process is in place where a listing is reviewed before it is accepted and displayed.  We also require certain information on a broker to validate their identity.  A future feature could be a rating system.

2. Personal information protection for the buyer.  I try to maintain as little information as possible about a buyer.  Information not available can`t be compromised.  Communication will be through emails, also the lister`s phone number and website is displayed with a listing so they can contact each other directly and control what is shared.

I`m sure others will have the same reservations about the service, and hope the solutions/processes I have in place help mitigate some of these concerns.  Let me know if there are other thoughts as this is very helpful.

Reading thus far, and agreeing initially with Chuck, I could see this site going in a very different direction. Why not shift it more toward the "Business for Sale" ads in the country`s newspapers? Sort of like jobseekers.com, monster.com, and so on.

I don`t agree that buying a business is like buying a house. When you move into a house, for the most part you expect it to be the end of a process, after which you start living your life doing other things. In some cases, you expect to rennovate the place, rebuild it, or redecorate. But you`re mostly looking for a "home" base, from which to then live your life.

Buying a business is a start of a process. It`s a total rework of one`s life, suddenly going from "getting paid" to being entirely on your own, relying on your wits and skills to generate an unknown income from week to week. A business is a lifestyle, where a house is a resting place.

There are franchise fairs where people can look at lots of franchises and see if they`d like to investigate and buy one. Servicemaster, I think, has a site for that. Why not a basic compilation of whatever business for sale ads there are in all the papers around the country? That way you could stick with the minimal amount of information you have now, and also not have to present yourself as a "broker."

Chuck`s right that as a broker for a high-end life-changing event, the site doesn`t work.

Hi CraigL - the site is exactly as you mention, a "business for sale" classified ads service.  This is not a brokerage site. 

From the comments I`ve received thus far, it seems like the services provided needs to be better described.  It`s causing confusion, unless i`m misunderstanding everyone`s comments.  Please correct me if this is the case.  Thanks.

I do believe that`s the core issue. :-) If we`ve got two entirely different perceptions of the site, then the communication coming from that site is causing the confusion. Fix that, and  I`ll bet you`ll go a long way to resolving the other issues.

Minimalist. That`s for sure. I like the minimalism. The content isn`t centered quite right though. It needs to be moved down. Or something.

The copywriting isn`t clear. I really didn`t have much idea if the site was a job search or ... well ... I read the posts here and then I understood. Copywriting is really important. You need to communicate three things:

Product, Position, Purpose

Ideally you`d use a mind-catching hook of some kind.