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e-news | April 8th, 2010 |
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Business News |
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Business NewsAdvertisement rise points to stronger job marketMore indications of the nation’s stronger employment market have emerged with another rise in the number of job advertisements in metropolitan newspapers as well as on the internet during March. The ANZ Job Advertisement Series revealed that the total number of jobs advertised in March rose by 1.8 per cent to an average of 162,692 per week in seasonally adjusted terms. There had been a 19.1 per cent jump in job ads in February. Total job ads are now 29.9 per cent above their cyclical low point in July last year, however they are still 41.6 per cent below the record high reached in April 2008. The ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan said that "having a modest increase after a big increase really reinforces that strong trend we're seeing in job advertising. The continuation in job ads growth suggests labour demand is strengthening in early 2010 and confirms the rapid improvement in economic conditions in Australia over the past six months.” Retailers to be targeted with Fair Work compliance auditsThe Fair Work Ombudsman is writing to around 50,000 retailers across the country as part of a national campaign to encourage greater compliance with workplace laws. Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson is urging employers to positively embrace the campaign as an opportunity to improve their understanding of workplace laws. Fair Work inspectors will select 1500 retail outlets throughout Australia who will be asked to supply employment records for audit. The retail sector generates more complaints than any other industry - 4200 last year, or almost 20 per cent - and the Agency has prosecuted 39 retail employers in four years. Key stakeholders, including employer groups and unions, are now being briefed on the campaign and new resources are being developed to assist the industry. Mr Wilson says the focus of the retail campaign will be to check that employers are paying workers correct minimum rates of pay, penalty rates, loadings and allowances. “Some businesses think it is okay to require staff to arrive early to prepare a store for opening and stay late to clean up afterwards without paying them for that time - but it’s not, it’s unlawful,” he said. “Retail is consistently the number one source of complaints for us and we are determined to devote considerable resources to assist the industry with its compliance obligations.” Food retailers will not be included, as they were the focus of a National Food Services Campaign last financial year. Other national campaigns have recently targeted the hospitality sector, security and hair and beauty industries. Mr Wilson said his Agency had recouped more than $100 million for underpaid workers since 2006 and 98 per cent of it had been recovered without the need for litigation.
Peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association has urged retailers to turn to employer associations to get help complying with their new obligations as the Fair Work Ombudsman's national retail compliance campaign commences in April. My Business: Avoiding the killing fieldNow that we havecome through the ‘Global Financial Crisis’ and the ‘downturn’ in Australia, it’s time to gear up for growth again. But growth can come at a price – the profitability of your business. Writing in the April edition of My Business financial controller, Sue Hirst, says that owners of fast growing small businesses are often perplexed by why they are experiencing cash flow problems while their sales are rising rapidly. Hirst writes that sometimes businesses get too focused on increasing sales and the issues of inventory control and accounts receivable can be ignored. In those circumstances, the financing strains associated with fast growth can often kill what appears to be a profitable business. To minimise the number of days stock sits on the shelf, you need to work on your buying procedures and calculate when stock will be required by customers. If you are in a service-based business you need to minimise the number of days that jobs are in progress. You need to eliminate inefficiencies and rework on jobs or products. And to minimise the amount of time that customers are taking to pay you need to implement a system to ensure that customers are invoiced as quickly as possible and everything is done to ensure customers pay as quickly as possible. There are some good quality debt management systems available, that help people perform efficiently and ensure debts are handled appropriately for the level of the debt – that is, some need to be followed up by email and some need to be followed up by telephone. Reserve lifts rate despite emerging softness in economic dataTHE Reserve Bank has lifted official interest ratets by another quarter of one per cent despite evidence emerging of weaker retail sales and falling building approvals. The 1.4 per cent fall in retail sales was the biggest one-month fall since 1992 and does not fit the picture of a broad-based recovery with consumers still hesitating to spend. And as with retail sales, the February building approvals were also expected to show good growth but surprised with a 3.3 per cent fall, leading the housing lobby groups to declare the much-needed recovery in housing construction was running out of steam. But housing prices are continuing to show robust growth. House prices rose 1.4 per cent in February and are up by 3.1 per cent in just the past three months, according to property analysts, RP Data-Rismark. Businesses face large fines under tougher consumer protection laws
In the biggest reform of consumer protection laws since the passage of the Trade Practices Act by the Whitlam Government in 1974, the Federal Parliament has passed the new Australian Consumer Law that provides for fines of up to $1.1 million for companies that engage in unconscionable conduct or make false or misleading representations.
Consumer Affairs Minister Craig Emerson said that "This new law, combined with a second bill I introduced into parliament, provides a new deal for consumers. It offers protections for consumers never before available to all Australians.” ANZ releases new online business planning toolThe ANZ Bank has released a new online business planning tool that uses data from merchant EFTPOS transactions to identify sector or local sales patterns, market share, turnover to provide insights into customer behaviour in local and regional areas. The aggregated information can be used to analyse changes in sales and market share and understand local industry business trends. ANZ Business Insights has been launched as a pilot for ANZ small businesses customers in Victoria with a national roll-out planned in the coming months. Customers must register to use ANZ Business Insights. Registered users can view broad comparative benchmark data for similar businesses in their local area across common industry categories including food, clothing, consumer goods, travel and hairdressing. It is free to registered users. ANZ General Manager for Small Business, Nick Reade, said: “Getting meaningful local data is a challenge for small business owners. Short of sitting in a competitor’s shop and watching passing trade there are limited resources small businesses can use to benchmark performance. We expect ANZ Business Insights will be an invaluable tool for ANZ Small Business customers.” He said that “The tool takes a lot of guesswork out of business planning and helps small businesses save time and resources usually spent on local market research. This is information money can’t buy and it is free.” Other ANZ Online education materials such as start-up business courses, tools to help build the skills and knowledge of business owners, webinars on key topics such as marketing and cash flow planning, and business templates are available through the ANZ Small Business Hub. To register go to www.thesbhub.com.au My Business: Being smart with Fair WorkThere is no avoiding the fact that theFair Work Act places more demands on people management within SMEs. In April’s My Business magazine, HR Law specialist Robyn Anderson outlines how you can turn the legislation to your advantage. The legislation and any negative consequences are not aimed at your business, or your industry. These are national changes that affect nearly every business in Australia. So from this point of view there is a juncture in the road: either you can be consumed by the rigidity and ‘unfairness’ of the changes or accept that every other business has to contend with these laws too. With the right frame of mind and commitment to change, you can outperform your competitors by moving forward past senses of injustice. If you have an open and positive attitude to the changes in workplace law, then you can examine how these changes can be used to benefit your business with good people management and HR tools that not only inform your employees of their new entitlements but that also protect your business. You need to look at the way you run your business. Is it being run the best way possible or are you leaning on inefficient work practices? Should you accept incurring those extra costs relating to overtime rates or is it better to look at hiring an additional employee. Have you got the necessary level of documentation in the workplace that enables you to run your business effectively? Australian Retailers Index indicates continuing softness in retail sector
New research disclosed in the latest Australian Retailers Index revealed confidence among SME retailers fell 16 points to 24 percent resulting in the lowest level of confidence and the largest fall recorded for any industry sector in the past quarter. My Business: Effective networking tipsWe all know the adage that “first impressions count”. In this month’s My Business magazine, award-winning business consultant Donna Stone offers some practical tips on getting it right first time. Firstly, don’t attend a function without business cards. Saying to a prospective client who has asked for your card “they’re getting printed” just isn’t going to impress. When you give someone your card, especially if they have shown some interest in you, ask for their card. Dress appropriately for the function, ensure you have fresh breath, have your 30 second ‘elevator’ speech prepared and practiced and don’t indulge in the alcohol. You are there to do business, not get sloshed. Also, you have two ears and one mouth; use them proportionally. Ask questions and listen to the answers and then you can talk about your business, even showing how you can help their business from what you have just learnt. It’s not about inundating them with your whole sales spiel, but doing lots of listening. You will learn a lot which may help you later in talking business. Finally, if you meet someone who could be possibly a good contact for you, follow up in a day or two (at most) to organise a coffee to catch up. This allows you time (about one hour) for you both to really talk about each of your businesses and how you can help each other. Keep in touch with these people and if you do promise to do something (such as send some info) be sure to do so very promptly. Entrepreneurial e-books free to downloadDr Tom McKaskill, a formerly a professor at the Australia Graduate School of Entrepreneurship before he retired, has written a series of books on entrepreneurship, venture capital and Business Angels investing, that he is making freely available on the web. He has set up a new website www.drexit.net where six ebooks (pdf) for entrepreneurs, angel & VC investors and advisors are available and has invited people to distribute these books to the entrepreneurial and angel investor community. The initial books are:
My Business: Aligning PR to your business objectivesIn April’s My Business magazine public relations expert, Julia Nekich, outlines some ways to make sure your PR campaign reflects the overall objectives of your business. There’s no use securing media stories, speaking at an event, or putting on an event if it won’t meet your objectives. For instance, if you’re a female owner of an architectural practice and a mum, would you really agree to be part of a feature in a women’s magazine about busy mums who do yoga, for instance? While this kind of story might appeal to you, would it really help meet your business objectives? Any well-formed and up-to-date business plan will have clear, achievable and time-bound aims and objectives for the business in a number of areas. It would also contain vision and mission statements. This should give you a good idea of who your target markets are, what perception you want them to have of your service or products, and where you want the business to head in the near future. A good PR campaign should align with a business plan like this – and the more you share your business plan with your PR consultant, the better the PR outcomes. Once you know what you want the PR to achieve for you and who your target markets are, develop five to 10 key messages to convey to your targets through the PR. These messages should be crafted to help meet your objectives but also in a way that will be accepted by media (ie, don’t make them too promotional). Stick to them throughout the campaign. All press releases and media interviews would incorporate these messages to some degree. And be realistic about what your budget can achieve. PR is a long-term strategy – particularly if you’ve never used PR in the past or are unknown by the media. Security deposits loom for many small businessesThe business media is reporting that many thousands of small businesses could be forced to put up a security deposit for the tax office under Federal government draft laws designed to target foreign taxpayers and fraudulent business operators of so-called “phoenix” companies. The draft provisions of the Tax Laws Amendment (Transfer of Provisions) Bill 2010 gives the tax office the power to demand a security deposit from businesses and expands coverage to all taxes, including SGC and GST payments. The legislation is aiming at minimising the negative impacts of phoenix companies – that is, companies that are put into receivership owing substantial amounts of money to creditors ( including the ATO), only to be “re-birthed” as a similar company in the same industry by the same business operators. This intentional liquidation of companies to avoid the payment of liabilities is estimated to cost thee tax system up to $600 million a year. The size of the security deposit, in the form of cash, a bond, a mortgage over property or a guarantee has not been announced. The provisions state that "you commit an offence if the (Taxation) Commissioner requires you to give the security and you fail to give the security as required". Tax experts said the tax office would be able to rely on its data-matching evidence on the success of industry sectors to determine their failure rates, and require operators in the sector to raise extra funds for a security deposit. Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry has described the proposed legislation as "immediate action by the Rudd government to assist in the crackdown on phoenix companies" and an important tool to ensure taxpayers don't avoid their tax liabilities. My Business: Marketing with zero dollarsYou may have a great idea but no money for marketing. No matter what direction you want to head in, there is no chance of spending any money until you make money. So what are you going to do with a zero dollar marketing budget? In April’s My Business magazine marketing strategist Paul Groth offers up some ideas. First off, create a free webpage at a suitable social networking website, for professional services or B2B use LinkedIn or for B2C use a Facebook business page, use both if you think it will help. Of course there are others, and you should look into them, but these two are the most popular that you should start with. Customise your webpage to suit your brand and advertise that URL wherever you’re talking about your brand. Start creating conversations about your brand all over the internet using blogs and blog comments, forums and social networking sites. Look into as many ways of gaining new connections or followers as you can, but don’t do anything unethical because you will be frowned upon and probably banished which will make all of your hard work disappear in an instant. Lastly, go out networking, you should be able to find some free networking events, otherwise, consider making your own free networking event and advertise it through your online social networks. LinkedIn has plenty of networking groups created by people just like yourself. It might take a little more effort than the job of handling the three million dollar budget but if you can create enough social conversation about your brand, you can overtake the company with the three million dollar marketing budget. Small business guide for businessesBig Help for Small Businessis a new guide to the services available for Victorians to run and grow their businesses that has been released by the Victorian Government Victoria’s Small Business Minister Joe Helper said the new small business guide would assist the estimated 240 new businesses that were starting up in Victoria every week. The Big Help for Small Business guide covers starting or buying a business, finding the right licences, managing and growing a business, financial management, employing and managing people, managing risk, and networking and support. The guide is available by calling the Business Victoria hotline on 13 22 15 or by visiting any Victorian Business Centre in metropolitan and regional Victoria. My Business: Strategies to grow your businessIn April’s My Business magazine business commentator Andrew Vincent reviews some commonsense ways to boost your sales. According to Vincent, the first step is to try and narrow things down and get some focus. His four key strategies to grow your revenue and profit are: find more customers; sell more to your existing customers; increase your price; and increase your margins. Start by conducting an audit on all the activities that you have tried over the last one to two years. Work out what is and isn’t working. Review all your marketing performance indicators - eg number of leads, cost per lead, cost per sale, average sales price, number of sales per customer etc. Focus on the activities that work, dump the failures and start making changes to those that have potential to get them performing better. One client of Vincent’s saved $2000 per month by stopping an advertisement that just wasn’t working. As they say, what you can measure you can manage! Also, meet with your team and find out if things can be done faster, with less people, less materials or cheaper materials. Can you recycle, reduce stock levels or reduce your range of products? Review your team’s performance. Often additional training or mentoring from more experienced team members can reduce mistakes, save time and reduce waste. My Business: Making meetings matterEffective meetings can help to progress projects and add real value to the business but, as business writer Karen Adamedes explains in this month’s My Business magazine, they need to be tightly controlled. The truth is that many people have never learnt the skills to conduct a meeting. Knowing how to effectively prepare for, and chair, meetings is an important skill for business owners. The key is to be well prepared so that the meetings you do have serve your business purpose. The place to start is with understanding, or deciding on, the objective of the meeting. If you know exactly why you’re having the meeting – as opposed to “we always have one at 10 o’clock on Wednesday” – then you will know exactly what outcomes you want from the meeting. You often need to draw out some of the most thoughtful people who don’t speak up unless they are specifically asked for their opinion. Use people’s names when you speak or refer to them. People love to hear the sound of their own name and have their opinion sought. This applies in many situations, but it’s particularly powerful in meetings. It has the extra advantage of making people feel valued because they are being acknowledged in front of their peers. Finally, make sure you stick to the agenda and achieve what you need from the meeting. They are an excellent opportunity to progress your business. They provide a forum to develop relationships, exchange ideas, gain credibility, share information, obtain approvals and, last but not least, get some work done. | |||
