My Business October 2011

MYER CEO BERNIE BROOKES’ TEN ESSENTIAL SUCCESS TIPS The magazine for ambitious Australian business owners

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CONTENTS Cover Story

Regulars

PAGE 14

News and views By the numbers Peter Strong Brad Sugars Gadget Guide

The federal government spent more than $42 billion on external providers last year, with more than 50% of contracts going to small business. Learn how to get your share of that spend in our cover story.

2 8 10 12 60

Features MARKETING Where to advertise

MyBiz Expo Sydney show guide

48

The media has fragmented, which means lots more niches in which you can advertise and reach a qualified audience.

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY The post-PC age

PAGE 28

DON’T MISS THE PREMIER BUSINESS EVENT FOR SMEs in 2011

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54

Technology companies say the “post-PC” age is upon us. We decode what this means for your technology investment.

Smartphones swallow PCs

58

Smartphones can now encapsulate your PC, a technology trick said to be a harbinger of whole new ways to work.

ch

20 PFietst

24

Equal pay still elusive

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My Business’ top 10 tips

50

My Business gets lots of business advice and we’ve distilled it into these ten tips.

The Sydney MyBiz Expo will offer new businesses a chance to win a $5,000 investment in a “pitchfest” that will offer all comers the chance to prove the power of their business ideas.

Bathroom company Candana has successfully transitioned from its founders to the next generation.

FROM OUR WEBSITE

53

Women are still paid less than men, but a government agency is working to ensure work fo the same value receives the same reward

EXPERTS Sheralyn Guy 62 Robyn Anderson 63 Tony Gattari 64 Phil Lee 65 Carren Smith 66 Brian Walker 67 Terence Jeyaretnam 68 Ivan Misner 69 Donna Stone 70 Sue Hirst 71

Myer CEO Bernie Brookes shares his list of ten things business people need to do to reach the top.

1

EDITOR’SLETTER NEWS&VIEWS&VIEWS VI Robert Kiyosaki is a world-famous author and has sold countless books.

I know his knowledge of business vastly exceeds mine.

So why, when I chatted with him for the story on page four in this issue of My Business, did I feel like he was faking it a bit?

Here’s what happened. As we talked about his theories on business, Kiyosaki mentioned causes of unemployment in the US, which he put down to manufacturing jobs going overseas. I suggested that any entrepreneur would take the opportunity to send not-very-skilled jobs to the cheapest source of labour. Kiyoaski agreed. But when I pressed for industries he feels entrepreneurs could work in to create the next generation of American jobs, he had no answer and referred to several books in which he mentions energy and residential property as the investments he prefers.

I recount this experience because it highlights a tension we experience every day here at My Business, namely that we know the

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biggest names in business education succeed for a reason. But we also feel like they often say the same pretty basic stuff over and over.

My chat with Kiyoaski brought that tension into relief because on the one hand I felt he was sticking to old advice. On the other hand, this issue’s story about Myer CEO Bernie Brookes’ top 10 business tips (see Page 52) smashed traffic records for us online.

So here’s what I want to know — do big names float your boat?

Or do you feel you’ve heard their spiel many times before? Would you prefer fresh voices and perspectives from your peers, those who don’t always seek the spotlight? Or should we do both?

I value your feedback.

Macro-cycles in demography and commodity prices are about to bottom out, and the result will be a global downturn that business can only survive by paring back overheads.

That’s the grim vision of economic forecaster Harry Dent, who told My Business the cycle of commodity prices goes around every 30 years.

The last dip was in 1980 so we’re due for another, he said. Demography also has a cycle, he said, and the exit of many baby boomers from the workforce represents the bottom of that trend.

“We study demographic trends and the boomer generation have peaked in their spending and become a drag on the economy,” he said.

“Boomers don’t want to spend — they don’t want bigger houses.”

The result is what Dent calls a “winter season” in which growth is slow for a lengthy period.

To weather the cool-down, he feels that

business needs to batten down the hatches.

“The key strategy for businesses is to cut overheads and fixed costs. And only put money into stuff that generate business.”

That may sound glum, but Dent also sees an upside, because “Businesses that survive the winter season will see the competition go away.

Those that survive will lead for decades.”

Australian business, thanks to our Asian links, are well placed to survive.

“Australia should weather this better than anyone — you are not as weak demographically because of strong immigration. But you have problems of over-reliance on China’s boom and expensive real estate.” The latter will fall by 50 per cent in “the next few years”, he said, but feels this will make Australia more competitive. China, he added, will not grow strongly because an ageing population will retard development.

IEWS&VIEWS NEWS&VIEWS&VIEWS VIEWS&

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STARTUP OF THE MONTH: VIEWS&V WS&VIEWS NEWS&VIEWS&VIEWS ‘Rich Dad’ author says CHARGEBAR FIRE YOUR FRIENDS

R

elationships are the most important thing for any entrepreneur, according to Robert Kiyoaski, author of the best-selling ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ series of books, because every business person needs key suppliers like lawyers, accountants and a mentor, not to mention people who can do the things in a business that a founder and visionary cannot.

But entrepreneurs can outgrow those people, he warned when he spoke to My Business in Sydney and outlined the methodologies in a new book he co-wrote with Donald Trump, Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich — And Why Most Don’t.

The book describes four things a successful business needs: • Leverage, the ability for a business to grow without its founder having to be the sole source of its products; • Expandability, the quality of having a market beyond the first operation; • Predictability, in terms of generating revenue even when the economy is performing poorly; • The ability to attract finance, which Kiyosaki says is a consequence of achieving the three items above.

Midas Touch says entrepreneurs can achieve these four things using a model that assigns a value to each of the five fingers. “Your thumb stands for strength of character,” Kiyosaki told My Business.

“When you go into business, you are on the streets” and character is critical to thrive in the face of adversity. Your index finger is about focus,” and Kiyosaki and Trump have an acronym to describe focus: ‘follow one course until successful.’

“Everyone knows what your middle finger stands for,” Kiyosaki quipped, quickly adding that it is about forceful and distinct branding. “People need to know what you stand for. Donald Trump stands for being the highest and best and opulence. Rich Dad is about making learning fun.”

“The ring finger is relationships. As the entrepreneur, you don’t need to be smartest but you do need good relationships.’

The little finger, he concluded, is “the little thing you do that no-one else does” and Kiyosaki said FedEx’s overnight delivery guarantee is an example of a unique offer that other entrepreneurs would do well to emulate.

Relationships matter As our conversation progressed, Kiyosaki repeatedly stressed the importance of relationships. “I would say entrepreneurs should always seek good mentors,’ he said. “As I improved, I had to seek mentors who had been to where I had not gone yet. Most people ask inexperienced people to be mentors. Find someone who has gone where you want to go.”

Kiyosaki says his relationship with Trump works along those lines. “I feel fortunate that when I have a question I call Donald and ask,” he said.

For those of you who don’t have The Donald’s number in your mobile, Kiyosaki said you should at least be thinking about the need to one day upgrade your mentor — and the advisers to your business — to a Trump-grade source of support.

“The hardest thing about going through the process of growth is that you always have to upgrade your relationships,” he said. “I’ve had friends I loved dearly, but you have to move on. My college friends did not go on to become my professional friends.”

4

OCTOBER 2011

Every startup wants to land a colossal customer early in it’s life, as a brand everyone knows lends all sorts of credibility to a new company. So we imagine that October’s Startup of the Month, Chargebar, is chuffed that it’s very first airport installation has been adopted by none other than Vodafone.

Chargebar’s product is a mobile phone charging station that lets customers charge up their mobile phones when battery levels are flagging. The charging station includes a monitor which shows ads that customers are powerless to resist as they wait for their phones to charge. The company can also brand the whole charging station, a trick it applied for Vodafone at Brisbane Airport.

Since kicking off in 2010, the company has installed chargebars in more than 20 locations and secured clients including Peroni, Optus and Bundaberg Rum. The company is now planning an app so you can find a chargebar with your phone’s last remaining volts of energy.

For its innovative ways, cool product and bigbrand-winning success, we think Chargebar deserves the Startup of the Month crown for October!

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VIEWS NEWS&VIEWS&VIEWS VIEWS&VIEWS

NEWS&VIEWS NEWS&VIEWS&VIEWS VIEWS

The Metro interface

A quick look at WINDOWS

I

8

n mid-September, Microsoft released a very, very early preview of Windows 8, which it says will be finished in 2012.

We were able to install the preview and can talk you through some of the new features and guess at what they’ll mean for small business.

Let’s start with the first screen you see when Windows 8 boots up.

The interesting thing about the startup screen is that moving away from it requires a gesture — you swoop your mouse down and then a password field appears to let you log on to your machine. That need for a gesture reflects the fact that Windows 8 is aimed at tablet computers: Microsoft thinks a lot more of you will either use tablets or PCs with touchscreens, or a new breed of hybrid PC that combines the best of both worlds.

Fair Work Australia

OKAYS

L

after-school jobs

ocal businesses that want to hire kids for 90 minutes after school have the green light to do so, after Fair Work Australia (FWA) recommended an adjustment to the Retail Industry Award.

Changes to the Award meant that it became allbut-impossible for retailers to offer students shifts shorter than three hours. The Australian Retailers’ Association (ARA) argued against that provision of the Award, saying it made it hard for small business

to offer kids work after school and arguing that kids and the community would both lose out. FWA agreed with that argument, but the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) appealed to retain a minimum three-hour shift.

But in a decision released last month and already available online (at www. fwa.gov.au/decisionssigned/html/2011fwafb6251.htm), FWA saw no reason to consider the SDA’s appeal and instead proposed to amend the Retail Industry Award to allow 90-minute shifts if an employee is “a full-time secondary school 6

OCTOBER 2011

Windows 8 will be entirely at home on a normal, boring desktop or laptop computer, too, but the word on the street is that Microsoft will work hard with hardware-makers to get them cranking out all sorts of new goodies to get you excited about a new PC to get all touchy-feely with using when Windows 8.

Once you enter your password, Windows 8 offers you the Start screen, depicted at left. The new feature here is what Microsoft calls the ‘Metro’ interface. The big tiles you see launch either applications or Websites.

Microsoft has been pretty up front and said that Metro is all about the touchscreen experience.

Current thinking suggests this is good for younger employees who have grown up with the latest consumer electronics and expect this kind of bright and breezy interface. Whether you want to choose your IT investments on the basis of keeping a restless Gen-Y staffer happy for the 18 months they’ll stay in their job is another matter!

At this point, you might be thinking that there’s an awful lot to learn here and that the Windows 8 experience will be rather different to every other version of Windows since Windows 95.

Fear not. A very familiar Windows interface is also available. Click on the ‘Desktop’ tile in Metro and you’ll see the Windows 8 interface, which adds the ‘Ribbon’ from Office to help you find often-used functions.

When we get more time to play with Windows 8, we’ll let you know more about what’s in store.

student” and if the work is offered between 3.00pm and 6.30pm on a school day.

In the decision, FWA’s Vice President MJ Lawler said, “I am satisfied that if shorter periods of engagement are available then employers may be more prepared to hire school students after school.” ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman was understandably chuffed by the decision, putting out a press release saying, “This is a win-win for students and retailers. Retailers enjoy the community responsibility that comes with giving school students their start in the workforce, the ability to gain an independent income and learn valuable skills beyond the classroom.”

“…employers may be more prepared to hire school students after school.”

My Business says As someone who once earned $5 after school helping the local fruit shop to unload a week’s stock into it’s cool room (which it shared with a pizzeria that lost an awful lot of cheese to my mates and I along the way), it’s hard not to like this decision. We’ve tracked this issue because we feel that working in a small business is almost certainly better for kids than a more process-oriented job.

My Business hopes that small business and students see it as an opportunity to grow a new generation of entrepreneurs.

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BY THE NUMBERS Hair extensions are now the number one product purchased in the Beauty & Personal Care category on marketplace site AliBaba.com, which says “celebrity envy” is fuelling demand.

66%

of small businesses say there has been insufficient thought given to the carbon tax’s impact on small business

Source: AliBaba.com

1.6 million Australia had 1.6 million dairy cattle as of 2010, but used to have 2.1 million. This means milk production has fallen from the 2001 peak of 11.3 billion litres to just 9.1 billion litres today.

Source: Institute of Public Accountants member survey

63% of workers are happy to work two years past retirement age.

Source: Randstad’s Workmonitor survey for quarter two

58%

of Australian workers have chucked a sickie in order to help manage stress.

Source: Rabobank’s ‘Australian Dairy — Stimulating the appetite for growth’ report.

Source: Kronos Global Absence Survey

69,003™ 52% The number of Australian businesses who applied for trade marks in 2010. That’s a return to pre-GFC levels.

of the workforce is “seriously considering leaving” their job.

Source: IP Australia

Source: Mercer What’s Working survey

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NEWS&VIEWS PETER STRONG A KEY TO BETTER POLICY IS BETTER COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MAJOR GROUP OF TAX COLLECTORS, SMALL BUSINESS PEOPLE.

Peter Strong is the CEO of the National Independent Retailers Association Inc (www.nira.com.au) and the owner of a Canberra bookshop. He is also a Director of the Council of Small Business of Australia. He writes a regular column for My Business on the small business perspective on political, social and economic trends and events.

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OCTOBER 2011

Help COSBOA to frame tax policy

A

s this issue hits newsstands, I will have just attended the Federal Government’s 2011 Tax Forum. I took with me to the conference an exposure draft of our tax policies for the coming years, which I will outline here.

As always, our approach to these policies is based on two tenets for small business: Tenet 1 — A small business is a person; Tenet 2 — Small business is the backbone of the

Australian economy.

With that in mind, we saw this Tax Forum is an opportunity to decrease complexity and add productivity for small business people.

We are developing our policies through the review of previous submissions, consultation with members and a broader consultation with the small business community, based on this exposure draft document.

We have already developed a number of tax policies as listed below, in order of importance. We believe their application will deliver efficiency and productivity while also ensuring any future changes will be easier to assess and implement with the least negative impact on a small business person.

Tax policy 1: Ensure that collecting and distributing tax is easy.

The great majority of the businesses that collect GST, PAYG and superannuation funds are small businesses. With this in mind, all processes and procedures associated with the taxation system which impact on small business people, must be designed to be understood and easily used by those people.

Tax policy 2: Identify and remove tax compliance costs on small business people.

It is possible to remove or simplify several elements of the taxation process. Measures that would do so include: • As mentioned previously in this column, there is an opportunity to remove business from the collection process for superannuation; • Removing proposed reporting requirements for contractors in the housing industry; • Reviewing and changing the compliance demands and costs for small business people involved in the accounting, auditing and finance sectors; • Exempting small business from paid parental leave obligations as this adds an extra

complexity to the taxation process.

Tax policy 3: Compensate small business for any costs created by government policy.

Currently, many decisions made by government create a cost for small business people in time and in money. This happens every time tax rates or tax collection processes change. New taxes also mean new work and new costs for small business.

We propose that: • Small business people keep 10 per cent of all tax-related collections up to a maximum of $1,000. This might seem like a policy too far, but we cannot ask an employee to do something for nothing and neither should government; and • Automatic software updates must be made available to small business when there are any changes to tax rates or process. This will save the expense of purchasing new versions of software. Currently, whenever a tax rate or process change is made, the businesses have to upgrade their software at a cost. Downloads of upgraded software should be available on the ATO’s Website.

Tax Policy 4: Develop improved support and communications with small business people.

A key to better policy is better communications with the major group of tax collectors: small business people. To improve communications, we propose: • Better funding of the ATO’s Small Business helpline to ensure that waiting periods are acceptable during peak periods; • Continuing the business support line provided by the Department of Innovation and expanding it into specific industry areas and include site visits as an option; and • Continue and expand the Business Connect Program to include industry specific support and site visits.

Tax Policy 5: Continuously innovate in engagement with small business people and development of new processes and removal of old clunkers.

The rapid changes in technology provides an opportunity to continuously improve on tax processes for small business.

Please feel free to go to the COSBOA Website to make your comments: www.cosboa.org.au

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NEWS&VIEWS BRAD SUGARS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PROMOTIONS ARE CREATED

BY SIMPLY ASKING WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT, NEED OR DESIRE.

Brad Sugars is Founder and Chairman of ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business coaching firm.

12

OCTOBER 2011

The value of a referral-based business

F

or most people, having a referral-based business means being in a professional services category or in a position of having to work around onerous advertising regulations.

However, it doesn’t need to be that way, even if (and especially if) you’re in a retail category, because establishing a referral-based system to get new customers is key to driving your overall marketing costs down over time.

A good referral system can also help you look at your own customer acquisition systems in new ways. For example, if the lifetime value of your average customer is $50,000 and you can create a system where every new customer you acquire will generate three new customers by referral, you can easily start to see the ultimate value of exceptional customer service for that new customer. If they are wowed enough by what you do to direct at least three more from their network to your company, that person then becomes worth at least an extra $150,000 to your company, These days, customer service and experience is everything, and it’s not difficult to create a competitive advantage very quickly with exceptional service — mainly because most service expectations are very low.

For example, have you ever sent a notice to one of your customers thanking them for their business or prompt payment?

Or is your only form of communication a notice out to those who are behind?

What about that new customer who came in last week?

• Did you get key information from them that you can use to send them a ‘thank you’ at some point?

• Did you and your team treat them as if they were the key to tripling your revenues over the next five years?

• Did you do anything to ensure that they were not only welcome to come back and spend money any time, but they could also benefit if they brought a friend or two along with them?

If you were to use them in a testimonial for your company, ask yourself how would they position your company in a full page ad in Sunday’s paper?

Or better yet, a Tweet to their friends?

The old adage that ‘a satisfied customer will tell three people, a dissatisfied customer will

tell everybody’ is especially true in today’s new media world, where online reviews, blogs and social networking have become the new opinionshaping platforms, capable of literally making or breaking companies.

So, what can you do to start a system that will generate referrals?

1. Create a vision, mission, culture, atmosphere and environment for your company that’s built exclusively around exceptional customer experiences and service — Doing so will do more to build your brand than any expensive ad campaign ever can, because you will be building your reputation on the perceptions, feeling and emotions of your customers’ personal experiences and interactions with your company.

That means you can literally ‘brand’ your company in the minds of your customers simply on the basis of their experience (and experiences) with you.

2. Create offers that appeal to your customers’ needs, instead of your own. Sometimes business owners create offers based on a misapplication of the idea of, ‘what’s in it for me?’ rather than asking themselves ‘what’s in it for them?’.

So how can you create great offers for your customers? Brainstorm. Talk with your sales people. Your management team. Or better yet … your customers!

Some of the most successful promotions are created by business owners simply asking themselves what their customers want, need or desire over and above what is already on offer, then turning around and giving them exactly what they want.

Can it be as easy as that? Actually, it can ... and by using strategies that most owners and business people simply overlook.

However, if you focus on your customers’ service experience and what you’re really offering them, you can start to quantify the value of their referrals while increasing their lifetime value to your company.

In the end, if you can find ways to make the extraordinary your new routine, you’ll not only have a flood of word-of-mouth business, you’ll also enjoy the financial rewards that come from having a stellar reputation for exceptional customer service.

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COVER STORY

14

OCTOBER 2011

COVER STORY

Austsralia

How to make

Governments around Australia spend colossal amounts every year and, as part of their efforts to foster industry, seek out small businesses as suppliers.

We’ve spoken to three businesses that have won government work and they say that while the public sector plays by different rules and winning work is not always straightforward, the government makes a wonderful customer.

STORY BY SIMON SHARWOOD

YOUR CUSTOMER

D

oes a new customer with annual revenue of $328 billion, a procurement budget of $42 billion and a policy of making prompt payments interest you?

We thought it might.

Now for the good news: a client with that revenue is out there and wants to do business with you. In fact, it is out there looking for small businesses just like yours to do business with it right now.

Who is this mystery customer?

You’ll find it at Capital Circle, Canberra, seat of the Government of Australia and its $328 billion expected tax take for the 2011/2012 financial year. Australia’s States and Territories also have mountains of cash to spend – NSW alone expects to receive $59 billion in revenue in 2011-12. Local governments around Australia have an additional $20 billion to spend.

All levels of government make fine customers because they buy a lot of stuff, outsource all sorts of jobs and recognise that part of their role is to foster economic development by making sure that more than a few crumbs fall off the table and into the bank accounts of smaller businesses.

“In 2009-10 Australian Government agencies entered into approximately 81,000 contracts valued at $42.6 billion with some 16,000 suppliers,” says John Grant, First Assistant Secretary of the Procurement Division at the Department of Finance and Deregulation. “The SME share of those contracts awarded was 56 per cent by volume and 32 per cent by value.”

Grant says Government is not a soft touch for small business. “The Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines … require agencies not

to discriminate against SMEs and to consider the benefits of doing business with competitive SMEs when specifying requirements and in evaluating value for money.”

Other jurisdictions have made bolder statements about their enthusiasm for doing business with small business.

NSW, for example, operates a ‘Jobs First Plan’, which states: “The NSW Government’s Procurement Policy recognises that value for money is about broader economic benefit and not just the lowest price. The NSW Government acknowledges that economic benefits flow from procuring Australian or New Zealand goods and services and maximising opportunities for service providers to compete for Government business on the basis of value for money. Consistent with NSW’s international obligations … the Local Jobs First Plan is applied to benefit small and medium enterprises.”

Local governments are also keen to work with small business. Each state’s local governments operate a central procurement organisation to help councils to find suppliers (see ‘Online resources’ below), which means registering with those bodies becomes a gateway to potentially winning work from all of that jurisdiction’s local governments. If the requirements to win accreditation seem onerous, don’t fret. As the Municpal Association of Victoria’s ‘Doing business with local government’ guide points out: “Councils don’t expect everyone to have International Standard or best practice systems in place, especially small local businesses. So think about how your company or business is doing even the smallest things to address areas like

“Government agencies are very difficult to win and move slowly. But if you look after them, you can expect to have them as customers for decades.”

15

COVER STORY

“The NSW Government’s Procurement Policy recognises that value for money is about broader economic benefit and not just the lowest price.”

corporate responsibility or risk management, or environmental factors. You gotta be in it to win it!”

Another sign that Governments are keen to do business with small business can be seen in the appointment, at a federal level, of Supplier Advocates, senior executives charged with ensuring that Australian businesses have easier access to government work (and become more competitive when pitching for private sector business). Advocates operate in the rail, steel, IT, water, built environment, clean technologies and textiles, clothing and footwear industries.

One of the Supplier Advocates is Don Easter, who fills the IT Supplier Advocate’s role. In a piece he wrote for My Business’s sibling publication Government Technology Review, Easter explained his role, saying he feels it is “ … important to draw attention to the defining traits of the SME sector — its flexible solutions; its first-mover innovation; and its tailored service” and added that “I hope Government customers will diligently and strategically identify those all-important cherries that the SME sector does best.”

The Supplier Advocate program does more 16

OCTOBER 2011

than point out the virtues of SMEs. An example of the program in action saw the IT Supplier Advocate program help several companies in the IT industry to exhibit at the CeBit trade show, where Easter said they were offered assistance to “showcase the IT capabilities they supply to government” from the Australian Government’s stand at the event.

If that kind of assistance sounds attractive, here’s the cherry on top if you are thinking about government work: some jurisdictions promise to pay in 30 days!

The Federal Department of Finance’s guidelines for paying small business state, in part, that: “ … written contracts for procurements by an agency from a small business must provide that, for payments valued up to and including A$5 million (GST inclusive), the agency will make payment to the small business not later than 30 days after the date of receipt by the agency of a correctly rendered invoice.” (Federal government agencies take this very seriously. When I did some work for the government last year, procurement officers started to gently hassle me for details

the day I started in order to meet the payment deadline – Ed.)

What’s it like to work with government?

While government wants to work with small business, there are still some hurdles to overcome before you can list them among your clients.

The most formidable of those barriers is the fact that a great many government purchases are made by tender, a process whereby a government agency emits a detailed document explaining what it wants and outlining the equally detailed response it needs before it can consider you asa supplier.

Tenders can be intimidating and confusing – My Business once tracked a tender for writing services which attracted more than 200 questions because of its opaque language and arcane requirements.

For Dawn Piebenga, Managing Director of Sydney company Injury Management & Rehabiliation, a complex tender did not deter her company’s first bid for government work.

“In our industry, we have to be accredited by WorkCover NSW. That meant tendering was not a stretch for us, because we already had to have accreditations that government was looking for.”

“We thought we would go for it, because government has really robust probity around working with small, medium and large business from cities and regions,” she told My Business.

“The way the tender was worded meant we felt we had as good a chance as any to win some work. We thought they would look favourably on us as a small business.”

As the tender process unfolded, Piebenga felt it offered greater certainty and fairness than tenders from the private sector.

“Most of the tenders we have participated in have been for insurance companies. There is no probity – they say there is, but there isn’t. You can provide a good and detailed response, but you can miss out on relationships. In the private world, you can go into a tender meeting and there might be 25 companies there and you work your arse off to respond and then find out there was another meeting for the 10 providers they really wanted.

They were humouring you. That would never happen in government.”

Piebenga says Government, by contrast, “really looks at the answers you provide.

Big business tiptoes around Canberra Questions are much clearer and more carefullyworded to make comparison between those who tender easier.”

Government is also easy to work with once you win a contract.

“Once you are on the panel, the standards are so clear and they are transparent for measuring performance,” Piebanga said. “The NSW Government provides really robust systems explaining what they expect. It’s very structured and there is really good technology behind it for reports that you must do – there’s a portal you log into to send reports. In private enterprise, you have to generate those reports yourself.”

Piebenga says these systems mean it’s easy to understand if you are meeting the client’s requirements and therefore to plan for contract extensions.

“Performance standards are well articulated so you know if you are doing well really easily, compared to other experiences where it is not clear if you are doing a good job. It’s less relationship-based and more system and process-based.”

Injury Management & Rehabiliation also appreciates the swift payment it receives.

“They pay really quickly and efficiently,” Piebenga says. “Their technology is so sophisticated – you log in, enter your report and if you have ticked all the right boxes, it goes right off to an electronic payment.”

“We still get some cheques from private enterprise, but government is a dream to work with – we never have to follow up.”

Margins?

The one fly in the ointment for Injury Management & Rehabilitation is that government doesn’t pay well, so profit margins are low.

“Nine per cent of our business is government and we would not want it to be much more because of the profit margins. We think of it as bread and butter, but don’t want to rely on it.”

Cameron Ball has a smilar approach to government work. The company he serves as Managing Director, Kiandra IT, has won a place on several state government panels, but also focuses on larger businesses and startups.

“We try to go for balance so the business is stable across whatever may be happening across the economy,” Ball says. Government work, he adds, becomes more important – and perhaps

Big business also has all sorts of fun doing business with government, as sibling magazine Government Technology Review (GTR) discovered earlier this year when it looked at how technology vendors fare in Canberra.

The companies we spoke to in GTR told us that one of the upsides of working in the national capital is that it’s a small town where everyone knows everyone, which makes networking with customers easier.

“I bumped into a client at a kids’ play centre,” said Peter Sharples, who works for business software company CA Technologies. “Canberra is such an insular place. It is such a small town that this happens quite a lot. When my manager comes to town and we go to a coffee shop, I say hi to every fifth person.”

Sharples was happy that kind of casual encounter does happen, because it’s often hard to arrange informal meetings in Canberra and old tactics like long lunches are off the menu.

“Anything more than a coffee has to be declared,” he said – a marked difference from the environment in which his colleagues targeting the private sector work.

Even if someone is willing to meet for a coffee, said Federal Government and ACT State Manager for business intelligence vendor SAS, Dirk Klein, relationship-building chats are now hard to justify for government employees.

“It is hard to say if it is because of increased professionalism or a greater number of vendors taking up time, but when you meet with a client, you cannot shoot the breeze and make it worth their while and add value,” he said. “You need to know what interests them. You can just go in and ask, ‘What is keeping you awake at night?’ You have got to show you have done some homework.”

Klein liked it this way. “I don’t think someone will make a million-dollar purchase based on giving them a coffee mug,” he said.

For Andrew Foot, data management vendor EMC’s Head of Public Sector for Federal, NSW and Victorian governments, the differences required when selling to government are something he thrives on.

“It is a unique sector with its own challenges,” he said. “It is very different to general [business] sales. The key difference is that with private enterprise, a lot of what you focus on is around unique business value for the end user. You have discussions around competitive advantage, return on investment, right through to how to create efficiencies through reduction of staff or the improvement of process.”

In government, he said, selling requires different discussions, because “what you are dealing with is anything from the machinery of government to a minister’s policy agenda.”

CA’s Sharples agreed. “We invest a lot in sales methodologies and then we toss them out as soon as we see the ACT sign at the border. The whole process around how decisions are made is different. Return on investment is different. Government does not look at resourcing as a sunk cost, so assuming that technology helps to shed headcount is not always a powerful factor. Risk is king. If you can show you mitigate risk, it helps.”

more plentiful, too – during slow times.

“At the height of the GFC, all these projects were released. I do not have proof, but it seemed like they were trying to stimulate industry.

There seems to be no correlation to consumer confidence or things that affect the enterprise space in the way government decides to invest.

It is more related to big issues or when the next election is on.”

Like Injury Management & Rehabilitation, Kiandra IT doesn’t rely on government for the majority of its work.

“The margins are not as good,” says

the company’s Director of Software, Martin Cooperwaite. “You are leveraging volume of projects as opposed to margin.”

Kiandra IT can leverage volume, because it has now worked with governments for several years and Cooperwait says the longer you do it, the easier it becomes. The company’s first step was to win appointment to government panels.

“It takes a lot of time and effort to get onto a panel and you have to divulge a lot about your business. It requires a whopping tender response.

You get grilled, because the purpose is doing pre-quality checking.”

17

COVER STORY

“Councils don’t expect everyone to have International Standard or best practice systems in place, especially small local businesses.”

Cooperwaite says Kiandra needed three or four staff, working non-stop for up to two weeks, to complete a panel response. That level of work was “a bit arduous” for the 55-person company, which now says it has been through sufficient panel submissions to have reduced the time it needs to complete a response.

“Once you have been through it, the process gets easier,” says Cooperwaite. “If you are planning to get on multiple panels, you can leverage it and do a bit of a cut-and-paste job.”

And once you are on panels, it pays off. “Once you do it, the opportunities are there,” he says. “It is worth the investment and once you are on the panel, it only takes a one or two-page response to bid for a $500,000 project.”

Government as core customer Jon Doolan, CEO of KE Software, also believes an up-front investment is important when dealing with governments.

KE Software specialises in applications for two niche areas that are dominated by government: museums and registrars of births, deaths and marriages.

Doolan’s approach to winning these government customers is to demonstrate that KE Software knows as much or more about best practice operations than the organisations themselves.

“You have to evolve into an ‘expertise company’,” he says, as only by demonstrating that your product meets the government agency’s needs will sales be secured.

“We pride ourselves on providing the best software and knowledge in our two sectors,” Doolan says. “I don’t believe there are other sources of expertise that can rival us.”

This strategy means KE Software does not employ traditional salespeople to target the government agencies that make up the overwhelming majority of its clientele. Instead, it uses workers who developed its product and gained deep insight into clients’ problems to conduct long-term engagement with prospects 18

OCTOBER 2011

as a way of demonstrating that KE Software knows their businesses inside out and will be an ideal supplier. Long engagement with potential clients means the company also tries to influence future tenders so that they refer to concepts and features only KE Software’s products deliver.

“We are not doing anything that would pervert the tender process,” Doolan says. “But there are a lot of subjective things that go into tender evaluations” and having a relationship in which you have demonstrated expertise does not hurt.

KE Software’s sales strategy includes rigorous assessment of which deals the company thinks it can expect win. “Working with government has a high cost per sale and a very long sales cycle,” Doolan says. “So you try to minimise outlays.”

Doolan therefore expects a success rate of 70 to 80 per cent when it competes for tenders.

The upside is that when KE Software wins a government client, it feels it can retain and derive revenue from government agencies for decades.

“The initial sale is reasonably substantial, but we earn 80 per cent of revenue from existing customers,” Doolan says. “In the longer haul, if you look at profitability, it is good, because selling costs are amortised over 10 or 20 years.”

Doolan also feels that specialising in government niches also makes his company less susceptible to competition.

“Big software companies consider the verticals we are in to be small,” and therefore not worthy of their attention. Even if outsiders targeted KE Software’s niches, Doolan feels the company could fight them off.

“Unless others are willing to develop a very sophisticated solution, they would fail,” he says.

That head start means KE Software intends to continue working almost exclusively with governments for the foreseeable future.

“Government agencies are very difficult to win and move slowly. But when you get in, there is real lock-in. If you look after them, you can expect to have them as customers for decades.”

Online resources to help you do business with government We’ve mentioned lots of online resources to help you do business with government in this story. Rather than pepper the text with Web addresses that break things up, here they all are in one place!

NSW Jobs First Plan: www.nswprocurement. com.au/Government-Procurement-Frameworks/ Goods---Services/Framework.aspx Municipal Association of Victoria’s ‘Guide to Doing Business with Government’: www.mav.asn.au/policy-services/procurement/ Documents/Supplier’s guide to doing business with local government.docx Queensland Government marketplace: www.qgm.qld.gov.au/ Supplier advocates: www.innovation.gov.au/industry/ australianindustryparticipation/ supplieradvocates/Pages/default.aspx Federal government payment policy: www.finance.gov.au/publications/financecirculars/2008/10.html Local government procurement network: New South Wales Local Government Procurement www.lgp.org.au Northern Territory Local Government Association of the Northern Territory www.lgant.asn.au Queensland Local Buy Pty Ltd www.localbuy.net.au South Australia Local Government Corporate Services www.lgcs.com.au Tasmania Local Government Association of Tasmania www.lgat.tas.gov.au Victoria MAV Procurement www.mav.asn.au Western Australia Western Australian Local Government Association www.walga.asn.au

PEOPLE IN BUSINESS

RENOVATING AND REGENERATING STORY BY NICOLA CARD

Family-owned bathroom products supplier Candana has renewed its business with a new-generation technology, and a new generation of managers from the family that has owned and operated the company for over 30 years.

T

o join the family firm or not? Six years ago, that was the dilemma that Marc Reed faced. Marc’s parents, Richard and Judy, have run Sydney bathroom product supplier Candana for more than 30 years.

Marc and his parents both have a vested interest in the longevity of the high-end bathroom building products supplier, which has evolved with the times. Back in the late ’70s, architect Richard Reed was designing and building bathrooms. The business then shifted its focus to bathroom design before evolving into the research and development of bathroom products. These days, Candana — the company’s name comes from a combination of Richard Reed’s native Canada and the dyslexia from which he suffers — stocks imported and local bathroom lines.

Three decades on, Candana still revolves around bathrooms, but Marc now occupies the hotseat of Managing Director and a new interactive Website is a centrepiece of the company.

20

OCTOBER 2011

The Reed family

PEOPLE IN BUSINESS

“As a family business, you are not tied down by head office and various managers; you have greater adaptability to change.”

Bathroom designers and architects can now create bathroom building schedules from go to whoa, as all necessary product information and specifications are available at the click of a mouse.

“What we have done is speed up efficiencies for our clients,” said Marc Reed. “We’ve gone to great effort to put all information and PDFs on the Website for bathroom designers’ clients, so when they are putting together a schedule, they can choose each

improve your business and become better. In the bathroom industry, one area that lacked was giving back to designers and architects,” Marc explained. “All suppliers say the new Website is the best thing on the market. I came up with some concepts and went to a company from where we employed people with complementary skills: one creative for design, the other technically savvy for the build. It took 18 months to develop all the features including the unique search engine, size

lots of floor traffic and quick sales,” he said “Today most of the preliminary work is done online. People are working longer hours to preserve their job security and they have less spare time, but with our Website they can check everything they want or need to.”

product, check all measurements and dimensions, colours and quantities available. All specifications are there; it’s all under one schedule.”

Marc believes Candana’s Website is the first and only one of its kind across the globe, making it an important investment in any economic climate.

“In any business, there is competition and we welcome it as it only means you strive to

and price details, water labelling system, overseas exhibitions and more.”

The timing of the new Website caters for a shift in customer dynamics, says Marc. “Eleven or so years ago, there was a move to ‘get rich quick’ on the back of renovation shows. People were keen to buy, develop and sell properties, and we were very busy all day every day and for us that meant

innovative ideas as “You are not tied down by head office and various managers; you have greater adaptability to change.”

He’s not shy in addressing some of the bigger issues and his parents supported his recent decision to shave annual overheads by $350,000 by closing their second showroom in response to low consumer spending. The

Family business dynamics Reed says that being part of a family business has its advantages when it comes to implementing

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PEOPLE IN BUSINESS

Who you can turn to for advice The Reed family did not encourage Marc to work in the business early in his career.

Indeed, Marc says his father politely persuaded him to get some qualifications and gain work experience elsewhere before joining the family firm.

“His actual words were to spend someone else’s money making mistakes while gaining business experience!”

Gaining experience elsewhere was valuable because, Marc says, “Running a family business is stressful; we have so many more overheads these days with the introduction of mobile phones and Internet

shutdown hurt, but the staff of a dozen interior designers has been retained.

“In a tough market, you pull together as a family to identify what is best and right for the financial longevity of the business, and also the staff we support and pay. The decision to close the store was made quickly and in agreement between the three of us. This would have been a harder or slower decision for a non-family business where there may be differences of opinion.”

Family businesses also tend to be more adaptable to marketplace changes, says Reed, who remembers some of the tough times vividly.

“Many small businesses endured serious struggles during the recessions of the ’80s and ’90s. Mum and Dad had gone through hard times and put in extremely long hours to make the business successful and provide for the family.

It would have killed me to see the business sold off,” says Marc, who quit a lucrative job in fine dining to join the family business.

“I was working over in Canada in well-paid jobs serving celebrities in up-market restaurants when I felt there was a calling [back into the family business]. Our family is close-knit; Dad is not only a father but a person I look up to everyday, the man I wish to be, and ever since day one, I saw an opportunity to not only to get into a business that had been successful for 30 years but also to work with my parents on a daily basis.”

Reed’s early career in hotel management equipped him with valuable problem-solving skills. “Fine dining is one of the toughest industries anyone can work in and you have to 22

OCTOBER 2011

bills. House prices and therefore mortgage repayments are so high.

“Being a family business we want to support each other and our ideas on how we can grow. The more people from outside giving opinion ... could make it tougher. We look after what is best for us and the financial times.

Should an issue arise, the majority rules.

“My Dad always says everyone has been given a gift in life; it is just whether you choose to use it in your life or business.”

Reed’s brother has followed in their father’s footsteps by becoming an architect but is unlikely to join the family business.

“No matter how bad the market is right now, what will not change is our approach to business — to staff and clients.”

might start the roll-on effect.”

“People are worried about the impact of the economic situation in the United States, but only four per cent of our exports land there in contrast with the 25 per cent to China, so that is the economy we need to worry about and they are still growing at a reasonable rate of eight to nine per cent annually.”

“I think the Europeans and Americans are struggling, but we do not need to. We are in a financial position now where we can continue our growth. Australia is only at 24 per cent of its borrowing capacity some others are at 80 per cent.”

Catering for change solve problems on the spot. Sometimes now that is all I do in the business, that is, respond to urgent matters,” he says.

Changing times Marc’s management has overseen business growth of between 10 to 15 per cent on the back of positive feedback from customers and Candana enjoyed the strongest first calendar quarter this year. However the current market is patchy and Reed observes a sinister — possibly unnecessary — change in sentiment.

“Now people are starting to talk about negativity. An article in a daily paper posed the question of whether we in Australia could talk ourselves into a recession. We do not need to have one, we are in a strong financial position compared to the rest of the world economy, but the media are talking doom and gloom, which

“No matter how bad the market is right now, what will not change is our approach to business — to staff and clients. Our new Website has increased turnover and we enjoy a loyal following, but recently we employed a PR firm [to drum up publicity] as we want to bring in more new and younger clients.”

As Marc Reed’s command over the business increases, so does his parents’ involvement decrease. “They see me as being young and energetic and realise I want the best for the business, so they have taken a step back. These days, when the phone rings, there is less insistence to talk to Richard and Judy; now customers ask for me. It’s a very personal business, and that helps keeps people coming back.

“Part of my drive and focus is to give my parents the retirement they deserve.” www.candana.com.au

FINANCE

TURN ON

THE CASH TAP Make sure the cash keeps flowing around your business with the expert tips we’ve assembled in this story.

STORY BY SIMON SHARWOOD

M

anaging cashflow is one of the trickiest tasks for any business. Too little cash is hardly ever desirable, while too much at the wrong time can also create problems.

So how can you make sure your business has a steady stream of cash that nourishes it week in, week out?

An important first step, says Nick Reade, the ANZ’s General Manager for Small Business, is to understand the difference between turnover and profit, as doing so gives you a better understanding of how much cash needs to flow into and out of a business’ bank account.

“Understanding the difference between profit and turnover is a fundamental principle of business success,” he says. “Profit is what is left after all business expenses have been paid as well as tax. Small businesses should always have a very clear picture of their operating profit at any point in time.”

“The irony is you can have a seemingly successful business, which is turning over a lot of money, but is not profitable,” Reade adds.

“Turnover doesn’t equal profit. If operating costs equal or exceed turnover, then you are just spinning your wheels, or worse, making an operating loss. “ To avoid this situation, Reade recommends 24

OCTOBER 2011

that small business owners develop a business plan that covers financial performance as well as other issues.

“I’ve spoken to many small business people who have thought a lot about marketing and branding, but find it difficult to write and stick to a business plan. Without a solid business plan, you could lose direction quickly — it’s a first step to success,” he says.

That plan should include a monthly profit forecast, a discipline Reade says “every small business should adhere to. The first step is to estimate sales for the month — the key is to be conservative and make allowances for fluctuations.

The second step is to estimate monthly operating expenses including salaries, superannuation, rent, utilities, materials and production costs. Depreciation and tax liabilities also need to be factored in.”

Once those factors are known, you’ll be able to define how much cash your business needs to run, and also see whether your income forecast will mean you meet that target in each month. Rigorous attention to those indicators is often recommended in the pages of My Business, because paying constant attention to whether you are on track to cover your operating expenses is essential to keep your business on track!

Getting cash through the door A second cashflow challenge comes from something that is hard to control, namely the behaviour of those who owe you money.

Dr Greg Chapman, a Director of Empower Business Solutions, uses an anecdote to explain why this can be a problem: “One of my clients just informed me he had $130,000 owing — about

FINANCE

50 per cent of his turnover,” Chapman recalls.

“He is a supplier in the building industry, where project life cycles can be many months. His payments were based on milestones, but there were continual delays and with information not being provided and last-minute changes.

This lead to a situation with numerous projects falling short of their milestone payments,” and insufficient cashflow.

“The problem had to be broken into two parts — new clients and legacy clients,” Chapman says. “For new clients, the solution was to include a combination of a time-based and milestonebased payment schedule. This meant business was able to invoice to cover their costs if their client was responsible for delaying the milestone.

“Stronger discipline was also used to limit variations that were really outside the original scope or that were just changes of mind. This included client education.”

Existing clients were introduced to a different regime. “Where there were clients who had multiple jobs with the business, work was halted on all projects if payment was not timely on even a single project where milestones had been achieved.”

That approach may seem harsh, but Chapman says it was necessary given the building industry’s propensity for delays. “Late payments are the norm and non-payment through manufactured disputes is common,” he says. “For the business, it meant that they would never again have outstanding payment for work more than a few weeks. The side benefit, ironically, is happier clients as they know the rules from the start and they feel that they are given clear choices when making changes, which greatly reduces disputes.”

The firm also taught its staff how to set client expectations in ways that could boost cashflow.

“Staff were educated about over-promising

store it. access it. use it.

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and the correct way to handle client changes,” Chapman recalls. “In fact, we developed a script to do this so that no-one felt uncomfortable, but the real secret was managing client expectations right from the start. These were not just about accounting changes, it was a systemic change of workflow process.”

Incentives Another way to improve cashflow is to offer incentives to your customers which encourage them to pay more promptly.

“Even a small percentage discount can be enough encouragement to get your invoices paid promptly,” says Eric Bigalk, Founder and Creative Director of boutique marketing and publicity firm Smart Solutions PR. Julia Williams of Advanced Bookeeping services in Mackay has devised a clever incentive scheme.

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25

HOW TO CONTROL YOUR DEBTORS For most businesses, the quickest way to improve your cashflow is to get your debtors under control. And the quicker you get paid, the quicker others get paid, so the whole economy can get stimulated quicker than a government handout!

Customers today are averaging over 50 days to pay — almost twice the normal 30-day terms. But there are a number of tactics that can dramatically reduce your debtors and get that cash back in your bank account where it belongs.

Firstly, you can only manage what you can measure. To calculate your debtors days, multiply your debtors outstanding at month end by 365 days and divide by your annual sales. For a $2 million business with debtors of $300,000 that’s 55 days, so you’ll have an extra $80,000 in your bank account if you reduce this to 40 days.

Secondly, you need to educate staff that up to 20 per cent of the value of an overdue invoice can be lost in recovery costs such as time wasted, interest, bad debts and settlement discounts. Staff must understand their responsibilities. For example, the office manager must ensure adequate debtors control tactics are in place, and the sales manager must ensure customers are creditworthy. You should have debtor reduction targets and offer a small reward as each milestone is reached.

Thirdly, use debtor reduction tactics that embrace common sense with the art of being insistent without being offensive. You should see the results immediately.

1. Make it easy to pay you Your invoices and statements need to clearly show all the information that makes it easy for your customers to pay you, such as: • Display the due date near the invoice total.

• Display payment methods such as bank account and BPAY details.

• Show ageing on statements as current and overdue. The old 30, 60 and 90 days encourage late payment.

• Send statements. Most firms now delay payment until they receive one.

• Don’t wait to send all your invoices at the end of the month, as you risk missing a customer’s payment cycle.

2. Make follow-up a routine The key is to maintain a consistent approach, ensuring clear but friendly communication with your customers.

• Calculate ageing from the invoice date not from month end.

26

OCTOBER 2011

• Email a copy invoice the day it is overdue, rather than phoning.

• Include humorous reminders as they do encourage payment such as ‘Please don’t let this invoice mature like a good red wine’.

3. Customer checks before shipping The best time to collect an overdue amount and ‘reset the payment rules’ is when customers are placing an order or making an enquiry. You should automatically check their account ageing, credit limit, any disputes and even use risk tools to flag customers before credit issues arise.

4. Reducing errors It may seem obvious, but reducing errors also speeds up payment and reduces the risk of damaging goodwill that may have taken years to build up. Two of the most common errors are wrong price and wrong product or quantity.

Regular special customer pricing should be automated and emailing order conformations can have a significant impact on reducing errors.

5. Customer relationship management (CRM) Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a must-have for most businesses today. They help increase sales and can also help reduce your debtors. You can embed CRM within your financials so everything is in one database.

This gives instant access to customer contact details, payment discussions, plus past orders and invoices without having to find ‘the paperwork’, or ask other staff for help. You can also create a todo list for following up overdue invoices.

6. Use Customer dashboards Intelligent business systems, like Attaché All-InOne, offer real-time dashboards, so you can see at a glance what needs to be done without having to run to be told or rely on printed reports. You can then drill down into your accounting data. They can display highest overdue invoices, customers in dispute, average debtors days and more.

By Mike Rich, co-author of the ‘Business Improvement Guide’, which contains 700 tactics to help improve your business. It especially targets the M in SME i.e. businesses with annual sales over $1 million and shows how technology can automate each tactic. The Debtors Reduction section has over 110 tactics.

If you’d like a copy of this section, simply email info@attachesoftware.com or phone 1300 288 224.

“I have recently introduced a travel discount for my VIP clients,” she tells My Business. “I charge travel at $1.25/km from my office in West Mackay to their house, but as this increased the cost too much for my ‘out of town’ clients, I offer those that have a good payment history a 35 per cent discount, applied to their next invoice.”

“This means I charge the full rate and they pay it, increasing and maintaining my cashflow for wages and travel allowances to employees and on the next invoice (provided the original is paid within my seven-day terms) they receive a 35 per cent discount on the next invoice. They do usually incur a new travel charge on the new invoice as I have visited them again, so the new, full-rate charge appears for that day, then the discount for last week’s trip, as long as the invoice was paid on time.”

Another way to get more cash through the door more quickly is to give your customers more ways to pay. Credit cards can be particularly attractive to those debtors who love to rack up frequent flier points. They also work very well for tradespeople, thanks to mobile credit card readers that make it possible to take payment in retail customers’ homes. While credit card processing fees come into the picture, they are relatively low and the expense incurred is often worth it, given that the quick turnaround in payments saves time and effort that would otherwise be spent chasing payments.

Spend money less often Another great way to improve cash flow is to send less money out the door, less often.

This is especially applicable to retailers that learn to manage their stock levels effectively.

To understand why this is important, consider the case of a shoe store of My Business’s acquaintance. This retailer made a big order for Ugh boots in February, betting that when they arrived in-store temperatures would be falling and shoppers would be readying for winter by purchasing warm clothes.

An unseasonably warm April meant shoppers put those purchases on hold, leaving the store with a back room crammed with unsold Ugg

FINANCE

“The real secret was managing client expectations. These were not just about accounting changes, it was a systemic change of workflow process.” boots that were not generating any sales. That didn’t stop an invoice for the boots arriving!

It’s hard to plan for a warm autumn, but the story illustrates the importance of not sinking cash into stock that won’t generate cashflow. You should never, for example, buy lots of Ugg boots in October — they won’t sell in summer and you won’t have enough cash to buy the sandals people are ready to buy! Nor should you buy more stock than you need, especially if you are dealing in perishable goods. Instead, use your business plan and forecasts to make an informed purchase based on either past trading or industry benchmarks.

If you find yourself stuck with stock that crimps cashflow, one option is to reduce its price to encourage shoppers. Another lever to pull is changing the terms on which you acquire stock in the first place. Try to agree on terms that require only part payment or, better still, take stock on consignment so you don’t have to pay until items sell. Negotiating a payment schedule is another option: the shoe store mentioned above might find a sympathetic ear from Ugg boot

manufacturers who understand that the weather has dealt the industry a tough hand and wants to demonstrate a little goodwill to make sure it remains on retailers’ radars once the weather cools and demand returns.

Tax Another organisation which, perhaps surprisingly, is sometimes happy to accept partial payments is the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Do not, under any circumstances, assume the ATO will offer to do so as a cashflow management tactic. Indeed, the ATO generally prefers to be paid promptly and in full.

Some businesses forget or ignore that fact and don’t set aside the share of revenue required to meet GST or other tax obligations, often because they hope cashflow will come good at about the same time tax payments fall due. Others feel that setting aside cash is wasteful, as money should be out working rather than mouldering away waiting for the tax office to trouser it.

If your forecasts suggest you can get away with this tactic, good luck to you! A more

conservative and prudent course of action if you foresee difficulties paying tax is to trim discretionary expenditure so you can meet your tax obligations promptly. There are many ways to trim costs, but doing so while remaining productive is the trick!

Another tactic is to use the many bank accounts and accounting software packages that funnel cash into special sub-accounts designed to house GST. Some of these sub-accounts even pay decent interest to encourage deposits — a nice incentive.

If things go pear-shaped and your cashflow means you cannot pay the ATO, your best tactic is to ‘fess up’, fast. The ATO has little interest in seeing businesses close and often works to ensure they can pair their tax debts at a lower rate. This is not a frontline cashflow management tactic, but can be useful if your affairs hit the wall.

You also need to make sure your cashflow management regime salts away enough money to make employer superannuation contributions for your workers. Failure to make payments by the end of the financial year can result in penalties.

Great partnerships make a great difference

publicaccountants.org.au 27

DON’T MISS THE PREMIER BUSINESS EVENT FOR SMEs in 2011 6 – 7 OCTOBER 2011 AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY PARK, EVELEIGH

Pitch Fest The Sydney MyBiz Expo will offer new businesses a chance to win a $5,000 investment in a “pitchfest” that will offer all comers the chance to prove the power of their business ideas.

PRE-REGISTER ONLINE www.mybizexpo.com.au and for more details on our free seminar and workshop series.

Supporting Partner

Workshop Sponsors

Media Partner

Networking Event Sponsor

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SHOWGUIDE: FLOORPLAN

SHOWGUIDE: FLOORPLAN

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1300 Apprentice Act Today ActionCOACH Australia Arcsine (Sure City) Australian Tax Office Avery Dennison Bates Cosgrave BEC (Business Enterprise Centre) Cariblue Colour Presentations

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Dealit EnergyWatch / Freedom SEO Fair Work Ombudsman Fluccs Australia Freelancer.com Gallop Solutions Ideas Into Action Import Export Resource Centre IP Australia Learning Seat

39 Limeworks 34 MBE (Mail Boxes Etc) 37 Medicare Australia Superannuation Clearing House 52 My Business 29 NTS Business Communications 57 Officeworks 18 Power of 300 8 Powerfront Shopping Cart 2011 17 RP Vending Systems

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RubiHawk Servcorp Small Fish Business Coaching Success Women’s Network Trademark Zone Travelscene Corporate UncoverHiddenProfits.com UNE Partnerships Pty Ltd Upstream Printing Solutions 29

DAY 1: THURSDAY 6TH OCTOBER

SYDNEY SEMINAR PROGRAM 10:00am – 10:15am

MyBiz Expo Sydney Show Open – Day 1

10.30am – 11.00am

Dean McEvoy, CEO/Co-Founder, Spreets

11.00am – 11.30am

Paper - a tangible CSR opportunity if you help make it a sustainable resource Ian Krawitz, Project Director, 10 Thousand Trees and Rajendra R, Senior Consultant, 10 Thousand Trees

11.30am – 12.00pm

The Missing Marketing Links Angela Raspass, Director, Ideas Into Action

12.00pm – 12.30pm

Trade Marks – Protecting Your Reputation Theodore Doucas, principal consultant, trade mark zone limited

12.30pm – 1.30pm

Networking Lunch – On show floor Live cooking demonstration, show floor Jay Huxley, Masterchef Series 3 Contestant

1.30pm – 2.00pm

The 7 Biggest Costly Mistakes Small Business Owners Make Mick Hawes, CEO, UncoverHiddenProfits.com

2.00pm – 3.30pm

The Overall Impact of Consumer Behaviour on Retail in 2011 and 7 Powerful Ways to Boost Retail Profits in 2011 Nancy Georges, The Retail “Miss Fix It”, Magnolia Solutions

3.00pm – 3.30pm

Networking Afternoon Tea Live cooking demonstration, show floor Jay Huxley, Masterchef Series 3 Contestant

3.30pm – 4.30pm

Build your company, your brand, your life Peter Irvine, Co-founder, Gloria Jean’s Coffees

4.30pm – 5.00pm

Katherine Sampson, Founder & Managing Director of Healthy Habits

5.00pm 6.00pm – 11.00pm

OCTOBER 2011

DGM Advertising Workshop 10.15am – 11.15am Grow your business using all forms of communication Need help improving your online business environment, maybe you are thinking about integrating social media into your communication? From websites, to I phone apps, social media communication, email marketing and everything in between. This session aims at breaking down the complexities, and demonstrating effective ways to grow your business using all forms of digital communication. Learn how to integrate all your online tools to work for the business, and explore new technologies and effective ways to promote and engage with new business opportunities.

Workshop cost: $30* myBusiness myBoardroom: 10.30am – 12.00pm turn your entire team into sales people…

• Train your team on how to sell your business at every contact point with your customers and prospects • Implement a genuine and ethical sales culture within your business • Share ideas, expertise and knowledge with other business owners • Access to best sales practices in the marketplace • Improve your business sales and profits You will walk away with: • How to conduct the sales training session with your staff • A copyrighted Sales Workbook that they can use to train your staff Facilitator: Girgis Sirgyous, Founder and Board Partner, Power of 300 Cost: $150* Book early – sessions are limited to 10 participants only This will be held in meeting room 9A BRI Ferrier Workshop Session 11.30am – 12.30pm Managing your customers in a challenging business environment Philip Armstrong, Director, BRI Ferrier Avery Workshop: Branding on a Shoestring 1.30pm – 2.30pm This interactive workshop will explore the concept of why a business needs a brand, what a brand actually is and how to create one when you don’t have the resources of big business. With case studies and practical examples of how to establish a brand that will help you grow, Stephen will take you on a journey that starts with understanding your business goals and aims, what your values are and who your market is.

Speaker: Stephen Rinaldo, Rubicon Retail Fluccs Elastic – Find out why Cloud is the future Speaker: Claudiu Xantopol, Fluccs Australia

1.30pm – 2.30pm

How to Start Loving Your Business Numbers (really!)

Speaker: Alycia Edgar Meeting Room 9B

3.00pm – 3.30pm

myBusiness myBoardroom: turn your entire team into sales people…

Refer to 10.30am session for information.

3.00pm – 4.30pm

Online Essentials for Retail and Business (e-commerce, website and social media) Nancy Georges, The Retail “Miss Fix It”, Magnolia Solutions Workshop cost: $30*

4.00pm – 5.00pm

CLOSE Expo Day One 2011 ActionCOACH My Business Awards Dinner Join hundreds of guests and ten winners on this journey to an unforgettable evening. Ten prestigious awards will acknowledge Australia’s most outstanding small to medium sized enterprises (SME’s) for business excellence in their category.

Tickets available at www.mybusinessawards.com.au

*Please note that all workshop costs include GST and are tax deductable.

30

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

DAY 2: FRIDAY 7TH OCTOBER

SYDNEY SEMINAR PROGRAM 10:00am – 10:15am

MyBiz Expo Sydney Show Open – Day 2

10.15am – 11.15am

PitchFest Round 1

10.30am – 11.00am

Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap Paul Greenberg, Co-founder, DealsDirect.com

11.00am – 11.30am

The Purpose Driven Business – How to Use Systems for Maximum Potential Dale Mercer, Founder and Chairman of iSystemize International

11.30am – 12.00pm

The Next Big Thing Matt Barrie, CEO, Freelancer.com

12.30pm – 1.30pm

Networking Lunch – On show floor

1.30 – 2.30pm

DGM Advertising Workshop Refer to previous page for session information.

10.15am – 11.15am

Mindsets That Make Money - And Other Cool Stuff 10.15am – 11.15am “The one thing that will have the most impact on how things turn out for you in the next year, is your philosophy” or in other words your mindset. You will learn how to create you very own power, profit and prosperity mindset. By having the right mindset you can blow away past results in an incredibly short time. The right mindset will not only accelerate the pace of your goal achievement to light-speed but will explode what you believe you can accomplish into the stratosphere! If you are really serious about your Small Business success, you simply must get to this workshop!

Speaker: Mick Hawes, UncoverHiddenProfits Cost: $30* This session will run in Meeting Room 9B myBusiness myBoardroom: turn your entire team into sales people…

Refer to previous page for session information.

10.30am – 12.00pm

Fluccs Vault – Secure your data in Australia Speaker: Claudiu Xantopol, Fluccs Australia

11.30am – 12.30pm

BRI Ferrier Workshop Session Retail - Fighting on too many fronts?

Speaker: Paul Burges, Director, BRI Ferrier

11.30am – 12.30pm

PitchFest Round 2

1.30pm – 2.00pm

The Missing Marketing Links Angela Raspass, Director, Ideas Into Action

2.00pm – 2.30pm

Trade Marks – Protecting Your Reputation Theodore Doucas, principal consultant, trade mark zone limited

2.30pm – 3.00pm

Benefits of Radio and Advertising to SMEs Speaker: Sean Pickwell, Entertainment industry veteran

3.00pm – 3.30pm

Networking Afternoon Tea

4.00pm – 5.00pm

PitchFest Round 3 WINNER ANNOUNCED

5.00pm

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

CLOSE Expo Day Two

Pitch Fest The Sydney Expo MyBiz will offer new businesses a chance to win a $5,000 investment in a “pitchfest” that will offer all comers the chance to prove the power of their business ideas.

Sign up today at www.mybizexpo.com.au

How to Go From Ordinary to Extraordinary with Facebook 1.30pm – 2.30pm Lots of businesses set up Facebook pages, but don’t use them to effectively market and promote their business. In this 1 hour workshop you will learn what you should be doing to create an extraordinary page as well as how Facebook can be used effectively to increase your database, grow sales and increase brand awareness for your business.

Speaker: Lara Solomon Cost: $30* This session will run in Meeting Room 9B Understanding and maximising your business numbers to track goals for financial success Speaker: Alycia Edgar Meeting Room 9B Avery Workshop Refer to previous page for session information.

2.00pm – 2.30pm

2.30pm – 3.30pm

Business Growth Workshop: 3.00pm – 4.00pm CashRICH….Boosting Sales Fast!

As a business owner you have to be great at understanding how to build your business through effective sales and marketing. At this workshop you will unlock the potential in you and your business. You’ll get more business building ideas in 2 hours than you have in the last 2 months.

Facilitator: Andrew Laurie, ActionCOACH. This session will run in Meeting Room 9B myBusiness myBoardroom: turn your entire team into sales people…

Refer to previous page for session information.

2.00pm – 3.30pm

SHOWGUIDE: SPEAKER PROFILES

DEAN MCEVOY

ANGELA RASPASS

MICK HAWES

Dean McEvoy, CEO & Co-Founder, Spreets Thursday 6th October 10.30am – 11.00am

Director, Ideas Into Action

CEO at UncoverHiddenProfits.com The 7 Biggest Costly Mistakes Small Business Owners Make Thursday 6th October 1.30pm – 2.00pm Friday 7th October, 10.15am – 11.15am

Dean’s first entrepreneurial venture was a bar and restaurant which sold in 2003, followed by a technology startup company providing a patented online restaurant reservation system called Booking Angel. Booking Angel was nominated as one of the Top 100 Startups in Silicon Valley in 2007 and was ranked number seven Web 2.0 application by BRW Magazine.

Spreets which launched in February 2010 is Dean’s second technology start-up and was acquired by Yahoo7 in January for a reported $40 million.

The Missing Marketing Links Thursday 6th October 11.30am – 12.00pm Friday 7th October 1.30pm – 2.00pm After working in sales, promotions, marketing, sponsorships and events across News Limited for 11 years, Angela launched Ideas Into Action in 2004 to meet the marketing and communications needs of small to medium businesses. Originally operating as a solo consultant, Angela now leads a team of seven in a Chatswood based agency where the focus is on energising the marketing of a diverse portfolio of clients.

Angela aims to demystify marketing and is fervent about not just creating innovative marketing ideas, but making sure they are put into action so that business owners achieve the tangible results they seek.

IAN KRAWITZ

Mick has worked with multibillion dollar organisations to the one man show as well as many of Australia’s elite sports stars and athletes, such as the Tasmanian and Victorian cricket sides, V8 Supercar drivers, professional golfers and top tennis professionals including Australia’s number one female tennis player Samantha Stosur. Over the last decade he has focused his attention on helping the small business owner to build more successful businesses that gives the owner a much more profitable business, but also show them how to break free of the small business shackles so they can enjoy an incredible lifestyle that the business supports.

Project Director, 10 Thousand Trees

Paper – a tangible CSR opportunity if you help make it a sustainable resource Thursday 6th October 11.00am – 11.30am Ian’s professional background is as a researcher. Ian has lead research projects providing strategic advice to brands such as Aussie Farmers Direct, Bonds, PoolWerx, Mortgage Choice, New Zealand Natural, Aussie Home Loans, Smartline and Wagamama to name a few. Ian has also lead research projects that have looked at the importance of the environment and community in consumer decision making for a diverse range of industries.

Ian regularly contributes content to Sky Business News, the Australian Financial Review, BRW, and the Australian and has helped his clients and their PR agencies to get exposure to an audience of over 25 million people in the last 2 years.

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OCTOBER 2011

THEODORE DOUCAS Principal Consultant, Trademark Zone Trade Marks – protecting your reputation Thursday 6th October 12.00am – 12.30pm Friday 7th October 2.00pm – 2.30pm Theodore Doucas is an Intellectual Property lawyer and the principal of Zone Law an intellectual property law firm. He is also a principal consultant for ZONE IP, an intellectual property consultancy with offices in Wellington and Sydney. ZONE IP is an intellectual property management consultancy providing authoritative advice in trade marks, copyright and branding.

Theodore has had many years experience in intellectual property law and is a former Assistant Commissioner of Patents, Trade Marks and Designs of the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand.

PETER IRVINE Co-founder, Gloria Jean’s Coffees Build your company, your brand, your life Thursday 6th October 3.30pm – 4.30pm Peter has had over 40 years experience in business at a high profile management level. Peter first started his professional career as a junior at DDB Needham, Sydney – which became the second largest advertising agency in Sydney. Whilst at DDB Needham, Peter was part of the team who launched McDonalds in Australia.

In 1996 Peter branched out into franchising and in conjunction with his business partner Nabi Saleh, established the Gloria Jean’s Coffees franchise in Australia. Since they opened their first coffee house in November 1996 Gloria Jean’s Coffees has continued to grow, demonstrating excellence in franchising and setting the standard internationally for Australian franchise models.

PRE-REGISTER ONLINE: www.mybizexpo.com.au

LAURA QURESHI

PHILIP ARMSTRONG

PAUL GREENBERG

Executive Operations Officer, DGM ADVERTISING DGM Advertising Workshop: Grow your business using all forms of digital communication Thursday 6th October 10.15am –11.15am Friday 7th October 10.15am – 11.15am

Director, BRI Ferrier BRI Ferrier Workshop Session Managing your customers Thursday 6th October 11.30am – 12.30pm

Co-founder, DealsDirect.com Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap Friday 7th October 10.30am – 11.00am

Laura graduated with a Bachelor of Manager (Marketing) from the University of South Australia in 2004. During her seven years in the Marketing and Advertising industry, Laura has developed a diverse skill set across a range of marketing and communication principles. Laura had has extensive experience in branding, strategy development, public relations, integrated campaigns, media planning, website communication, social media integration and applications. As a marketer, Laura believes you do not need to be an expert in a particular industry or service to be a good marketer, rather have a willingness to continually learn whilst always applying the basic principles of marketing.

Philip has over 20 years experience in the insolvency and distressed debt industries. He recently returned to Australia after 12 years in Asia where he was Managing Director of a leading investment bank. He has also worked in a lead capacity on many of the largest business reconstructions and administrations in the Asia-Pacific region initially as an advisor, then creditor. Philip has experience across wide ranging areas of distressed debt and company insolvency.

He is also practised in analysis and credit review of companies for the acquisition of debt and further investments into companies, and managing companies in administration.

Paul has worked in ecommerce in Australia since the late 90’s, and remains a passionate advocate of Australian consumer direct ecommerce models.

His first foray into ecommerce was as eBay. With his business partner Mike Rosenbaum, Paul launched DealsDirect.com.au in 2004 which has been a pioneer and leader in the online department store format. Paul has recently assumed the role of executive chairman of the DealsDirect Group. Paul is a registered psychologist with a keen interest in organisational psychology. He is a passionate blues guitarist, despite being thin on talent in this area!.

ALYCIA EDGAR GIRGIS SIRGYOUS PAUL BURGES Director, BRI Ferrier BRI Ferrier Workshop Session Retail – Fighting on too many fronts?

Friday 7th October 11.30am – 12.30pm Paul has over 20 years experience in commerce and the profession. His ability to build and maintain a rapport with the stakeholders, whilst working through the difficulties, enhances the outcome for all stakeholders. Further, it ensures that all parties clearly understand the range of probable outcomes and the processes involved.

Founder & Board Partner, Power of 300 myBusiness myBoardroom: turn your entire team into sales people…

Thursday 6th October 10.30am – 12.00pm & 2.00pm – 3.30pm Friday 7th October 10.30am – 12.00pm & 3.00pm – 4.30pm Girgis has worked with some of Australia’s leading franchise groups and multi-location networks.

His holistic approach requires businesses to think outside the box and not only see the bigger picture but have a clear pathway to fulfilling on it! As a Graduate from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Software Engineering and a Bachelor of Commerce, Girgis combines his passion for business together with his passion for numbers and troubleshooting – a rare set of skills in business today that ensure that successful strategies are always anchored in and measured by quantifiable outcomes.

Creator, Bookzkeeper & Owner, Coastal Accounting Services How to Start Loving Your Business Numbers (really!)

Thursday 6th October 3.00pm – 3.30pm Understanding and maximising your business numbers to track goals for financial success Friday 7th October 2.00pm – 2.30pm A qualified accountant and former surf shop owner, Alycia knows how hard it can be for business owners to grasp the important stuff behind their financial numbers.

It is Alycia’s mission to tell the story behind those numbers so business owners not only understand them, but know how to improve them – and make them work for the business! Alycia works with business owners to achieve this result through regular mentoring sessions and implementing innovative systems, procedures and processes, including the award-winning product Bookzkeeper - The Accounting Survival Kit for Small Business.

33

SHOWGUIDE: SPEAKER PROFILES

DALE MERCER

ANDREW LAURIE

LARA SOLOMON

Founder and Chairman of iSystemize International The Purpose Driven Business – How to Use Systems for Maximum Potential Friday 7th October 11.00am – 11.30am

ActionCOACH Business Growth Workshop Friday 7th October 3.00pm – 4.00pm

Award-Winning Business Entrepreneur How to Go From Ordinary to Extraordinary with Facebook Friday 7th October 1.30pm – 2.30pm

Dale Mercer is a passionate entrepreneur and speaker who leads iSystemize International with product development, innovation and technology.

Through his presentations, Dale inspires entrepreneurs to create a business that is predictable, provides freedom, creates consistency, automates team training and positions your business for duplication and growth. Dale’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster than you ever imagined.

Dale is a recognised authority on business systemisation using visual media and has presented to business people and franchise groups alike about the importance of upgrading and modernising their systems to create a turn-key; investor ready business.

MATT BARRIE CEO, Freelancer.com The Next Big Thing Friday 7th October 11.30am – 12.00pm Matt Barrie is an award winning entrepreneur, technologist and lecturer. He is Chief Executive of Freelancer.com, the world’s largest outsourcing marketplace connecting over 2.6 million professionals from around the globe, and in the top 250 websites globally.

For the last ten years has been an external lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of Sydney, teaching Network Security, and starting in 2010, Technology Venture Creation. He is the co-author of over 20 US patent applications. Matt holds dual first class honours in Electrical Engineering and Science, a Masters in Applied Finance and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Stanford.

34

OCTOBER 2011

Over the last 20 years, Andrew has worked with a wide range of businesses and industries; as a sole trader to Managing Director of a multi-billion dollar company.

He’s owned businesses, led businesses, turned around businesses, consulted to, taught and coached businesses. He’s presented to thousands of people all around the world, sharing his passion and knowledge, to help business owners and managers to succeed.

Lara Solomon, winner in the NSW Telstra Micro Business Awards 2008, has struck gold since finding the motivation to leave her high-profile career to start a new business and launch an unknown product in to the market place … making a success of it (a million dollar success that is!) LaRoo is the brainchild of Lara Solomon and the company that brought Australia (and the world) the original mobile phone sock or “Mock” – now an iconic brand with over 1.6 million Mocks already sold worldwide in Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA.

NANCY GEORGES The Retail “Miss Fix It”, Magnolia Solutions The Overall Impact of Consumer Behaviour on Retail in 2011 and 7 Powerful Ways to Boost Retail Profits in 2011 Thursday 6th October 2.00pm – 3.30pm Online Essentials for Retail and Business (e-commerce, website and social media) Thursday 6th October 4.00pm – 5.00pm “Nancy, The Retail Miss Fix-it, is a Retail Strategists and owner of Magnolia Solutions, offering retail marketing consulting, strategy and solutions. She has over 20 years industry experience; in-store management, customer service, product development, manufacturing, wholesaling and marketing. Evolving from wholesaling business, Paper Magnolia, moved to marketing support & consulting. Working with retailers, wholesalers, brands & manufacturers to navigate the ‘new world’. Nancy strategically integrates and implements sound retail practices with websites, e-commerce and Social Media. Nancy is one of the Social Media Women founders.

STEPHEN RINALDO Rubicon Retail.

Avery Workshop: Branding on a Shoestring Thursday 6th October 1.30pm – 2.30pm Friday 7th October 2.30pm – 3.30pm Stephen is the accessible, down to earth, jargon free, marketer for SMEs – who gives every one of those businesses a competitive advantage by teaching them, showing them & managing for them, successful branding & advertising campaigns.

Rubicon Retail works with retail start-ups and existing businesses who want a powerful brand presence supported by affordable advertising that creates loyal customers, strong sales and in-store shopping experiences that are enjoyable and more importantly, memorable.

SHOWGUIDE: EXHIBITOR LISTINGS

1300apprentice is a not-for-profit company committed to providing young people with an opportunity to complete a traineeship or apprenticeship in a number of occupations, allowing them to learn on-the-job workplace skills and also gain a nationally recognised qualification. Traineeships and apprenticeships are cost effective and can be utilised as an alternative form of recruitment within your business.

Act Today is Australia’s leading CRM software provider.

Providing client tracking and maintenance capabilities, sales functionality and marketing tools. Helping you to organise and manage your client base, to maximise your relationship and sales opportunities. We provide efficiencies within your business enabling your employees to share important information anywhere, anytime.

Being in small business can offer you many rewards and benefits, but it also means you have additional tax obligations to consider. To help you stay in control of your tax affairs, the ATO has a range of services, support and products that may help you run your business.

Samantha Leet, Business Development Manager, 1300apprentice T: +614 18 441 570 l s.leet@1300apprentice.com.au l www.1300apprentice.com.au

Michael Conroy, Sales and Marketing Executive, Act Today T: +612 9432 2222 | mconroy@acttoday.com.au www.acttoday.com.au

Radio 2UE is Australia’s oldest and most respected commercial radio station. Their team of experienced and professional broadcasters bring Sydney the latest news, sport and current affairs in a unique format that is not only engaging and entertaining but most importantly can be trusted. 2UE….where you don’t miss a thing.

ActionCOACH, the World’s # 1 Business Coaching Firm was established nearly two-decades ago and currently has 1,200 offices in over 32 countries. ActionCOACH delivers its proven business development systems to tens of thousands of business owners every week, showing them how to get more time, better teams and more profits.

Avery Dennison Office Products established their reputation over 75 years in the corporate sphere.

Tapping into the consumer and business market, Avery Dennison Office Products is releasing a new range to help small business owners build their presence using customisable labelling to aid with branding, merchandising and office organisation.

Tania Stuart, Direct Sales Account Manager, 2UE T: +612 9930 9464 | tstuart@2ue.com www.2ue.com.au

Judi Miceta, Marketing Manager, ActionCOACH T: 1800 508 364 l judimiceta@actioncoach.com www.actioncoach.com.au

Cannis Fong, Senior Product Manager, Avery Dennison T: +612 9843 0777 consumerservice-au@ap.averydennison.com www.averyproducts.com.au

Tony Watkins, Delivering the Small Business Assistance Program, Australian Taxation Office T: +618 7422 2518 | M: +614 27 940 250 tony.watkins@ato.gov.au | www.ato.gov.au

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SHOWGUIDE: EXHIBITOR LISTINGS

Looking to engage a professional services firm that puts you first? Bates Cosgrave is a dynamic business advisory and tax accounting firm that punches above its weight on the services we provide for our clients.

Our team provides advice to business owners and individuals who need a firm that can address a wide range of tax, accounting, investment and international tax needs with the personal touch of a small business.

Dino Utomo, Business Manager, Bates Cosgrave Chartered Accountants T: 02 9957 4033 | enquiry@batscosgrave.com.au www.batescosgrave.com.au

The BEC is the first stop for people looking to establish or buy a business. BEC’s offer a range of business advice, resources and assistance to help you in making solid business decisions The BEC provides information and advice on: starting a business, business plans, marketing, taxation, business structures, financial management, employing staff, importing and exporting, government regulations, franchising and much more.

BEC Australia Head Office T: +612 9089 7648 | jackie@becaustralia.org.au www.becbiz.com.au

BSI Learning (BSIL) is a leading provider of Organisational and People Development Services.

If you want to improve employee skills to increase sales and productivity we’ll work with you to create a customised program to achieve your business objectives and can assist you to access a range of state and federal government incentive programs.

Graham Raspass, Managing Director T: 1300 137 504 l graspass@bsilearning.com.au www.bsilearning.com.au

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OCTOBER 2011

Cariblue assists businesses who want to grow, reposition their business for growth or grow their business through franchising. A proactive and highly qualified team of six, with practical hands on experience, we work with our clients across Australia to implement real practical solutions for them.

Energy Watch Pty Ltd is now Australia’s number one energy broker, which assists households and businesses in getting a better deal on their electricity and gas. Freedom SEO is an Online Marketing business sprung out of the online success of founding company Energy Watch.

Sarah Cobb, Managing Director, Cariblue T: +614 12 618 723 |sarah.cobb@cariblue.com.au |www.cariblue.com.au

Alok Rajpal, EnergyWatch T: +614 27 839 376 alok.rajpal@energywatch.com.au www.energywatch.com.au

Impress your clients by presenting your reports and proposals in Professional Presentation Covers embossed with your company logo on the front!

We specialise in a do-it-yourself Thermal Binding System which provides all types of businesses the opportunity to present professional and personalised documentation to set your business apart from the rest.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is an independent statutory agency created by the Fair Work Act 2009. The Fair Work Ombudsman promotes harmonious, productive and cooperative workplaces through: education, assistance and advice to workplace participants, ensuring compliance with the Fair Work Act 2009 through advice, inquiries, investigations and Court proceedings.

Allie Saddington, Operations Manager, Colour Presentations T: 1300 654 738 | Fax: 1300 654 796 allie@colourpres.com.au www.colourpresentations.com.au

Through a global network spanning more than 220 countries and more than 120,000 destinations worldwide, DHL ships more international packages than any other company. DHL Express offers Same Day and Time Definite Courier and Express services to support our customers with their importing and exporting needs. So whether it’s documents or parcels, around the world or around the corner, DHL has the service you are looking for.

Rob Copland, Channel Development Manager, DHL Express Oceania T: +612 9317 8021 | M: +614 07 262 010 Robert.Copland@dhl.com | www.dhl.com.au

Carly Moore, Fair Work Ombudsman T: +612 9246 0556 | Carly.Moore@fwo.gov.au www.fairwork.gov.au

Fluccs – Australia’s online solution. 13 years of experience in the provision of online services means you can obtain all the services and resources to leverage your presence online, in the one location.

Cloud servers, Cloud storage, online backups, domain names, web site hosting, web site design, SEO/SEM Tanith Gregory, Fluccs Australia T: +617 3018 7566 l F: +617 3847 6684 fluccs.sales@fluccs.com.au | www.fluccs.com.au

PRE-REGISTER ONLINE: www.mybizexpo.com.au

Freelancer.com is the largest outsourcing and crowdsourcing marketplace in the world. It empowers entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups, small businesses to flourish and prosper, and talented freelancers around the world to supplement and even supplant their income. With over 2.7 million professionals, 1.2 million projects and $100million worth of work completed through the site, Freelancer. com connects employers with freelancers on a scale never seen before.

Alastair, Online Marketing Manager, Freelancer.com T: +612 9279 3305 | alaister@freelancer.com www.freelancer.com

Gallop Solutions has Management Systems that work! These systems are designed specifically for CEOs and business owners who want to have more profitable, efficient and fun companies, that are able to stably expand, working as a team towards agreedupon goals.

Neil Clark, Marketing Manager, Gallop Solutions T: +614 06 879 994 l nclark@gallopsolutions.com www.gallopsolutions.com

Import Export Resource Centre offers information and advice to SME importers and exporters and is coordinated by The Import Export Show ― Australia’s only fullscale exhibition and seminar program showcasing the range of services and support available to assist SME importers and exporters with their international business engagement and development.

We are a creative bunch of nerds specialising in website development, graphic design, and commercial photography. When our nerd skills meet your genius vision, it’s like a match made in a particle accelerator. We work off your ideas like a black hole absorbing light, and execute your project with nano-scale precision. We get excited talking to real people, so give us a call today.

Import Export Show T: 1300 801 596 | F: 1300 801 597 info@importexportshow.com.au www.importexportshow.com.au

Rob Bell, Head Nerd, Limeworks T: +612 4323 9052 | nerds@limeworks.com.au www.limeworks.com.au

IP Australia is the Federal Government agency responsible for administering Australia’s Intellectual Property (IP) rights system, specifically patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder’s rights.

Mail Boxes Etc, the world’s largest business services franchise group, is committed to making our customers more successful. Our Franchisees offer businesses a large range of professional services from international shipping, private mailboxes to design and printing. Take control of your life with an MBE Franchise!

By granting these rights, IP Australia helps to: create a secure environment for investment in innovation, enable firms to build brand value and business reputation, and encourage the disclosure of inventions

Lily Butler, IP Australia T: 1300 651 010 | assist@ipaustralia.gov.au www.ipaustralia.gov.au

Experienced marketing professionals providing a broad range of outsourced marketing services for growing businesses. Launching or revitalising brands on an ongoing or project basis, we’ll develop and implement strategies to connect with your clients and prospects and drive ongoing business development. Contact us to energise your marketing with fresh ideas!

Angela Raspass, Director, Ideas Into Action T: 1300 998 558 l marketing@ideasintoaction.com. au l www.ideasintoaction.com.au

LearnConnect is a simple, cost-effective e-learning platform providing off-the-shelf, in-depth, certified compliance training with no long term contractual obligations specifically designed for small to medium enterprises.

LearnConnect is serviced and managed by the team behind Australia’s leading and award winning online training and compliance management provider Learning Seat. As a special introductory offer, LearnConnect is offering 50 per cent off all available courses until 31 December, 2011. Terms & conditions apply.

Vida Redoblado, Marketing Communications Manager, Emerging Businesses, News Digital Media T: +612 8114 7325 | M: +614 01 435 309 vida.redoblado@newsdigitalmedia.com.au

Andrew Dalton, Franchise Development Manager, Mail Boxes Etc (Australia) Pty Ltd T: +614 57 677 986 | F: +612 8088 0773 andrew.dalton@mbe.com.au | www.mbe.com.au

Magnolia Solutions works with clients to identify areas of development and designs a plan to ensure targets and objectives are met. Identifying the need for support & resources for independent retailers, Nancy developed programs and strategies that were realistic and achievable, based on her practical experience within the retail industry.

Nancy Georges, The Retail Miss Fix It, Magnolia Solutions T: +612 8003 5585 | info@magnoliasolutions.com. au www.magnoliasolutions.com.au

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SHOWGUIDE: EXHIBITOR LISTINGS

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House offers a free service to small businesses with fewer than 20 employees to reduce red tape and compliance costs when meeting their superannuation guarantee obligations.

Jennifer Barnes, Small Business Superannuation Clearing House T: 1300 660 048 E: SBSCHenquiries@humanservices.gov.au www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/super

Officeworks is the leading supplier of office supplies for the Business, Education, Government and Health sectors. We offer the widest range of stationery, technology, furniture, and general office products as well as print and copy services to suit all businesses, available in over 135 stores nationwide and online.

Open an Officeworks Business account today

Take control of your business with rubihawk, the powerful financial analysis tool that works together with MYOB. Know your customers, products, employees, cashflow at the click of a mouse. For multiple companies, rubihawk consolidates financial & operational information to give you clear understanding in seconds, giving you confidence to drive your business forward.

Grant Bidois, Direct Marketing Manager, Officeworks T: +613 8575 1520 | gbidois@officeworks.com.au www.officeworks.com.au

Dan Bowler Client Relations Manager, SeeMoreData T: +61 3 8682 8984| sales@rubihawk.com www.rubihawk.com

Powerof300 brings a group of dynamic business owners and leaders together, in a board of directors’ format, where they help improve each other’s business performance and profitability. Our boardroom programs consist of accountability and education structures that deliver real results based on real life business experience and expertise.

Servcorp virtual offices provide services to help run your business professionally without the costs of a full-time office – whether you’re working from home, the road or a remote location. Monthly contracts, no long term commitments, no call centers – just real, professionally trained people, providing real business serviced and solutions.

Girgis Sirgyous, Founder & Managing Director, Powerof300 T: 1300 780 023 | +614 34 115 991 gsirgyous@powerof300.com.au www.powerof300.com.au

Melati De Haas, Regional Marketing Manager, Servcorp T: +612 9231 7414 | mdehaas@servcorp.com.au www.servcorp.com.au

NTS Business Communications is focused on helping you find the right business communication solutions by offering the latest technology, professional advice and personal service. Move your business forward and make the investment in your business communications worthwhile. Call for an individual appointment with one of our experienced Business Solutions Professionals.

RP Vending Systems has been providing snack vending services to businesses across Australia for over 16 years. They have many operators setup throughout the country with vending machine businesses of their own.

Together with their operators they serve over 10,000 businesses providing them with a reliable and hassle free service.

ShoppingCart2011 is a ready-to-go eCommerce solution for Web, Facebook, mobile, and tablet devices. It’s easy to use and no programming knowledge is required. Start your online business now with FREE setup fee, flexible monthly pricing plans, and built-in PayPal integration to provide your customers with secure and safe electronic transactions anytime, anywhere!

Darren Mack, Managing Director, NTS Business Communications T: 1300 859 919 | sales@ntscorporate.com.au www.ntscorporate.com.au

Nick Hull, Marketing Co-ordinator, RP-Vending Systems T: 1800 066 112 | nick@rpvending.com.au www.rpvending.com.au

My Business Magazine is a monthly magazine aimed at ambitious business owners. The magazine is positioned as a trusted advisor, giving up-to-date information that business people can start to use as soon as they finish reading. Visit www.mybusiness.com.au Tony May, National Commercial Director T: +612 8923 8000 | F: +612 8923 8050 M: +614 13 427 101 tony.may@mybusiness.com.au www.mybizexpo.com.au

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OCTOBER 2011

Michael Browitt, New Business Director, Powerfront T: 1300 795 520 | michael.browitt@powerfront.com www.powerfront.com

PRE-REGISTER ONLINE: www.mybizexpo.com.au

Small Fish Business Coaching provide coaching to small business using a process of Audit, Plan, Action to establish a working plan for the business based on their goals. Opportunities currently exist for your business to secure the service of a coach, or as a career change to become a coach and help others.

Tony Ozanne, Small Fish Business Coaching T: +614 47 610 279 | Tony.ozanne@smallfish.com.au www.smallfish.com.au/tonyozanne

Telcoinabox is a telecommunications wholesaler and franchisor which packages telephony products and distributes them through its wide franchisee and wholesale service provider network. Established in Australia in 2002, the company has over 120 service providers worldwide which provide telephony services, including fixed wire, mobile, Toll Free, VoIP and broadband to more than 50,000 business and residential customers.

Tom Fry, Wholesale Channel Manager, Telcoinabox T: +612 8248 9018 | tom@telcoinabox.com www.telcoinabox.com.au

Success Women’s Network (SWN) is a one-stop shop for networking. We are a super friendly member based networking organisation which facilitates networking luncheons, business development workshops, business expos, award nights and personal development coaching. Business Expo’s - These high-energy events draw local business men and women together!

Natalie Moutia, Co-Founder, Success Womens Network and Business Expos T: +614 19 68 78 46 natalie@successwomensnetwork.com.au www.successwomensnetwork.com.au www.businessexpos.com.au

Trademark Zone has revolutionised applying for a trade mark. Protecting your business name is fast and affordable with our online service.

Karen Doucas, Director T: +61 2 9089 8991 | F: +61 2 9089 8997 admin@trademarkzone.com.au www.trademarkzone.com.au

Your business has hidden profits that lurk just below the surface and, like most business owners, those profits never end up in your back pocket. Most of the time it simply takes a small change in direction or process and the cash you are currently missing out on, ends up in the bank. And, we will show you, at no cost to you, that’s Guaranteed! Team UHP.

Julie Cassar, UncoverHiddenProfits.com T: 1800 234 551 | Ph: +613 6267 9730 M: +614 09 176 148 julie@UncoverHiddenProfits.com www.UncoverHiddenProfits.com

UNE Partnerships creates learning solutions for individuals and corporate groups. We deliver nationally accredited vocational qualifications in government, leadership, strategic and project management, logistics and transport, business and facilities management. Our programs develop skills through embedded workplace learning and result in tangible benefits by improving both individual and organisational performance.

Camilla Fitzroy, Marketing Manager, UNE Partnerships Pty Ltd T: +612 6773 0009|camillaf@unep.edu.au www.unep.edu.au

Sure City is an Arcsine Pty Ltd initiative to provide a secure end-to-end IT infrastructure for Australian businesses. The services include auditing and policy reviews, UNIX and network security consulting, remote management and monitoring, anti-virus and anti-spam solutions, data leakage protection, as well as reliable B2B file transfer.

Travelscene Corporate is Australia’s largest group of premium independent travel management companies and winner of Australia’s Best Travel Agency Group 2006, 2008 and 2011. Each year, our Members help deliver travel solutions to more than 2 million travellers and provide expertise to Australia’s leading businesses, large and small. www.travelscenecorporate.com

Upstream, a Fuji Xerox company, is one of Australia’s leading managed print solutions companies. With over 25yrs experience, we provide flexible, cost effective solutions that deliver real value. At last count, we have over 3,500 customers with 24,000+ devices and 3.6 billon pages under management. Why not let Upstream be your trusted MPS advisor.

Heinz Zerbes, Director, Sure City T:+614 10 727 961 l heinz.zerbes@surecity.com.au www.surecity.com.au

Naomi Miller-McMullen, Marketing Manager, Travelscene Corporate T: 1300 134 998 enquiries@travelscenecorporate.com www.travelscenecorporate.com

Amala Haidar, Upstream Print Solutions T: +612 8484 6146 | M: +614 04 251 426 AHaidar@upstream.com.au | www.upstream.com.au

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MYBIZ EXPO

PREVIEWING THE MYBIZ EXPO Introducing RubiHawk for MYOB Business owners get an on-demand ‘hawk-eye’ on their operations and finances.

O

ver 80 per cent of SMEs in Australia and New Zealand use MYOB accounting software. Generally speaking, most business owners utilise MYOB Account Right as a tool solely for their bookkeeping and accounting processes to deal with compliance. The MYOB experience can be so much more ...

Introducing RubiHawk™ (accredited and endorsed by MYOB) Rubihawk is a bolt-on software from SeeMoreData for MYOB Account Right users.

Its functionality does not require in-depth MYOB ability, but within seconds it provides clarity for: • Sales analysis to confirm A,B,C,D customers, products etc.

• Easily accessible average dollar sale, average profit, number of transactions, invoice collection days etc.

• Sales analysis by product, by category, by highest GP%, by salesperson, referral source • Debtors analysis: collections dashboard (consolidated) with the ability to keep notes • Cashflow analysis, options to include POs and accrued leave liability • Multi-year job-based P&L, with multiple related jobs easily combined • Easy powerful budgets that do not get wiped out on financial year rollover, multiple budgets • Easy budget-to-actual comparison • Easy comparison of multiple reports side by side • Turn any row and column-based report into meaningful, easy-to-read charts Powerful parameter-driven reports deliver pertinent information at lightning speed.

For organisations that run multiple companies 40

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(multiple ABNs), RubiHawk provides a simple consolidation platform that easily consolidates not only financial, but operational analytics, allowing the business owner with little-to-no knowledge of MYOB, to see their pertinent KPIs without having to bother their bookkeeper or accountant constantly.

SeeMoreData’s Founder Ferenc Mantfeld says, “A weekly cashflow position typically takes anywhere from 30 to 180 minutes to produce.

With RubiHawk, it’s done in seconds and without having to contend with multiple versions of saved spreadsheets (Excel). Purchase orders and accrued wage liabilities can be included with a single click”.

According to Mantfeld, it is not just about saving time for accountants and bookkeepers, it’s about giving the business owner timely and meaningful insight into their operations, in a way they can easily monitor and intuitively see. “The software goes beyond the basics and allows complex requests to be processed easily without having to be an Excel whiz.”

RubiHawk installs and connects to MYOB in minutes and provides detailed analysis, with the ability to drill down, make notes and deliver daily/ weekly reports/KPIs to business stakeholders via email. All this without ever needing to open MYOB, since RubiHawk runs as a service on the customer’s network, able to access one or more MYOB files.

Saul Wende, Managing Director of AME, an engineering company in the oil and gas industry, says “Our lead engineers have traditionally had to wait for MYOB information from our accounting team. With RubiHawk, they can access total billed hours and job expenses in seconds!

We have now reduced the workload for our accounting team by approximately 20 per cent. It has instantly become an integral part of our business as it lets our team leaders obtain the up-to-date information to manage their projects, on demand. I have recommended it to my industry peers as it solves many issues that have been bottlenecks in MYOB for so long. We have transformed the business more in two weeks with RubiHawk than we were able to during the prior four years” RubiHawk regained 10 hours a week for Wayne Ball, Director of Tasty New Zealand Products.

“ROI was achieved in the first week of using RubiHawk. The detailed product segmentation data saved in MYOB was hard to use for decision support, but now I can see with absolute clarity how often which category of products are selling to which segment of customers, in seconds,” says Ball.

RubiHawk is available for a no-obligation free seven-day trial. Standard pricing is $99 monthly or $999 annually per company. For further information, visit www.rubihawk.com To get Rubihawk, proceed to www.rubihawk. com where you can register, then download RubiHawk and install it on the same machine where your MYOB file resides. A detailed fourminute video tutorial is available at http://bit.ly/ k1HgyI (run the video entitled ‘Install RubiHawk on the MYOB host server’) or let RubiHawk’s able support team remotely install it for you in record time with minimal fuss.

To get a more in-depth demonstration, register online at www.rubihawk.com for one of the scheduled weekly webinars.

MYBIZ EXPO

The MyBiz Expo Sydney opens on October 6. Get a taste for the event with these contributions from exhibitors.

Making employee superannuation payments simpler

D

o you own a business with 19 or fewer employees? If so, you can now choose to pay all your employees’ superannuation in a single electronic payment using the Australian Government’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House.

The process of paying superannuation to employees can be time consuming and complicated for small businesses. Since the introduction of the Superannuation Choice of Fund rules in 2005, businesses need to make payments at least four times a year, often to several different funds. The Australian Government is now offering a way to make this process simpler.

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is a free online service that is simple to use. The service offers the following benefits: • It saves you valuable time; • It reduces administrative burden and paperwork; • Your superannuation obligations are met as soon as your payment and instructions for your employees are accepted; • Accepted payments are processed within two working days; • Once entered, employees’ preferences are pre-populated, so you will only need to enter the contribution amounts whenever you make a payment; • You can get a record of your contribution history whenever you need it; • You can opt to have a reminder email sent to you when it is time to make a payment; • There are no paper forms to complete; • The system is available 24/7, so you can make your superannuation payments whenever it suits you.

To date, the Clearing House has been used

to make over 135,000 employee superannuation payments at a value of over $75 million.

How does it work?

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House simplifies the process into a single electronic payment for all employees. Your nominated contributions are sent to each superannuation fund, avoiding the need to deal with multiple funds and Websites. Once registered and set up for the service, it only takes a few minutes to make a payment.

What are small businesses saying about the Clearing House?

Small business has nice things to say about the Clearing House: • 95 per cent of small businesses surveyed said it saves them time when making their superannuation payments.

• 98 per cent of small businesses surveyed said they were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the service.

• 99 per cent of small businesses surveyed said

they would recommend the service to other small businesses.

“Paying superannuation used to be terribly tedious, taking a good part of your day. A day you could be spending on or in your business.

The Clearing House cut the administration time to about 10 minutes a month. The Clearing House makes it easier to pay your employees’ superannuation than it is to pay their wages,” says Brett McGrath, Owner, Sutherland Soccatoos.

“The Clearing House is brilliant. It’s saving time, it’s streamlined, and it’s straightforward.

All you have to do is enter the information and the rest is taken care of,” says Marina Grant, Owner, Grant Violins.

For more information visit www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/super.

For enquiries email SBSCHenquiries@ medicareaustralia.gov.au, or call 1300 660 048.

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House will exhibit at the Sydney MyBiz Expo at Stand 37.

41

MYBIZ EXPO

Don’t give your business a bad name!

C ould naming your business be likened to the trauma of naming a child? For instance, what was Richard Branson thinking when he called his business Virgin?

Ideally, you want a name that stands for something, is memorable and instantly recognisable. Who’s to say you won’t be the next BHP Billiton, or Coles Group — we all have to start somewhere, right?

But how to choose a name — should it be funky, should it be directly related to the industry you work in, or should it be a clever play on words?

And how do you protect it?

Theodore Doucas of Trade Mark Zone Australia — an online trade mark consultancy — provides some tips to take into consideration when choosing a name for your company:

Don’t necessarily use a name that tells it like it is Recently there has been a trend toward business owners choosing a name that describes their services or products.

As small businesses, we have to be smart about getting the best bang for our buck. And a business name linked directly to our service offering seems like a clever way to communicate clearly with our customers.

So what, then, is the downside to using names like Car Repair Services or Home Cleaning Services?

Trademarks like these can never achieve statutory protection, because they are descriptive and non-distinctive. They are names that are unlikely to become an asset with value in their own right.

Spelling is important Your English teacher will say: “I told you so”, but spelling really does count when business names need protection.

Purposely misspelled names — done to capture matching domain names — are not easy to protect and most people just see them as a spelling mistake.

Do your homework Brand names like Apple, Google and Blackberry are very memorable, despite not being directly 42

OCTOBER 2011

related to their service offering.

What can Charlie Sheen teach Australian business owners?

Wannabe entrepreneurs and business owners can take a lesson from Charlie Sheen on how to turn invented words and phrases into cash, by applying to register them as trademarks.

Mr Doucas said that while the actor comes across as wild and erratic, he’s demonstrating more entrepreneurial sense than most.

The Two and a Half Men star’s recent move to trademark 22 catchy phrases like ‘tiger blood’, ‘violent torpedo of truth’, and ‘Adonis DNA’ for use on promotional items like T-shirts and mugs, demonstrates that taking interesting phrases and protecting them can be profitable.

You don’t necessarily have to be famous.

For example, the original yellow smiley face was created in December 1963 by Massachusetts graphic artist, Harvey Bell, for a State Mutual Insurance company campaign.

Neither Bell nor the State Mutual Insurance company registered their trademark, so neither made any money from it.

Mr Doucas said that in Australia anybody can register any slogans they want, provided they use them on the goods and services they are providing — such as printing them onto clothing or key rings — but if the phrases are not used within three years, they can be revoked.

It’s not expensive or difficult either, but it is advisable to use a professional, because it does require a considered approach — not all applications are successful.

Trademarks are an investment and they can make you money, but only in relation to the goods and services you specify. You don’t get a monopoly over all goods and services and it is best to register invented slogans before they become commonly used. The value of the intellectual property of a business is often greater than the value of its capital assets. Unlike traditional capital assets, intellectual assets tend to appreciate in value.

Therefore, you should make up a name to call your business which you like the sound of. You

should then get a professional to check it out for you.

People invest time, effort and money into their business and yet many overlook the importance of legally protecting their intellectual property.

In today’s competitive and global market, it is essential for you to protect these intellectual assets. While the increasingly globalised world allows information on your products or service to be more freely available to the public, it is also more freely available to your competitors.

As a consequence, it is now much easier for a competitor to take advantage of your hard-earned reputation.

Theodore Doucas is the Principal Consultant for Trademark Zone Australia, an online provider of trademark services.

You can reach Theodore Doucas at theo@ trademarkzone.com.au or go directly to www.trademarkzone.com.au Trademark Zone will exhibit at the Sydney MyBiz Expo at Stand 16. Theodore Doucas will also be presenting on both days of the Expo.

SPONSORED CONTENT

FRANKSTON MEANS BUSINESS

H

ave you ever thought about a career or an enviable lifestyle on the eastern shores of Port Phillip Bay? What about studying in a beautiful bush environment? All this and still be conveniently located just 40 kilometres south of the Melbourne CBD? Frankston City is uniquely positioned at the beginning of the Mornington Peninsula experience, with more than 1.4 million overnight visitors and 2.9 million daytrippers who visit ‘our backyard’ each year.

Frankston provides regional shopping, education, health, community service, financial, recreation and leisure as well as entertainment facilities for the region. Our cultural experiences include theatre performances and exhibitions at the Frankston Arts Centre and significant artistry at the McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park.

Importantly for businesses looking to strategically locate as part of a startup, relocation or expansion plan, there is a new Frankston City industrial park with fibre optics, a technology and sustainability focus, as well as immediate access to the EastLink Motorway and the Mornington Peninsula Freeway. There will also be on-ramps adjacent to the industrial park, for the new Peninsula Link, due to be opened in 2013.

The technology park integrates professional office space, warehousing, manufacturing facilities, bulky goods retail outlets and some vacant sites for customised building developments. All of this is in a park which incorporates parkland, lakes and tracks for health, wellbeing, recreation and leisure.

The diverse potential catchment of Frankston City is more than 328,000 people. By 2031, it is anticipated that the immediate community will grow to more than 136,000 residents.

Frankston City is the preferred place to live, learn, work, visit and invest.

Find out more about the fabulous business and investment opportunities, as well as the enviable lifestyle options…

www.worklifefrankston.com

1300 BALANCE

There are 10 kilometres of award-winning beaches voted by Keep Australia Beautiful (Victoria) as Clean Beach of the Year and Friendly Beach of the Year again in 2011.

Furthermore, the 2012 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship swim leg and some of the run will be staged on Frankston’s foreshore.

There is much on offer in Frankston City, which incorporates the suburbs of Frankston Central, Frankston North, Seaford, Carrum Downs, Langwarrin, Frankston South, Karingal, Sandhurst and Skye. Frankston is certainly the preferred place to live, learn, work, visit and invest. Take advantage of the opportunities that currently exist for business and investment in a beautiful location. When you arrive in Frankston City, you’ll never want to leave.

See our Website (www.worklifefrankston.com) for inspirational accounts from locals who are successfully conducting a diverse range of business and leading enviable lifestyles in the Frankston City area. Or to find out how you can take advantage of all that Frankston City has to offer, call 1300 BALANCE (1300 225 262).

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MARKETING

MAKE YOUR ONLINE ADVERTISING CLICK Are your SEO and SEM delivering the right CPC? Or are you just confused by all the new jargon and ideas around online advertising? If so, read on as we explain how to make digital advertising deliver.

STORY BY NATALIE APOSTOLOU

D

eveloping an online advertising strategy in 2011 is officially ‘complicated’. The Internet is now the core platform for communication and, increasingly, consumption.

The rise of the online world and social networks means that they are now the place where brands are shaped and companies forge connections with customers.

The Australian online advertising market is heading past the $3 billion mark in 2012 and is growing 20 per cent year on year.

These are powerful figures for a powerful medium — a medium that offers a complex array of choices. For the average business, these choices are often just plain baffling.

We have moved well beyond the days of simple banner advertising and advertisers are now faced with options ranging from online video, mobile advertising, QR codes, group buying, Facebook fan pages, recommendation engines and check-in sites like foursquare.

The areas that are fuelling online advertising spending and producing results locally are search, directories and online classifieds, which according to the Internet Advertising Bureau grew 23 per 44

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MARKETING

cent this year. The general display market, better known as banner advertising, only grew 12 per cent. While display advertising is probably the most commonly known form of digital advertising, it is still the poor cousin, largely because it can be a hit-and-miss affair.

Even Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has said that while the potential of display advertising is huge, “it’s still too complicated to get a campaign up. It’s just too hard. It’s really a problem.”

One of the reasons why advertisers steer away from display advertising is that it has gathered a bad reputation among consumers. Those who have been turned off by display ads liberally use banner-blocking techniques, but despite this, online advertising networks continue to grow.

The one good thing about the constant evolution of digital marketing is that something new will always take the place in the consumer annoyance stakes, and things like the humble banner ad will soon get back in the consumer good books.

Currently, the new consumer peeve is pop-up video ads. This, too, will soon be replaced by a new digital irritant. Despite the hype — good or bad — businesses need to focus on a digital marketing format that works specifically for them.

But before dismissing anything, they need to take the step into the digital age — not just watch from their screens.

Research from Sensis reveals that in the digital marketing stakes, many SMEs are at risk of falling behind their larger competitors.

Only 17 per cent of Australian small businesses have a digital strategy and more surprisingly, 40 per cent don’t have a Website.

Only 14 per cent have a social media presence, compared to 50 per cent of larger businesses.

A lack of experience in the digital arena is the biggest barrier to entry for Australian SMEs, the research shows. Compared to bigger businesses, 74 per cent of which employ a marketing department to manage their social media presence, SMEs view it as a luxury that only one in 10 small businesses invest in.

“SMEs don’t necessarily need a dedicated marketing manager to manage their digital strategy, but seeking advice from peers and third parties can be invaluable. The digital landscape is changing all the time,” says Kim Van Prooyen,

Yellow Pages’ Driving Your Business Ambassador.

Van Prooyen was, at the time of writing, in the middle of a Sensis national roadshow for SMEs, which offered free digital marketing seminars, providing practical tips and insights on how to make digital marketing work for SMEs. “From online shopping to consumer reviews, the digital world presents huge opportunities for businesses of all sizes, yet it is a complex landscape which presents something of a digital dilemma for many SMEs. They want to embrace this new world, but understandably in many instances, they just aren’t sure how to tackle it,” she observes.

Van Prooyen wants to dispel the myth that digital marketing is only a tool for the bigger end of town. “There is a lot that small businesses can and should be doing online to successfully compete in this space and drive more customers through their doors,” she says.

A key point is that Australian consumers are not simply replacing traditional media with new media; it is not an either/or concept. So it is important to find out where your customers are and make sure you have a presence.

“Ultimately, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, but understanding the range of digital channels, and how consumers are using them, is the best place to start,” Van Prooyen says.

Another key issue is measurability of effectiveness. Despite the instant and dense amount of data that can be produced from digital engagement, as an industry, digital ad measurement is a messy non-standardised affair.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is working globally and locally to fix that and has released best-practice guidelines, but for the average SME, effectiveness is measured in terms of customer engagement.

For example, in display advertising campaigns, the ‘click-through rate’ is the most widely used indicator, but this rate does not reveal the impact of a campaign on a brand’s image, recognition or how it affects a consumers purchasing behaviour.

The beauty of the online campaign is its ability to target, very specifically, not only the consumer base, but the desired outcome. Whether it is developing the brand experience, growing online or offline sales, lead generation or moving into

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SENSIS’S TOP FIVE DIGITAL ADVERTISING TIPS: “There is a lot that small businesses can and should be doing online to successfully compete in this space and drive more customers through their doors.”

1.There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach Understanding the vast range of marketing channels and how customers are using them is the first step. The main thing to remember is that not every channel is for every business. What is appropriate for one particular business will be different to another.

2. A Website is critical Your Website is your digital shopfront. If you have a Website that doesn’t mimic your brand colours or looks amateurish, it can have a negative affect on the reputation of your business. Start by making sure the content on your Website is relevant to your customers and make sure it’s regularly updated. Think about how you speak out loud to your customers, because this is how you should write it on your Website.

Most importantly, make your ‘call to action’ easy to find. For example, put your business contact numbers on the home page, so they are easy to access.

Links to other industry Websites gives your Website credibility and if you have the resources to write a regular blog, include links to that as well. Remember, your Website is there to help you, and to help your customers.

3. Establish a network presence — before your competitors do!

online retail, the key is to marry the objective with the best platform or digital tool.

Yellow Pages General Manager of Marketing Michelle Sherwood adds that what Sensis hears from SME clients are the same constant questions, ‘How do I get the most out of my Website?’, ‘What do I do with social media?’, What’s this new group buying phenomenon about? And how do I measure my advertising ROI?’.

Sherwood advises SMEs that “you have to consider all the opportunities out there and determine whether your customers are turning to these channels for information.”

Just like traditional media, your digital sales consultant is there to provide support as well as secure your marketing dollar. The intense competition in the digital advertising market should be used to your advantage in getting the best service and advice for online advertising strategy.

See page 48 for more advertising advice.

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Your network presence isn’t just about your Website; there are a vast range of new and digital marketing channels for SME’s to consider. You don’t have to be a part of every one, but choose the options that are right for your business.

Consider social media, mobile, tablet devices, quotation sites like Quotify, group buying sites, and make sure you understand how SEO and SEM can work for you.

SEO and SEM work really well in tandem, so it’s important that the organisations you’re working with to develop your SEO/SEM strategy understand your business and how to reach your customers.

4. Your customers are on social media — meet them there Customers are talking about your business on social media and you need to be part of the conversation, too. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are three channels to use in your business, but you need to continually update feeds and posts. More importantly, you need to ensure you use these channels as listening tools. They are great for finding out what is important to your customers and provide an opportunity for you to speak to them directly.

Above all else, social media gives you the opportunity to be part of a quality conversation with your customers. And like any good conversation, your communications need to be relevant, genuine and provide the opportunity for both listening and talking!

5. Measure your ROI today With digital marketing, there are good tools available — there’s Google Analytics, and other marketing providers have their own, including Yellow Pages — to track the number of people clicking through to a Website from different places online. There’s no excuse for not receiving regular reports from whoever is assisting you with your marketing activity — digital has opened up a whole new world of transparency and the ability to test campaigns.

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MARKETING

FINDING THE RIGHT AD NICHE Media fragmentation makes it harder to know where to advertise.

Natalie Apostolou has the answers.

T

he expanding world of traditional media into the digital and mobile reaches has meant that it is more complex than ever to find the right place to put your advertising dollar.

The changing media space has been both a blessing and a curse for the small business sector. Fragmenting audiences means there is no longer a ‘one size fits all’ approach to advertising your business, but if your business is niche with a defined audience, there are now more direct avenues than ever before to connect with your target customer.

Certainly, the evolving world of digital and mobile advertising is key to this shift, but traditional media is also moving with the changes and offering new ways of getting the right kind of customer connection for your advertising buck.

“To advertise effectively in this world, businesses need to manage campaigns across dozens of different platforms, Websites and apps. They may also need to deal with armies of vendors and wade through mountains of performance reports,” says Sensis CEO Bruce Akhurst.

According to the Sensis Business Index released in September, small business profitability fell sharply during the quarter and businesses were expecting further falls over the next 12 months.

As a result of shrinking budgets, many SMEs are pulling back on using external companies to help them with growth strategies and are using whatever tools are necessary to get the best return for advertising spend.

“The pace of change and fragmentation in the media landscape is happening so quickly that advertisers, marketers and SMEs are often too time and resource poor to research and assess all the options which are increasingly available to reach their audiences,” says MediaScope Founder Denise Shrivell.

She says that, in some cases, there is almost too much choice and options for advertisers. This oversupply has led some buyers, mostly large 48

OCTOBER 2011

media agencies, to reduce their focus to the usual suspects. Shrivell warns that clients, especially those who are not in the game of assessing new media options, should be aware of this, and she advocates a more proactive approach for SMEs. The growth of the range of niche media — such as business-to-business, print and online, community radio and increasingly digital TV and IPTV — means that SMEs can create and define advertising campaigns on their own terms, and often without the help of an expensive mediabuying agency.

Shrivell, who is an experienced advertising sales executive, launched MediaScope, a media buying/advertising directory as a result of the fragmenting market. “MediaScope connects buyers and sellers that are often hard to find.

We focus on the constantly evolving and highly effective ‘long tail’ or beyond the mainstream end of the market. Our aim is to aggregate increasing advertising choice,” she explains.

For any business embarking on an advertising campaign, whatever the platform, the first step is to analyse your own advertising needs and required outcome.

Shrivel suggests a good first step is to create a request for proposal (RFP), which can be sent to potential media partners, their responses — which will include cost and audience reach — will help define your buying decision.

Specific is best Small businesses need to define and communicate exactly what their objectives are so that advertising sales executives can provide the best fit available. Going in with a vague idea about getting brand awareness will not yield successful results, but by creating a campaign around a specific outcome such as making more sales, promoting a new range or service, or generating leads, the outcome will be more precise and easier to measure.

“Your creative execution should also be orientated to meet this need — as an example,

if your objective is to generate response, then a clearly promoted call to action on your creative is required. The success of your campaign is a twoway street,” Shrivell says.

Defining the audience Research your potential advertising partners for their audience reach, scope, type and demographic and match it to yours. It is not always the size that matters; if your product or service is specific to an age demographic, market sector, profession etc., you should be looking at the quality of the audience and the engagement that each advertising platform offers. For example, shifting the focus from a broad consumer publication, such as a metropolitan newspaper, to a B2B trade publication specifically targeting your sector, may yield greater results. Geographic engagement is also important to analyse.

Measurement The advent of online-based advertising, has also meant that traditional media has had to up the ante of measurement. A banner ad on a Website will result in detailed traffic and hit data, an advertisement spot on TV still can’t reveal how many viewers actually watched it.

Reporting is different for every medium, but ensure that your media outlet gives you as much information as possible to track and analyse your campaigns results.

Sensis, which owns Australia’s largest directory business including the Yellow and White Pages, reveals an experience of one its largest customers which had been ‘metering’ its own ads. Metering means that they use unique telephone numbers in different ads and then count the number of phone calls they receive from each ad. The customer found that around half of their responses were coming from Sensis’s print directories, with the other half coming from digital.

So while it is easy to measure and monitor the portfolio of ads in Yellow Pages print, the digital side is much harder to keep track of, as it comes

MARKETING from a fragmented array of different online and mobile sites and apps.

“For most businesses, especially small ones, managing all these channels, vendors and so on is a nightmare. This is what we call the digital dilemma,” Akhurst says.

Sugar on top Don’t be afraid to ask for more. These are lean times for advertising spending and one of the only times that media may come to the party in extending special deals. In publishing, this could be a free banner ad for booking a consecutive run of print ads; in radio, an extra advertising spot would be appropriate for committing to a regular campaign over a period.

In asking for a little bit more, Shrivell advises that you will be more likely to receive a positive response if you treat your advertising sales person with respect and as an external partner in your business.

“The relationship between ad buyer and seller is not adversarial. Simply put, they will work hard for your business on an ongoing basis if you are good to work with,” she says.

FIVE ESSENTIAL ADVERTISING STEPS MediaScope’s Denise Shrivell offers her five essential advertising tips: 1. As part of your marketing plan, look at your business Develop a better understanding of your customers’ media habits, the market you operate in and your position. Also review internal processes to effectively manage and maximise the additional business your marketing generates.

2. Set your campaign objectives Understand what you want to achieve with your advertising. This will allow you to set your budget, choose your media types, pinpoint your primary and secondary target markets — and design your creative.

3. Communicate with your market and customers Develop a strong ongoing relationship with

the customers you capture through your advertising — and other marketing. This may be done through newsletter subscription, incentive programs or connecting through social media.

4. Upskill and educate yourself Develop an understanding of how the advertising process works and stay up to date with the fast-moving media and advertising landscape to ensure you are not missing out on opportunities to reach your market.

5. Measure results from your advertising against your objectives Be realistic — advertising is a two-way street.

Then optimise your results, look at the above points and ensure you continue to measure and evolve your marketing plan.

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WHAT YOU’VE MISSED AT

MyBusiness.com.au publishes all sorts of stories daily. Why not visit it every day instead of waiting to catch up here? To give you a taste of what you’re missing, here are the most popular stories from the site in the last month.

MYBUSINESS.COM.AU THE 10 TIPS WE HEAR MOST OFTEN AT MY BUSINESS A STORY BY SIMON SHARWOOD

s the Editor of My Business magazine, I talk to a lot of people about how to build businesses. Over time, a few themes come up again and again, and I’ve distilled them down to the following 10 top tips.

1. Don’t tell your customers what you can’t do — find a way to do what they want A few months ago, I went to a furniture store and bought two big chests of drawers and one small chest of drawers. The small chest was two metres long and would not fit in a car — not even most 4WDs — but it came from the ‘homewares’ section of the store and I was told it could not be delivered.

This was insane: I was spending $2,000 in the shop, yet staff were telling me they could not find a way to arrange delivery of all three items because of an internal product classification!

How annoying!

I asked to speak to the cashier’s supervisor, who sorted it out in a heartbeat, but why was I pushed into a bureaucratic mincer to start with?

The lesson: don’t tell your customers what you won’t do, just find a way to delight them. And empower your people so they can do the same without having to seek managerial intervention.

2. Plan your exit from day one Some people go into business to replace a job.

That’s the wrong attitude, because what’s the point of buying yourself a job when business is riskier than being on a salary? And why treat it as just a job when being in business is a chance to build wealth?

Don’t think of your business of a job. Instead, always be thinking about your business in terms of how you might one day realise its value by selling it, franchising it, selling the business methods you develop or licensing your IP. If you think this way, you’ll build value, not just pay yourself a wage.

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MYBUSINESS.COM.AU 3. Involve your customers and build a community By now you know the mantra about turning your customers into advocates for your business. The way to do this is by involving your customers in the way you run your business and design your products and services. This could be by way of a competition, inviting them in for a focus group or an ongoing investment in a vibrant social media presence.

Whatever you do, consider the next tip, too ...

4. Be genuine with your language Australia’s patent office employs more than 300 PhDs — all experts in very, very granular fields.

These people are super-smart, have umpteen university qualifications and really know their stuff.

I mention this because when I hear a company say it has ‘the best people’, I think to myself that maybe, of all the organisations in Australia, perhaps only the patent office is anywhere near being able to sustain that claim.

There are two things to learn here. One is that claims like having the best people are impossible to sustain and therefore aren’t a differentiator. Think about it: will your rivals admit to hiring stupid, kindergarten-dropout junkies with criminal records?

Of course not.

Like you, they have good people. And if you want to be utterly blunt, like you they probably have a mix of enthusiastic people, unenthusiastic people, plodders, go-getters and every other type of person.

The second is that it’s way too easy to fall back on cliches like this when you describe your business. Everyone is committed to quality.

Everyone is customer-focused.

Except everyone isn’t, too. Every business sometimes cuts corners. Every business sometimes pisses off a customer.

This means that all these terms are valueless and meaningless. Instead, try to describe your business truthfully. Explain what you do and how you do it — and make it real, not just a cliche.

5. Don’t procrastinate with people People management is the hardest thing to do in business, and therefore the easiest thing to put off.

If someone needs a reprimand, do it fast.

If someone’s not working out, fire them fast.

This may sound harsh, but nothing hurts a business more than the wrong people, because you’ll spend a lot of time trying to work with the wrong people. It takes less time to find the right people.

The flipside here is that you can’t procrastinate with learning good people management skills and the industrial relations laws, because if you don’t learn how to reprimand someone without making them hostile or set yourself up for an unfair dismissal claim, you’ll waste more time than you can possibly afford.

6. Outsource, outsource, outsource, delegate, delegate, delegate Startup businesses often try to do everything in-house, and that’s nuts because a business is all about selling unique expertise or services.

If you are trying to do everything in your business, or refuse to trust work to others, you’re reducing the time you can spend practising the special skill that makes your business unique.

So stop doing everything, be very selective about the new skills you learn on the job, and delegate or outsource the stuff that isn’t a core skill that represents competitive advantage.

And don’t give me the line that it’s too expensive to outsource: get creative and find an intern, or an offshore worker, and get the job done at a lower price.

or someone to vent to. If you use your accountant for business advice, don’t just ask them to do your BAS. Whoever you turn to for advice, use them for the perspective they offer and not as just another service provider.

8. Figure out your key indicators and check them every day Every business has key indicators that represent its pulse. It could be stock levels, outstanding bills, sales pipeline or another indicator.

Whatever the number is that makes the most difference to your business, check it obsessively.

That way, your finger will be on the pulse and you’ll know trouble is on the way in time to react to it, instead of being swamped.

9. Automate and systemise, then automate and systemise some more Lots of business commentators adore fast food franchises because they have lots and lots of processes. That means they can hire teenagers and quickly bring them up to impressive levels of productivity.

Do the same in your business so that there is always a process for routine tasks that anyone can learn and perform. As you do so, consider if any of the tasks you assess can be automated. If they can, invest in technology that takes work away.

7. Let professionals advise you, not just service you

10. Codify your competitive advantage

An accountant recently told me: “I’m a very expensive bookkeeper, but a very reasonablypriced management consultant.”

The quote has stuck with me because it’s really important to get a perspective on your business — because when you work in it, you simply can’t see it objectively. And no matter how much reading you do, you can’t get every useful perspective.

So hire someone to offer you perspective.

It could be a coach or a mentor. Or it could be your accountant.

But whatever you do, make sure you pay these people for their advice and perspective. If you hire a mentor, don’t use them as a shoulder to cry on

I once did business with a company formed by a group of gun sales people, the guys who always made their targets. One day, those guys all got together and wrote down the way they did things, and turned that into a methodology. The company that delivered that methodology sold for $400 million.

The lesson I learned from this story was that figuring out just what it is that you do best and makes you different is essential. Plenty of other commentators have told me the same thing since and most say that once you know how you differ, or at least make the effort to understand it, you are in a much better position to compete.

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Your connection to online training 51

MYBUSINESS.COM.AU

MYER CEO BERNIE BROOKES’ TOP TEN TIPS FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS L ast September, Myer CEO Bernie Brookes spoke at the Women Chiefs of Enterprises International conference in Sydney. The topic of his talk was ‘Pitching success: Getting noticed by the big end of town’ and he offered the following 10 ways to get noticed and accelerate your career, or your business.

1. Play 3D Blitz Chess Brookes said he feels people who thrive in business today and get noticed for their success do so because they pay very close attention to detail, and seek out plenty of information.

Doing so is necessary, he said, because today’s business world is so complex. Debate around meeting consumers’ demands as online and bricks-and-mortar retail collide is one example of that complexity and is why he invoked playing three dimensional Blitz Chess as an analogy for the challenge entrepreneurs face.

Those who thrive in that game, he said, are those “with really good attention to detail. They also read very widely. I call them sponges. They read everything and I think you have to become a sponge to succeed.”

2. Look ahead Long-term thinking, Brookes said, is more useful and important than worrying about the next couple of weeks. He said he prefers his people to be thinking about where Myer will be in two years, rather than focusing solely on activities in coming weeks.

“We’ll be ready to go when consumers finish their current spending holiday,” he said. “I think you need to look at the end game.”

3. Be decisive “People don’t gravitate to the indecisive,” Brookes told the conference. “Make a decision together and stick to it. One of the problems in our current political environment is that people want decisiveness in leaders. You may not agree with their decision, but you like the decisiveness.”

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4. Be generous

Generosity of spirit is, Brookes said, critical for leaders. “It could be knowing the name of the cleaner,” he said.

The opposite of generosity is arrogance, and Brookes said that while it has its place, it will not lead to success.

“If we find someone who is arrogant, we want to knock them down a peg or two. Those people don’t climb and are normally put into a box and used in certain ways at certain times.”

He also said generosity helps business to succeed because it means that entrepreneurs share information.

“Why do projects fail? Because people keep information close.”

7. Take a punt from time to time

Retailing is in the doldrums at present — Brookes said Australians used to spend more than they earned, but are now saving conscientiously and that “makes it harder to get them to spend a dollar in our stores”.

Myer, however, has decided to spend $25 million to boost customer service, an investment he said “we could have just put straight onto the bottom line”. Instead the company is hiring more staff — 40 in its central Sydney store alone — to address an issue its customers repeatedly say needs work.

“I say invest when times are tough,” he told the conference.

5. Practise ‘servant leadership’

8. Be a financial manager

Brookes feels business leaders must never forget that they serve the people who work in their enterprise. Strong leaders, he said, go out of their way to be accessible to their teams so they can serve them.

“I call it a doctrine of fairness,” he said, and explained its workings by recalling a Myer store that was damaged by fire. Staff were naturally fearful for their livelihoods, but by serving those people and giving them the tools they needed to rebuild, Myer was able to re-open the store in just 44 days.

Brookes attributes that swift restoration to staff feeling management was helping them, not directing them.

“Those with financial acumen have a free kick in life,” Brookes told the conference. But when he came into the world of business with humanities degrees on his CV, finance was “gobbledygook” to him.

Brookes studied to learn the basics and says he “doesn’t understand the intricacies but does understand finance now” and that financial literacy is essential for any entrepreneur.

He also told the audience not to underestimate exception reporting as it is a rich source of data that explains what you need to know about your business.

6. Train, develop and reward Brookes told the conference that Myer feels “obliged to develop people” and that efforts to train, develop and reward staff always deliver return on investment.

“Double your efforts because it pays you back,” he said.

9. Be a vision creator Creating a vision for Brookes doesn’t mean being a visionary and seeing the future. Instead, it is about being “an inspirer and a mobiliser” who “thinks about the important of building enthusiasm”.

Doing so can be as simple as “a pat on the back or whatever” but does start with a vision to shoot for. In Myer’s case, that’s currently to become the biggest online retailer in its space.

10. Don’t stress It’s not worth stressing, Brookes said, adding that “I tell this to people 300 or 400 times every day.”

MYBUSINESS.COM.AU

WOMEN ARE STILL PAID LESS THAN MEN T wenty-five years of trying to bridge the gender pay divide has had only minimal effect, and the Federal Government agency charged with fixing the situation will soon step up its efforts to encourage employers to pay equal wages for work of equal value.

The agency concerned is the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), which will soon relaunch as the Workplace General Equality Agency.

At a media event in late August, EOWA Director Helen Conway said that the gap between men’s and women’s pay remains at 17.2 per cent, roughly the same as it was 25 years ago. While the causes of the gap are many and complex, she cited “feminised” industries such as child care and aged care as examples of industries where women dominate and which often pay poor wages because women’s skills are undervalued by both society and employers. Many women also work part-time, which further depresses their wages.

Even in large enterprises, however, women often receive lower wages than male counterparts.

A lack of education and training is another factor that keeps women’s wages low, often because women who return to the workforce after caring for children find themselves lagging in terms of professional development compared to men who enjoy unbroken careers. Fewer women tend to work in industries that offer discretionary pay or bonuses, another factor that contributes to lower earnings.

Many employers, Conway said, are aware of these issues and the resulting gender pay gap, but choose not to act.

Conway said she feels employers hurt themselves by doing so, as women recognise employers that value equality and will naturally gravitate to companies that value it. With unemployment low and skilled workers scarce, she said equal pay makes good business sense.

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EOWA tries to help business indentify and rectify gender pay inequality with a suite of online tools, an online course called Mind the Gap and with hands-on consultancy. The agency suggests a gender pay equity audit (there’s an online tool to help at www.eowa.gov.au) as one step towards addressing the gap. Conway said she feels making equal pay a key performance indicator for senior management is another important step and advocated compulsory catch-up training for women returning to the workforce.

The organisation also staged Equal Pay Day on September 1 to raise awareness of the issue.

The agency recently received a boost in funding to promote these activities and enhance

the online services it offers to employers. Conway also plans to introduce a new program once legislation formalising its new name and new mission has been passed.

A “light touch” approach to regulation will remain its hallmark, as while all businesses with over 100 staff are required to report to EOWA, it employs only 33 full-time-equivalent staff. The agency will therefore try to work through industry groups to help spread the message to small business, and then use its online services to offer more assistance.

That message will include a program encouraging employers to be more proactive with offers of flexible employment conditions to men.

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Your connection to online training 53

TECHNOLOGY

APPROACHING THE

POST-PC AGE T

The personal computer has been the all-purpose business workhorse for more than a decade, but is now joined by other computing devices that offer your business new possibilities.

STORY BY LIA TIMSON

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he technology industry has recently started to talk about ‘the post-PC era’. The phrase was coined in response to the fact that smartphones now outsell PCs. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave it a self-serving push, too, likening PCs to trucks in post-agrarian times, saying less people would need them in future.

Should you rethink refreshing your office computers because PCs are going out of fashion?

Is the future in the hands — or screens — of tablets and smartphones? Should you put all your data in the cloud and use apps instead?

Let us reassure you that PCs and laptops won’t be disappearing. Considering that PCs have been around for over 25 years and still represent the mainstay of computer interaction, they will not be replaced by other gadgets in a hurry.

But a slow and gradual shift is occurring towards a future where the PC will no longer be at the centre of computational power and at the doorway of information. Our devices, be they laptops, computers, phones, tablets, cameras, fridges, washing machines — or as some would have it, tables and walls — will simply be gateways for the content and processing power residing remotely.

It is easy to picture this when we see the myriad apps offered by smartphones today. So much is available on devices without the need to boot up, start a browser and generally know how to operate a computer.

Now add voice and gesture commands, and we begin to see what the post-PC era holds. But let’s take it one step at a time.

TECHNOLOGY

Laptops Laptops and notebooks are getting lighter, thinner and more powerful every day. From the folderthin MacBook Air and the Samsung Series 9 to the Panasonic Toughbook, there are shapes and sizes to suit every budget, job spec and user preference. And this trend will continue. This month, Acer launched a new ‘ultrabook’ — a play on ‘ultra-thin notebook’. Expect more of the same, plus laptops with dual touchscreens, pivoting screens that convert to a tablet, detachable tablet screens and/or keyboards and so on. Expect netbooks — those briefly fashionable very small notebooks — to make way for laptops of varying sizes with less emphasis on ‘net’.

Desktop PCs A shift to ‘thin clients’ — PC terminals that are really just screens hooked up to a network of servers via a book-sized hard drive — is already happening in corporate Australia. Soon, very few business computers will feature a large box with its own hard drive under the desk. As companies look to drive costs out of hardware and IT maintenance while embracing mobility, thin clients are gaining popularity as workstation replacement. In large businesses, a trend towards ‘hot desks’, where employees can sit on any shared desk when they are in, is accelerating the adoption of thin clients.

In small business, consider whether you need individual boxes under personal desks or if you too can do away with them in lieu of terminals that access data held on file servers or in the cloud.

How Sweet it iS!

Tablets Except for HP, which ceased producing its TouchPad last month, just about every other PC manufacturer worth its silicon has jumped on the tablet bandwagon. Maybe they know a trend when they see one — or when Apple spearheads it — or they truly believe there is a market big enough out there for so many similar devices. Lenovo and Sony are the latest to join the craze. Lenovo was due to launch two different Android-based tablets as this issue went to print: the IdeaPad for consumers and the ThinkPad for businesses.

The difference is the business-grade networking functions of the latter, plus data encryption and pre-loaded productivity apps like DocumentsToGo and PrinterShare. The Sony tablet S will arrive in Australia at the end of October and some are tipping it to be a real contender to challenge the iPad. It will run on Android and integrate with the rest of the Sony ecosystem, providing movies, music and games to the consumer market. And Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system announcement is likely to come with a corresponding tablet as well this quarter. Research firm Telsyte estimates 1.5 million tablets will be sold in Australia by Christmas, 28 per cent through business channels.

One thing is certain though: businesses can find hundreds of ways to deploy tablets — we’ve seen the devices used in boardrooms, home sales calls (See My Business, September 2011), bedside health checks and in classrooms. In some cases, a tablet will do the job better than a laptop because it is nimbler, lighter, easier to use and always on, but you need to determine your business objectives first.

Smartphones Yes, smartphones are amazing units of computing power and extremely handy for business people — imagine not having at least spreadsheets, a contact database and email on your phone now.

The iPhone 5 will bring new functions that others will soon copy, while Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 — code-named Mango — is also coming.

But for the foreseeable future they will still be too small to replace computers — hence the popularity of tablets. The office of the future may finally see a commercial deployment of smartphones that travel smoothly between cellular data and Wi-Fi networks, but by then the price of calls will have lowered so much that that need may evaporate.

(Others believe that smartphones may become thin clients — see page 52 for details).

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TECHNOLOGY

A Surface 2.0 table, the interactive computing device from Microsoft and Samsung

Surface computing You might remember Microsoft’s first surface computer — a $15,000 table launched in 2008.

The new Surface 2.0 (see www.microsoft.com/ surface/en/us/whatissurface.aspx), sees Microsoft partnering with Samsung and is due by year’s end. Design-heavy businesses such as creative agencies, architect and engineering offices, product developers and others will likely fall in love with the possibilities of an interactive multitouch drawing table, but for Microsoft, the table at the centre of this is just the beginning. In fact, tablets are not far from providing such interaction already — but there’s more.

First, manufacturers are working to integrate devices to such a fine point, that you’ll be able to ‘throw’ files and pages open on one device to another without missing a beat. This will also, they say, include the interaction between non-digital devices (eg coffee cup or printed map) with the surface they are placed on.

Secondly, with the addition of voice commands and hand gestures — think Xbox Kinect and Wii — the user will become the controller for the computer, not just for the video game console.

Eventually, we will be able to simply bark or wave our commands to whatever connected device 56

OCTOBER 2011

“Eventually, we will be able to simply bark or wave our commands to whatever connected device happens to be closest at the time.”

happens to be closest at the time.

Imagine walking into the office and interacting by voice with the ether: ‘Show me the latest stock holdings’ or ‘How’s the warehouse doing today?’ and the closest surface will display stock levels or a streaming video of the production facility with voice link to the floor manager. You touch the wall, or say another command, and things continue to happen wherever you go. It is natural user interface and it is coming.

“It turns out that in the post-PC era, everything becomes a PC. It’s the ubiquitous-PC era,” says Stewart Tansley, Director, Natural User Interface, at Microsoft Research in the US. He says what we call a ‘computer’ may change. Everything will be computing, albeit with multi-devices, seamless interaction, and virtually no touch or mouse-clicking.

“People across the world will be using whatever is convenient, appropriate to them, whatever is quicker and more convenient.

The devices will just get absorbed into the environment,” says Tansley.

It may be that when you enter the workplace of the future, the PC will be the last thing you touch.

But rest assured, computing will be taking place all around you.

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TECHNOLOGY

SMARTPHONES TAKE ON THE PC New technology will make it possible to use smartphones as a secure way to link your people to your office.

STORY BY SIMON SHARWOOD

54

OCTOBER 2011

F

our big technology trends are converging in your mobile phone, where they might just change the way you work.

The first trend is cloud computing, which as you probably know involves applications and data living in a data centre somewhere in the world.

Cloud computing sees you use applications through a Web browser, instead of installing software on your hard disk. Plenty of cloud applications have become business mainstays — the likes of Dropbox, Google Apps, and Salesforce.com are standard issue at more and more businesses.

The second trend is ‘the consumerisation of IT’ and refers to the fact that consumers’ technology choices now fuel business innovation. A decade ago, the best computer most people used was the one their employer provided in the office.

Since then, computers have become so cheap that many people’s home computer is better than the one at work. Many workers also take full advantage of many online services.

Consumers have also adopted smartphones at a fantastic rate and often bring them to work and ask why they can’t get email on their handsets, rather than making do with less-functional phones their employers issue. Many on your team may also wonder why they can use new, efficient tools on their home computers, but are restricted to older tools in the office.

Some rebel, in a gentle way. And the number of folks who are rebelling means the consumer tail is wagging the business dog, because business has to figure out how satisfy staff and also tune it’s IT to reach people using consumer technology devices to work and play.

The third trend is ‘BYO IT’ and it follows on from consumerisation by suggesting that business should let workers chose the device they work on in the office. Today, if your office uses PCs instead of Macs, you force Mac-lovers to use a PC. BYO IT theory says you should just let your Mac-loving staff have a Mac. If they want a laptop — the preferred computer for younger people — you should let them bring it to work and use it there. If they want a new laptop, you should even consider chipping in to help them to buy it, because they’ll be happier and more productive than if you force them to use a stodgy office PC.

You’ll also get flexibility — if you staff take their computer home with them, they’re more likely to help out after-hours.

The fourth big trend is called ‘the post-PC era’. This trend is partly hype — Apple and others doing well with non-PC devices want to stick it to Microsoft — and part reality, because the proliferation of smartphones means the majority of devices connected to the Internet aren’t computers. Instead, all sorts of different tablets and smartphones now dominate the Internet.

Trends converge in the phone These four trends are converging in your phone, thanks to a software company called VMware, which in August at its VMworld 2011 conference in Las Vegas outlined a way to take the applications and data you use around the office — be they conventional or cloud apps — and bundle them all up into a special, walled-off area in your mobile. Within that walled-off area, it’s as if you are logged in to your office network and PC. All the stuff on ‘your’ phone (games, music, Facebook and so on) cannot be accessed when you’re in the walled-off area. But you can see all the apps and information you use at work.

When you want to go back to doing that personal stuff, you’ll close the walled-off environment and carry on as usual. Nothing you do with your phone in ‘personal’ mode will pollute the walled-off work environment.

You get to work on your phone, which thanks to the consumerisation of IT is your preference.

Your employer gets a highly mobile worker who won’t complain about being forced to use a device they don’t like. And you both get cloud apps, because the cloud really makes sense on mobile devices.

At VMworld 2011, VMware announced that Samsung and LG have signed a deal that will mean their mobile phones are ready to do this kind of thing.

At the event, we even saw demos that included running Windows on the small screen of a smartphone.

VMware has also told us that it is talking to carriers around the world about this kind of service, so that they can host the reasonably hefty IT that is required to set it all up. All you’ll do is

TECHNOLOGY

“PCs were developed to streamline processes that involved shuffling bits of paper around a business.” click on a few screens and determine which apps and information sources are allowed onto your team’s phones. Team members will download a single app onto their phones and the rest will happen ‘automagically’, as they say in the computer industry.

This may all sound like a big investment for a small business, but it is worth keeping an eye on this development for two reasons.

One is that smartphones get more sophisticated every week. Plenty can already connect to a monitor and keyboard, so you could plug them in and enjoy an experience that is not a million miles away from using a PC. Another is that all the work that goes into delivering this stuff on a smartphone can also simplify conventional PCs and make them cheaper to run. So mobilising your office in a split-personality phone will also cut costs in your office.

Today, this is all pretty geeky stuff. But the winds of change are getting stronger. Before long, operating a conventional PC with software you install on a hard drive will look somewhere between archaic and quaint. Instead, VMware believes, we’ll all spend more time on tablets and our data and apps will be in the cloud.

For now, the split-personality phones we’ll see soon from LG and Samsung will mean you can let your team have the phones they want without worrying about security. That’s a win all by itself.

VMware is also working to make this same arrangement possible on tablet computers and, indeed, just about any type of device you can imagine. It is doing so because its management feels it might just be the harbinger of a new type of work. Today, the company says, we work in ways that revolve around documents, because PCs were developed to streamline processes that involved shuffling bits of paper around a business.

While no-one is sure just how we’ll work in the future, VMware feels that by making it possible to access data anywhere, instead of worrying about which device you use, it can help us all to become more productive.

Simon Sharwood travelled to VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas as a guest of VMware, which paid for his flights, accommodation and meals.

55

TECHNOLOGY

GUIDE

GADGET

MAXI-MAILER Starting one’s career in a mail room has a lovely ring about it, but these days, you’ll probably find some pretty clever folks in there thanks to devices like Pitney Bowes’ new Connect+ range. This device does the usual trick of applying a stamp to an envelope, but also lets you program personalised marketing messages and flashy graphics onto envelopes.

These machines aren’t small — the Connect+ 1000 is the tiddler of the range and is over a metre long. But Pitney Bowes insists any business with enough space to set the thing down will get value from it.

Expect to pay $900-$1,200 per quarter to lease a Connect+ 1000, as leasing is the most common way to acquire these machines. www.pitneybowes.com.au/connect-series

AIRY DISK

ROBO-VACUUM

Mobile phones and tablet computers are fun and useful, but they are let down a bit by their limited memory capacity. This makes it very hard for users to carry a big movie or music collection around.

Enter Seagate’s GoFlex Satellite, a battery-powered external hard drive with built-in Wi-Fi. Install a special app on your mobile device, and your Android or Apple machine can access content from the GoFlex, which has a capacity of 500 gigabytes and runs for five hours between battery charges. $219 gets you a GoFlex. www.seagate.com/www/en-us/ products/external/external-harddrive/goflex-satellite

No matter how stylish vacuum cleaners become as vendors chase Dyson’s wonderful designs, the problem remains that you need the will to actually get around to plugging the thing in and pushing it around your home or office.

Samsung’s NaviBot is a robotic vacuum cleaner that can apparently clean 100 square metres of floor in under 40 minutes.

We’re pretty sure that’s a fair bit more time than a human would require, which means more noise, too. Perhaps the robot needs more than its 38 built-in sensors, which Samsung says allow it to “negotiate obstacles, such as tables and sofas.”

If they make a robot iron, we may be more interested.

The NaviBot costs $999. www.samsung.com.au

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OCTOBER 2011

TECHNOLOGY SLIM SCREEN Once your business grows to the point where it runs a few servers, your IT folks will want to store them in a special rack. And after a while, they may also ask you to buy a device like Belkin’s new 19-inch Widescreen Rack Console, a keyboard and monitor combo that folds down very flat and slides in and out of a server rack so they can work right there in your server room.

We want you to know about this device, which starts at $1,199, for two reasons. One is that they are kind of cool in a weird way — we like the engineering that goes into this kind of thing. The other is to let you know what you’re getting yourself in for if your server fleet starts to grow — you’ll need all sorts of stuff you cannot imagine today! www.belkin.com.au

TOUGH BUT SLEEK Rugged notebook computers have been around for a while now and offer you the chance to take a PC almost anywhere without worrying that dust, vibration or moisture will do it in before you can emit so much as a single email. But this class of computer has been — how shall we put it? — awfully daggy because the rubber buffers and chunky styling that toughen them up haven’t left them easy on the eye.

Panasonic, which is the most recognisable brand in the field, seems to have realised that ‘tough’ doesn’t have to mean ‘ugly’, as its new Toughbook CF-31 Mk2 doesn’t look a million miles from a smart executive laptop, while still being rated to military standards of hardiness.

At $6,099, it’s not cheap. www.toughbook.com.au

MY BUSINESS REVIEWS ... the ASUS Transformer

ASUS’s Transformer is an Android tablet computer with a removable keyboard. That may sound a kooky combination, but we tried it and we like it!

The keyboard and tablet connect with a satisfyingly large and robust pair of spring-loaded clips. Once mated, they feel as solid as any laptop.

The Android experience on the tablet differed only slightly from other comparable devices we have used, although we must say the more we use Android tablets, the more sense they make — there’s a learning curve before you feel comfortable with the way Android does things.

Impressively, the gadget doesn’t change its user interface with or without keyboard, and this immediately sets it apart from the rival Motorola Atrix smartphone, which becomes a confusing mess when docked with its keyboard and reverts to Android when used alone.

The keyboard and touchpad are both very usable, and the overall package is pleasingly slim and light. It looks pretty good, too — a dimpled bronze finish is easy on the eye.

We’re not sure the Transformer can replace a laptop, thanks largely to immature applications. But if you want a tablet and want to do more than consume content, this is a good bet.

The 16GB tablet-only model costs $599 and the 32GB Wi-Fi model with keyboard costs $799. The latter price compares well to some keyboardless tablets! www.asus.com.au/ Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_ Transformer_TF101/

61

EXPERTS SHERALYN GUY

“Avoid the Chinese whispers approach to training where one person teaches another how to perform a process without documentation.”

Sheralyn Guy is Director of HRhelp, a company dedicated to providing affordable, practical and effective HR services to small-to-medium-sized businesses. For further great HR ideas, call 02 8006 1280, email gethelp@hrhelp.com.au, or visit www.hrhelp.com.au 62

OCTOBER 2011

SKILLING UP YOUR TEAM FOR SUCCESS

I

n today’s competitive world, where products and technology can easily be duplicated, an organisation’s human resource — its people — can give it a competitive edge.

A great team will not only wow your customers, it will save you time and money.

Yet with the current talent shortage, good people can be hard to find and even harder to keep.

Learning how to develop the capabilities of your existing team, in an effective and affordable way, will ensure you have people with the right skills doing the best they can for your business. Here is what you need to know to successfully train your team: Create a need for change — Ensure your team knows why you need to develop their skills and what’s in it for them. Too often, people turn up for training sessions with no idea why they are there. Having your team motivated and ready to learn will ensure greater outcomes from the training process.

Get commitment to learning — You can’t train someone who doesn’t want to be trained. Make sure you have an explicit commitment from each team member before you invest resources in the learning process.

The stages of learning — Understanding the stages of learning can help you develop the right approach to training.

First, we are the ‘unconsciously unskilled’ — unaware we don’t have the skills we need to complete a task. Then we become the ‘consciously unskilled’. Once a person has developed the skills to perform a task, they become ‘consciously skilled’, aware of the actions they need to perform and complete a task, but not yet proficient at them.

After much practice at a task, and with confidence, a person becomes the ‘unconsciously skilled’. Have you ever driven home and arrived to think, ‘I don’t remember the drive, hope I didn’t run any red lights’? This is being unconsciously skilled. Doing the job without needing to consciously think about it. By understanding the stages of learning you can tailor your development approach to ensure that your learners are ‘consciously unskilled’ while your trainers are ‘consciously skilled’.

Understand learning styles — There are three main learning styles and most people will be dominant in one, yet open to a mix of all three. They are auditory, visual and kinesthetic (hands-on). Ask people what their learning style is, and be conscious that if someone is not absorbing information, it may be because of the way you are delivering it.

Blended learning solutions — Cater to people’s different learning styles by using a variety of cost-effective learning solutions, such as:

• Self research — Reading about the topic on the Internet or in articles and books, watching videos or listening to pod casts.

• Webinars — These are presentations delivered over the Internet. Often these are available free from government organisations or companies wanting to promote their products.

• Mentoring — This is where an expert buddies up with a learner to facilitate their learning and share experience and knowledge. The NSW government funds a mentoring program for business owners at cost-effective rates, check out www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au for its subsidised mentoring program.

• Online courses — Providers of online learning offer everything from Excel to quantum physics.

• On-the-job — Have someone who’s proficient in the skill pass on their knowledge.

Resist Chinese Whispers — Document your training to avoid the Chinese whispers approach to training. This is where one person teaches another how to perform a certain process, without documentation, and then passes it on to the next new person, who passes it on to the next, and so on. Before you know it, instead of the soup being made with three chillis and cooked for 15 minutes, it’s being made with 15 chillis and cooked for three minutes. Creating a common source of training knowledge will ensure you get consistent outcomes.

Formalise it — Ensure each team member has their own development plan. If you identify a specific skill gap, add it to their development plan. Make sure it includes learning goals, activities to achieve them, agreed timeframes, review points to monitor progress and, most importantly, a way to assess whether the learning has been successful.

Avoid the brain drain — Hold on to your talent by making your business a great place to work. Include incentives to stay and grow, such as improved remuneration for staying with your business for a certain time, or reimbursing training fees when a course is completed rather than commenced.

Train the trainer — Being an expert at a task doesn’t always make you the best person to teach it to others. For someone to teach effectively, they need to be consciously skilled and know how to communicate effectively.

Investing time and energy to train your team will help your business provide the best-quality products and services and ultimately unlock your businesses potential to achieve a competitive edge.

EXPERTS ROBYN ANDERSON

‘BRODIE’S LAW’ IS GAINING MOMENTUM

T

he tragic death of Brodie Panlock in Victoria, after relentless bullying by co-workers, has led to the enactment of what has become known as ‘Brodie’s Law’. This amendment to the Crimes Act has criminalised serious bullying in Victoria. The idea of anti-bullying laws is now gaining momentum nationally.

The amended act broadens the definition of stalking to include: • Making threats, using abusive or offensive words, performing abusive or offensive acts, and directing abusive or offensive acts towards a victim; • Acting in a way that could reasonably be expected to cause physical or mental harm to the victim; and • Actions that would reasonably be expected to cause the victim to self-harm.

The act has also widened the definition of ‘mental harm’ to include psychological harm and suicidal thoughts.

In the light of these legal changes, the growing awareness of bullying and the likelihood of other juridictions introducing similar laws, business owners need to ask themselves: 1. How do I deal with seeing bullying occur in the workplace?

2. How do I deal with allegations made to me about the possibility of bullying occurring?

3. How do I deal with complaints made directly to me?

4. How do I ensure that my performance management processes can withstand bullying allegations?

What to do if you detect bullying Every employer, large and small, should have formal employee grievance procedures in place and investigate any complaints. Business owners must act quickly and decisively. If an employee feels they are being bullied, they must have an avenue to air their complaint and have the grievance dealt with confidentially and sensitively. If bullying is found to be occurring, warn the bully, explain to them the effects of their behaviour and the undesirability of it. In serious cases, and if the behaviour constitutes “serious misconduct” at law, you may be required to take further steps and terminate the bully. As a business owner, vulnerable employees expect you will be the saviour who stops the bullying, and that you will ensure they can come to work feeling safe and secure. It is your job to make it clear to every employee, regardless of length of service or position, that bullying behaviour will not be tolerated.

What to do if bullying is alleged Simply being reactive and adopting an ‘until X comes to me with a complaint themselves, I will put my head in the sand’

mindset is neither adequate nor acceptable. So taking action is absolutely necessary. Arrange to speak confidentially with the alleged bullying victim about what you have heard and and ask them if everything is okay. From there, you will often be able to gauge if there is an issue. Remind all employees of the company’s anti-bullying policies and the grievance procedures available to those who want to use them.

Dealing with complaints of bullying Ensure that you act swiftly and objectively. If you fail to investigate a complaint, you could be at risk of action against you from government bodies and workers compensation authorities. In Victoria, you may also be aiding and abetting a crime. Commencing an investigation can be complex and you need to work through a fair, open and transparent process that assumes innocence until proven guilty. Ensure that all parties are afforded privacy wherever possible. Mistakes and a mishandled investigation may worsen a situation, so if you are not confident, consider outsourcing the investigation to specialists. It is a wise investment.

“It is in every business owner’s interest to educate their employees about bullying.”

Performance management processes and bullying Ensure that your processes are fair and transparent without any favouritism and be careful that performance management is not simply a knee-jerk reaction to a situation without substance. All employees need to be treated equally and with fairness and respect. Don’t apply different rules to different employees. When undesirable performance or conduct occurs, document things fully and where others have supervisory responsibilities, ensure they are trained in performance management procedures. Educate employees, particularly those with supervisory responsibilities, as to what does and does ot constitute bullying. If you have a sensitive situation, do not feel confident or feel that your business may be at risk, again, consider getting specialist advice.

Conclusion Bullying is not going away and businesses need to educate all employees, supervisors and managers about what constitutes bullying and how your business will treat those who engage in this activity. We should not take our eyes off the ball in relation to genuine bullying cases, but likewise ensure your business has processes in place that ensure that legitimate performance management is handled correctly and does not morph into a bullying accusation. And the last word: don’t go it alone if you do not feel confident — get assistance, because the stakes can be higher than you think.

Robyn Anderson is the Managing Director of HR Navigation Australia, an HR/IR/employment law consultancy, specialising in providing services to the needs of small and medium businesses.

To contact HR Navigation, call 1300 669 747 or visit www.hrnavigation.com.au 63

EXPERTS TONY GATTARI

“How do you take a suspect through the levels of the loyalty ladder to be an evangelist for your business?”

The author is Founder and Chief Energy Officer of Achievers Group. He is a much-in-demand, passionate professional speaker, business educator, author and corporate, business advisor.

He has worked with over 140 businesses around the world.

Find him online at www. achieversgroup.com.au, email him at tony@achieversgroup.com.au or phone 02 9025 3716.

64

OCTOBER 2011

HOW TO CLIMB THE LADDER OF LOYALTY

E

very business owner dreams of maximising the number of evangelists for their business. Evangelists are the people who will shout your praises from the rooftop and help you in building an ever-expanding loyal customer base — and all for free.

What more can you ask for? But how do you go about turning your prospects into evangelists? I say this is not an automatic thing; you need to have systems and processes in place to make the customer experience as close to heaven as possible.

This is where the ‘ladder of loyalty’ comes in. It is a customer categorisation tool with seven levels. You start with people who might be potential customers of your business.

While keeping them engaged with your great product line and amazing customer service, you keep increasing their level of loyalty and eventually, you will have yourself an evangelist for your business.

First, let’s take a look at these different levels of the ladder of loyalty.

1. Suspect — The first level comprises people who might be potential buyers. This is essentially anybody who could buy from your business. For example, your product is available in Melbourne only, then the whole of Melbourne (regardless of demographics, target market etc.) would be your suspect.

2. Prospects — The second level consists of people who are the potential buyers of your product or service. They haven’t bought from you yet, but they have expressed some form of interest. This interest could be in the form of a phone inquiry or a request for a quote. The greatest cost in running a business is that of getting a prospect.

Advertising budgets speak for themselves.

3. Customers — The third level is reserved for people who buy from you. The critical factor here is the fact that most people are just one-time buyers. So, the company has to go out there and find new prospects. Some businesses spend millions of dollars on prospecting strategies, which results in lead generation. Out of these leads some buy from you and some don’t. If the buyers are just one-time customers, then you have to repeat the whole process again and again. This is a very costly proposition and the main reason why you must focus on taking customers to next level.

4. Clients — The clients are basically repeat customers.

They buy from you more than once. This is important, because it shows they have found your product/service good enough to use again.

5. Members — Members are the people who feel part of your tribe. They have a sense of ownership with your offerings. Loyalty cards and memberships are examples of techniques that can help get customers to this level.

Achieving this level helps you in communicating with your market.

6. Advocate — Advocates are people who, when asked, will recommend your company to others. Many people take recommendations and a second opinion into consideration before they buy a new product. So, the next time someone asks for the best restaurant in town, if you are a restaurant owner and have advocate-level clientele, then you can expect some new guests around.

7. Evangelists — Evangelists are the people who don’t need to be asked. They are walking, talking testimonials for your product/service. They can’t stop talking about you.

Nowadays, people hardly believe what you have to say about yourself. They are more interested in and trusting of what others have to say about you. So, making evangelists for your business is even more important today. With the boom of social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.), your customers can communicate better among themselves. A good or bad review tweet can make or break your business in today’s tech-savvy world.

Secondly, and more importantly, how do you take a suspect through the levels of the loyalty ladder to become an evangelist for your business? I believe that the most important factor here is the culture of your business. Your sales team must not think of closing a sale as the end of customer engagement but rather as opening an opportunity.

You must have great people who live by this culture. It is a great idea to have a rewards program in your business that sales team members can use to help move customers up the loyalty ladder. Having different levels of service for different customers is another helpful factor.

In short, it is the systems, technology and right attitude that, when in place, will take your company to new levels of customer relationship. Get this right and you will see your evangelists list expanding all the time.

EXPERTS PHIL LEE

10 KEY TIPS FOR A STRONG LAST QUARTER

H

ere are some keys that, if you follow them, will give you a great chance to make the last quarter of 2011 a resounding success:

1. Know what you’re aiming for If you don’t expect a lot from the rest of this year, chances are you’ll achieve what you expect. Likewise, if you don’t know what you’re aiming for, it will take a fair bit of luck for you to hit it. Knowing what results you want to achieve by the end of this quarter is essential. I would also suggest that you aim higher than you would be satisfied with.

6. Don’t quit

When you are absolutely determined to achieve your goals and decide that you will not give up or give in, you eliminate one of the greatest roadblocks to success. Never quitting, choosing to have faith, maintaining a positive attitude every day regardless of your circumstance, monitoring your selftalk, and setting clear and realistic goals for the last quarter of the year is a potent and powerful recipe for success.

7. Refuse to listen to the doubts or the negative opinions of others

You may need some help along the way, but this quarter make up your mind that you’re going to reach your goals — and hold yourself personally accountable. We do our best when we take control of our circumstances. Finish the year by having a serious talk with yourself; make the clear, conscious choice to take full and complete responsibility for setting your goals and doing what it takes to consistently achieve them.

Do not waste mental energy on things that could stop you achieving your goals and desires. Make it a conscious choice this quarter to ignore the negative opinions or the doubts of others. The media is full of negative sentiment right now. So what if unemployment rises to six per cent.

That means that 94 per cent of the workforce is gainfully employed. People will complain about a weak Aussie dollar and complain when it is strong. There is a lot of negative sentiment around at the moment. Much of it is feeding on itself. Refuse to buy into it.

3. Manage your self-talk

8. Have written goals

Your internal programming and dialogue will have a large bearing on whether you will succeed or fail. Avoid repeating negative programming that is working against you or holding you back. Your future is built on the foundation of your thoughts. Your thoughts are a result of the way that you talk to yourself.

A goal that is not written down is a wish. Time and again studies have proven that the mere act of committing your goals to paper and setting a time frame for their completion will give you a head start to achieving them. You can multiply this effect exponentially by making a conscious effort to read them several times on a daily basis. The more you tune into your goals, the greater the chance of having the goalseeking mechanism of your brain assist you to bring them into fruition.

2. Take responsibility

4. Choose an attitude of success Avoid focusing on what has happened up until now. The past is gone and is not an accurate prediction of the future.

For the rest of this year, decide that you will choose your attitude and stay in the present moment (it is always a choice). It may take diligence and practice, but that one choice alone could be the most important decision you’ll make all year.

5. Have faith Having faith in the future means believing that you will achieve what you set out to do. Believing in yourself and believing that the goals that you set for yourself are achievable is particularly important if you’re unsure about the outcome.

When you make the decision to trust the universe and have faith, you put powerful and positive forces of mind and spirit on your side which will conspire to assist you to achieve your year-end goal(s).

“Avoid repeating negative programming that is working against you or holding you back.”

9. Take time for you It’s important that you take some time for thinking and recreation along the way. Successful people play and work hard. You’ll work better this quarter and enjoy the journey more if you take some time for yourself to relax, think, spend quality time with your family or do some things that you enjoy.

10. Let stuff go To give yourself the best chance of having a super quarter, it’s important to have a restful night’s sleep. If you have problems and concerns going around in your head as you go to bed, let them go. Try closing your eyes and repeating, ‘I consign all my problems to the universe’. You will be surprised when you wake up how different you will feel about those issues and will be ready to take on the day!

If you would like to receive Phil’s regular 60-Second Sales Booster email, send your email address to plee@sandler.com.

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EXPERTS CARREN SMITH

MARKETING AUTHENTICALLY TO NICHES “We’ve all been seduced by the shady salesman, but over time, we discover that these relationships were not built on trust.”

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I

n business, as in life, one can only claim to be making a true connection if it is done authentically — If you have a genuine bond based on a foundation of trust and understanding with your client, partner or friend and you have a solid framework for that relationship to blossom. In our personal lives, this leaves us with lifelong friends and passionate partners, but in business, the reward is loyal customers, respect from our peers and financial success.

The importance of authenticity in business is never more important than when you are talking to a niche market.

This is a focused, targetable portion of the market to whom you are addressing a need for a product or service that mainstream providers may not. There are many benefits to niche marketing. An attentive and concentrated market is often prepared to pay a premium for more specialised goods or services. Specialist brands are succeeding by building their authority over narrow areas of expertise and exposing themselves to a passionate audience. Fed up with a onesize-fits-all approach, the rewards are plentiful when you can capture the heart of your niche.

To do that, you must act authentically. There’s a very good time and place for ‘fake it ’til you make it’, but with reputations and potentially a lot of money at stake, could you risk presenting anything but the truth and facts to your client? We’ve all been seduced by the shady salesman with the archetypical greased-back hair, designer suit and sharklike smile. Over time, we discover that these relationships are not built on a foundation of trust, authenticity and personal congruence.

So what to do when it’s your business, your reputation and most importantly your money on the line? How do you want your customers to perceive you?

To achieve authenticity, you need to shed the mask and shed the layers in order to make a true connection with your client. Successful business is built on relationships and making an authentic and honest connection with your niche will time after time make you known as an authority in your field.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, your job is to connect with your niche and we can only get that connection when we are authentic — this is true both in personal relationships as well as professional. You’re going to need to get real, get raw and get N.A.K.E.D, figuratively speaking! Through this acronym you can find your own unique gift and flavour to bring potency to your message, your journey and your experiences.

N — Niche, know it!

In order to stand out in your industry, you need to know your niche. If you don’t know your niche, you don’t know who you’re talking to. What are their buying habits, their hobbies, their likes and dislikes? To succeed, you need to identify the unique needs of your potential audience, and look for ways to tailor your product or service to meet them.

A — Authentic, be it!

Don’t just pretend to understand what your clients want, understand why. Being genuine and real with your clients will see you win time and time again.

K — Konnected, work it!

Working with your niche is the best way to connect with them. To stand out from the crowd, get really connected with your niche on such a great level that trust is created and you are being really real. You really do see them. It’s imperative for you to speak their language and approach them as an understanding member of that group, not an outsider.

E — Expression, share it!

When sharing your message, don’t hold back what you think. The biggest key to authenticity is speaking our truth. To make your relationships stronger and more congruent, share what’s inside outside. We often keep things to ourselves in the belief we are protecting others’ feelings. But most often it’s the fake stuff that’s hurtful, leaving others in a place where they don’t know where they stand.

D — Direction, have it!

For direction in life and direction in your business, you need to have clarity on how to take that next step forward. The use of a business coach or mentor is often that wall you need to bounce ideas off and to steer you back on track if you’re off pitch. We know a lot about what we have researched, but there are always things we know we don’t know.

So now you’re naked, how do you feel? Exposed?

Vulnerable? Perfect! You’re now ready to reposition yourself as the authority in your field and make an authentic connection with your niche. Being authentic, just like being naked, can sometimes be a little scary. But you’ve just made the first step on your journey to brilliance!

EXPERTS BRIAN WALKER

RETAIL DESIGN THAT WOWS

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n the past year, I have walked through shopping malls across Australia, China, Singapore, Europe and the UK. I have witnessed astounding differences in the standard of retailing across the world. This has inspired me to make a few comments about key retail design principles that really impact on the customer’s mind and in turn lead to higher sales and profits.

There are many examples of powerful design in a retail store where innovative design, format, statement, power merchandising and clear and compelling messaging are combined with a unique and consistently delivered sales and service impact. Where all these elements of powerful retail design combine, we get the wow factor. No one element alone has this effect, rather it’s the symmetry that’s achieved when it all comes together.

It’s the journey from the initial high visual impact in the windows, the effortless movement through the shop, product and staff presentation and the moment of truth at the counter. ‘Fit’ retailers all deliver this wow factor and underpin this with some retail design elements that remain consistently relevant and timeless.

I think there are five elements that really make a difference.

1. External signage External signage and your shopfront are the face of your business and should attract customers in different ways at different distances. At 50 metres, the main signage should be a brand beacon, creating a large-impact, recognisable statement. At 20 metres, the shopfront should have a secondary brand statement and reinforce one key offer or by-line. As the customer approaches to within five or ten metres, there needs to be a direct call to action that makes three to five key sales messages/offers. There should also be key invitation/attraction devices to pull customers into the threshold of the store. Of course, the brand and product itself needs to be the main focus with props and signage being utilised to make the product look its best at all times.

2. Store layout Ensure your store traffic flow is maximised for profitability.

The store layout (and for that matter the basic principles of retailing) is about getting your customer to interact with the stock in the most effective way and then make a purchase. If your customer cannot get within one metre of the stock, on their natural path, the stock will not sell.

Understanding your flow of traffic can be very profitable so watch where your customers walk and position your most profitable products in the hot spots of the store.

Destination products that draw customers into the store should be towards the rear of the store and impulse items by the counter.

3. Internal category management Understanding the decision factors when a consumer buys a product is a vital element with category management. Once you understand a customer’s buying criteria, designing the internal category management becomes a matter of reflecting the natural selection process. This simplifies the product selection process, increases customer satisfaction, decreases purchase time and solidifies the retailer as a product leader in the customer’s mind.

“Investing in a strong design strategy is essential to lifting sales and profits.”

4. Internal ambience lighting levels The use of internal colours and graphics creates the personality of your store environment. Designing this personality to create an alliance with your brand is vital to the success of any retail business. Once the personality has been devised, the ‘tone of voice’ that the environment, graphics and messaging ‘talks’ to the consumer can also be developed. The overall effect is a store that can link directly to the overall marketing strategies of a business to create a strong uniform message to the customer.

5. Experiential retailing It is no longer enough to rely purely on the sense of sight.

Our partners at e2 Experiential Environments promote the creation of an environment that invigorates all five senses and creates an experience that will create an ongoing relationship between your customers and your brand. A great example of this is Abercrombie & Fitch in the US, which embraces this concept to create an environment like a nightclub that resonates with its target audience and matches its young, funky and sexy brand image. It achieves this by using loud dance music and low lighting, and its signature fragrance, Fierce, is spritzed regularly throughout the store.

Our research tells us that store design and layout can make a difference of +/- 40 per cent to a retail business.

Investing in a strong merchandising and design strategy is essential to lifting sales and profits.

Brian Walker is Managing Director of Australasia’s leading retail consultancy, the Retail Doctor Group.

For more on the Retail Doctor Group’s business fitness programs, email businessfitness@ retaildoctor.com.au 67

EXPERTS TERENCE JEYARETNAM

LIMITS TO GROWTH “No matter what new oil fields we discover, global oil production will start declining in 2030 at the very latest.”

D

id you know that the modern notion of a census commenced in 1801, due to a debate about the size of the population in Britain and whether its continued growth would lend itself to poverty?

It was fuelled by a now famous book An Essay on the Principle of Population by Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus. Malthus thought that the dangers of population growth would preclude endless progress towards a utopian society: “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.”

Some 174 years later, and based on the same notion, came Limits to Growth by The Club of Rome in 1972.

Twelve million copies were distributed in 37 languages.

Most scenarios resulted in an ongoing growth of population and of the economy until a turning point at around 2030.

Only drastic measures for environmental protection proved to be suitable to change this system’s behaviour and only under these circumstances, scenarios could be calculated in which both world population and wealth could remain at a constant level.

So, is there a limit to growth? If so, what are the implications, the risks and the opportunities? And how, through all of this, do we leave a better planet for future generations?

Resource peaks and price shocks

Terence Jeyaretnam is a Director of Net Balance (terence@netbalance.com), one of the world’s leading sustainability advisory firms.

Terence is based in Melbourne.

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Based on known data, we are getting a sense of the peaks forming in global reserves. Take oil as an example. A 2009 report by the UK Energy Research Centre concluded that the debate over exactly when we will reach ‘peak oil’ is irrelevant - that no matter what new oil fields we discover, global oil production will start declining in 2030 at the very latest. The report, which reviewed over 500 research studies, suggests that global oil production could peak any time from right now to as late as 2030.

The ‘peak phosphorus’ debate is also on, and is much more acute. The peak phosphorus ‘Hubbert’ curve suggests global reserves peaking at around 2030. A key difference between peak oil and peak phosphorus, is that oil can be replaced with other forms of energy whereas there is no known substitute for phosphorus in food production and, without phosphorus, we cannot produce food.

Peak food is also on the agenda. The clearest fact that we will soon be experiencing a food crisis is that over the past decade the amount of grain left over at the beginning of the next harvest has continually been decreasing.

Furthermore, marine species loss is accelerating and threatening human well-being, according to a report

published in the journal Science. And if the long-term trend continues, all fish and seafood species are projected to collapse by 2048. Several areas globally have already been declared protected, with bans on fishing.

Response of a new generation Some of the above causes have been instrumental in recent riots in countries such as Egypt, Libya and London. The London riot is being described as a riot of consumption by a generation that has been most deluged by market growth advertising — ingraining concepts such as more, latest, coolest, slickest, must-haves, updating, downloading and what’s ‘in’.

On the one hand, we are seeing commodity price shocks result in chaos, and on the other hand, we are seeing an increasing divide between what people are ‘expected to have’ versus what people are ‘able to afford’ — how does one feel about not being able to afford an iPad, for example.

One of the narrow segments of society with its ear to the beat of the new generation is pop culture.

Interestingly, two of my favourite modern-day artists highlight the change in sentiment within pop culture over the past few years. Bruno Mars in ‘I wanna be a billionaire’ sings about buying all the things he never had, whereas the more recent Jessie J song Price Tag turns the notion on its head with the lyrics “Why is everybody so obsessed? Money can’t buy us happiness. Can we all slow down and enjoy right now? Guarantee we’ll be feelin’ alright!”

Business in a slowing world Relative to the past two decades, the next one to two decades would be around learning to work within a deleveraging, low-growth economy, both globally and locally.

Availability of credit, sovereign debt, increasing costs of resources, increasing labour costs in developing economies, increasing environmental management costs and increasing costs of climate change will all contribute to this. Traditional forms of business will only experience organic growth. Some sectors that have grown obese in a slowing market will go backwards. But others will grow at a faster rate.

So, if you’re in business for the next two to three decades, think about some of these mega trends, and during those slow periods, use the time productively to innovate within an unfolding paradigm change around resource limitations.

Think about opportunities in efficiency gains, technology, re-use, social enterprises and environmental growth markets and how these may help your business streak ahead.

EXPERTS IVAN MISNER

SCHOOL’S IN FOR NETWORKS

D

uring the “back to school” season, I often recall the first day of the first class I took as I pursued my Ph.D. at the University of Southern California.

The professor spent the first part of the class talking about the “elite network” of peers we were going to be working alongside for the next few years, and how we would make relationships that would last the rest of our lives.

And I bought in to what he was saying … hook, line, and sinker.

As it turns out, I worked on my doctorate in some pretty impressive company. One classmate became the Deputy Director of the US Federal Aviation Administration, another became Director of Library Services for all of Los Angeles County. I even attended classes with the Captain of the Palace Guard for Saddam Hussein!

The sad news is, though, that I’ve never actually passed a referral to – or received one from – any of these high level classmates. That’s right. Even though I founded, while working on my doctorate no less, what turned out to be the world’s largest networking organisation, I never did utilise much of the “elite network” I was told I would have for a lifetime.

Why is that? Because even though the degree program certainly delivered the opportunity to meet valuable contacts, it never taught me the skills needed to utilise them.

After graduation, we quickly spread out to realise the fruits of our labor, and outside of the classroom, we had no real context in which to keep in touch.

Telling us that we had a great network, but not giving us the tools on now to capitalise on that network, was like telling someone there is a car out there but not giving us any idea of how to drive it!

In all fairness to my particular program, when I was an entrepreneur getting my graduate degree it was in the early and mid 80s, and there were not the same tools – particularly social networking and other online services – readily available to keep in touch. Today, however, there are a multitude of options to help you maintain the relationships you make while pursuing a university degree.

1. Take advantage of your school’s Alumni Services department Interestingly, colleges and universities have only recently realised this same thing: In order increase and maintain alumni engagement long after graduation, it is vital to establish the connection with the alumni before they leave and spread out all over the country and around the world.

They are doing this by creating networking “affinity” groups

and other opportunities to get involved. These efforts help students sustain their relationships with each other and – through this – sustain their connections with their universities.

By remaining active with your alumni organisation, you may also have the opportunity to share news about your business that may catch the eye of your fellow graduates. Because I kept my schools updated with what I was doing in business, I was given a full feature article in one undergraduate university I attended, and two features in another!

2. Technical tools do much of the work for you With the constant moving around that everyone does today, people are making more contacts than ever…and it’s impossible to keep track of every valuable contact without the use of technical tools. For this reason, it’s vital to set up – and maintain – a database of the people you come in contact with.

Don’t forget the amazing capabilities of smart phones to help you store important contact information. For example, there’s a new mobile app available for iPhone and Android phones called Go2Tag (www.go2tag.com). This app literally allows you to create and apply customised “tags” your contacts, so you can remember who came from where, whether from: university classmates, those you met at a particular chamber or other networking group, contacts you meet at trade shows … even those you make through church, civic groups, or your kids’ school or sports activities.

3. Online business and social networks Facebook was started at Harvard University, and now it’s morphed into an international network of people, from students to parents, from entrepreneurs to brands, from friends to families, and more. I hear stories all the time about how adults have re-connected with classmates they haven’t seen in years. LinkedIn is the largest “business-only” social network, and you will likely find many of your former classmates on there.

As you can see, there are many tools available today for maintaining contact with former classmates; you decide which work best for you. The main thing is to maintain touch points with these potentially wonderful business contacts.

You can’t just pick up the phone and ask for a favor out of the blue 10, 15, or 20 years later!.

“There are a multitude of options to help you maintain the relationships you make while pursuing a university degree.”

Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI www.bni.com, the world’s largest business networking organisation.

His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com.

Dr. Misner is also the Senior Partner of the Referral Institute www.referralinstitute.com, an international referral training company.

EXPERTS DONNA STONE

OBJECTION HANDLING THAT WORKS

“Pullquote”

Donna Stone is the founder of the multi award winning Consulting & Bookkeeping business Stone Consulting.

She is also the author of Stepping Stones to Business Success – a book of over 200 tips on how to succeed in business, borne of over 25 years experience working with businesses. Learn more at www.stoneconsulting.com. au or www.donna-stone. com.au.

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ho in business thinks they’re not in sales?

Most of us also wear the hat of salesperson.

Some business owners don’t feel comfortable handling objections; please don’t just quit the sale at the first objection. Some people just want you to appease their doubts, because ultimately they want to buy. In other words, work for it a little. Here are some practical tips: 1. Close your mouth and listen — Hear the person out the whole way and avoid jumping in prematurely to dispel their concerns. Listening will give you a clear understanding of their objection.

2. Where appropriate, ask relevant questions — Not only is this showing interest in their concerns and showing respect, but it may also give you some assistance with addressing those concerns.

3. Accept the person has the right to object, and leave the door open. — And remember that ‘no’ does not necessarily mean ‘no forever’, it just means ‘no for now’.

Do not be argumentative or hostile, otherwise you may burn future bridges. And change your mindset. Think of objections more like a request for more information.

4. Ask for more objections; called ‘tipping the bucket’ — Sometimes it’s worthwhile asking them if there are any other reasons they’re not yet ready to buy and if they have anything else on their mind. If the person expresses all their objections and you suitably address these, then they can proceed.

5. Understand what the types of objections are — Firstly, you have need (I don’t need one of those now), or price (it’s expensive, or your competitors are cheaper), features (you don’t have it in green), time (I don’t have time to think about this now) and source (how do I know your company will be around in three years to service it?).

6. Pre-think how to address objections — With each of the above, think about every possible objection and how you can handle it. Even in your spiel, covering common objections before they are raised is valuable.

7. Using the ‘boomerang’ method — Turn an object around by using what they have said to reinforce your sale.

For example, ‘Yes, these tyres are more expensive, but isn’t the safety of your family worth it?’

8. Pointing out the big picture — If someone is buying

a commitment from the person that if you solve the problem first, they will move forward.

10. Express curiosity if someone objects — You might even acknowledge that the sale won’t go ahead, but don’t you think you can learn from feedback? “I know you don’t want to proceed, but before you go, could you just let me know, what was your reason?” Ask this in a totally nonthreatening way — most people don’t mind helping you out if you’ve been nice. And remember to thank them for their feedback and let them know that you really value it.

11. Semi Deflection — Saying you will come back to an issue later, and not doing so, I don’t believe is right. It’s the same thing as when someone asks for a price. You might not want to give this out up front in your first sentence, but please, always return to the question or objection later, once you have built a rapport with the person.

12. Sharing others’ objections — Often it works well to empathise with someone. ‘I understand how you feel; I felt the same way when … ” Acknowledge that you or others had similar concerns initially, but after experiencing/viewing/ listening to the spiel, changed their view — even provide testimonials from them.

a car, and it’s got a scratch, focus on how great the deal is and all the benefits they are getting — the issue of the scratch then becomes insignificant.

9. Conditional close — You may make a sale a condition of your resolving their objection. ‘So, if we can figure out the finance for you, will you choose this one?’ You are eliciting

excellent’. You’re giving the buyer logical reasons to buy.

Handling objections can be challenging at times, but remember: it’s not personal. They are not rejecting you personally. Remember, too, that people buy from people they like, trust and respect, so also work on these aspects — it will reduce the number of objections.

Be fun Let’s keep going with the list now: 13. Use Humour — Sometimes, injecting a little humour into the conversation might work — ‘This car will be sad to see you go home without it’ or ‘Gosh, I’ve lost my touch’ — but always deliver humour with a smile. Don’t allow it to sound sarcastic.

14. Apologise — If someone is objecting to something you know is not a valid reason, you might apologise — something along the lines of ‘I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve explained the benefits very well’ — and then proceed to re-word what you’ve already said. Perhaps, if the truth be known, you might not have explained it the best the first time round.

15. Justification — People buy with passion, but often justify with logic. So bring logic to the table, with statements like ‘Yes, we are a little more expensive, but with the product you also get a three-year warranty and VIP membership to our customer service program, and the re-sale value is

EXPERTS SUE HIRST

OPTIMISE PERFORMANCE IN A SERVICE BUSINESS

S

ervice-based business can be the most difficult in which to measure profitability. All kinds of issues can impact on the difference between what is charged to a client and the cost of delivering the service.

The most challenging types of services are those engagements that are ‘fixed quote’, involving a ‘scope’ of services. Examples of such services providers are accountants, solicitors, surveyors, allied health professionals, architects, town planners, engineers, IT consultants, Web designers and graphic artists.

How do these types of businesses quantify performance levels? When they say their performance has been good or bad, what’s that relative to? Last year’s performance plus a fudge factor? The owner’s required level of drawings? Some other arbitrary number?

The best way to ensure profit in a service business is to apply the 3x model. Put simply, the 3x model is: Revenue earned from charging staff time should be equal or greater than three times the salaries paid.

For example: A firm pays salaries to its staff of $450,000.

Revenue earned for services provided by staff should be at least $1.35m (which is $450,000 x 3). This could be considered as the revenue ‘target’ or budget for the firm.

Here’s an example: Industry: IT consultancy (IT network services) Salary: $60,000 pa (excluding superannuation) Chargeable rate : = $120 per hour

Hours at work pa: 52 weeks less 4 (annual leave)

less 2 (public holidays) less 1 (personal leave)

x 40 hours per week = 1,800 Productivity: 80% (meaning 20% of time at work is spent on tasks that are non billable) The revenue equation is therefore: Expected revenue from staff = 1,800 x 120 x 80% = $172,800 Our 3x model suggests revenue should be 3 times salary, which equals $60,000 x 3 = $180,000 For a detailed view of how your business income statement should look, go to http://mybusiness.com.au/experts/cfoncall-table Conduct these performance measurements using the 3x model and an ‘isolationist’ approach. That is, for each period

work done during the specific period is not all billed in that period. What is left is known as ‘work in progress’ (WIP).

In a service business, WIP is the billable hours worked up to a point in time which have not been billed. It is an asset of the business and should be shown in the balance sheet. The movement in the value of WIP from one period to the next is accounted for on the Income Statement.

The ‘ageing’ of WIP should be under constant review.

A client is unlikely to pay for work that was completed 12 months ago. Businesses who assess their performance during a period, without understanding and accounting for WIP, are often confused at the volatility of their performance.

When looking at the results of the 3x model, the following questions should be asked: • What was the revenue multiple (to salaries) for the firm as a whole?

• Which staff were above and below the firm’s score?

• What were the reasons for differences between individuals (productivity, write-offs/downs, quotation over-runs etc.)?

• What was the overheads multiple? What was the three-month average of the overheads multiple? Which overheads were higher than expected?

• What WIP is older than three months and why hasn’t it been invoiced prior?

Examples of reasons for lack of performance include: • Quoting inadequacies; • Not enough thought given to quotations re the actual work required to deliver; • Lack of understanding between quote givers and service deliverers; • Projects not ‘de-briefed’ sufficiently. Not enough ‘afterthe-fact analysis’ of what transpired relative to what was expected; • Client’s expectations from scope different to service providers.

Write offs/downs • Billable tasks written off/down due to perceived lack of value provided; • Low-time tasks written off due to perceived lack of value (e.g. administrative work).

Productivity

being measured (month, quarter etc.), the performance measurements should be ‘isolated’ to work completed during that period only. The major benefit in this isolationist approach is that useful comparisons and analysis becomes possible and very useful (apples to apples).

This sounds simple enough and it is, except when the

• Staff billable hours less than peers. Often due to systemic issues such as lack of defined job description; • Expectations not clearly communicated.

Systems to handle management of the above may seem expensive but probably cost a lot less than the extra profit from improved productivity.

“Revenue earned from charging staff time should be equal or greater than three times the salaries paid.”

CFO On-Call regularly runs Webinars/events on business improvement strategies.

Visit the Website at www.

CFOonCall.com.au/events/ webinars.html to register.

Or you can call on 1300 362 436 to chat with an advisor.

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Did you know that small businesses comprise more than 95% of all businesses in Australia?

Our Vision: Prosperity for Australia through Successful SMEs The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the launch of the SME Association of Australia at the My Biz Expo 2011 in Sydney on 6 -7 Oct 2011, and the appointment of Dr Caroline Hong as its first CEO.

Who we are:

Why Join:

The SME Association of Australia is a membership based not-for profit association to support and equip small and medium sized enterprises for success and economic growth.

We exist to provide membership services to help small and medium sized enterprises, businesses and industries to connect, grow and prosper through a business friendly platform.

The peak body and leading voice for small and medium sized enterprises, businesses and industries in Australia.

• Networking and business opportunities • SME MY Biz Expo and conference • SME My Business Magazine • SME My business Awards • Education seminars • SME Events • Online resources • International linkages • SME suppliers directory • News and Media • Y – SME • And more …

For small and medium enterprise businesses, sole traders, corporate companies, universities, government, community, business schools, colleges & universities, international trade organisations, associations, NFPs, charities, students and seniors in business.

Sponsorship and corporate partnerships are welcome.

Connect • Grow • Prosper www.smeaustralia.asn.au How to Join Now: Special rates if you join now.

You become a Foundation Member and part of our historical celebration.

Online application and payment – go to www.smeaustralia.asn.au Download an application form from the website if you wish to pay by cheque.

How to Contact us: Dr Caroline Hong, CEO Ms Genevieve Aboud, Account Director Email: info@smeaustralia.asn.au Website: www.smeaustralia.asn.au Ph: + (61- 2) 99294146 Office street address: Level 12, 99 Walker Street, North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia

Google AdWords can help you do better business online.

If your small business has a website*, Google AdWords is a powerful way to attract new customers searching online for what you offer.

Now, with free campaign set-up, phone support for new advertisers and a no-obligation $75 advertising trial, it’s a great time to find out how your business can benefit from AdWords.

It’s affordable. You’re in control. It’s easy to get started and we’re here to help.

$

75

g in free advertisin is offer But hurr y, th ber 2011. ends 15 Novem

Call 1800 050 162 and quote ‘MY BUSINESS’ to get started.

Look for the coupon on the cover of this month’s magazine and call us to get started. Our AdWords experts will help set up your first campaign, answer your questions and get you going.

Hurry, this free offer expires 15 November 2011.

Call us and accelerate your business today.

*Don’t have a website? Get one in 15 minutes at GettingBusinessOnline.com.au.

Terms and Conditions- Promotional credit must be applied to a new AdWords account within 15 days of creating the AdWords account and is valid only for new Google AdWords customers with self-managed signup accounts.

Advertisers will be charged for all advertising that exceeds the promotional credit. Advertisers can suspend their ads anytime before the promotional credit amount is exhausted if they do not wish to receive additional advertising charges. Advertisers will not be notified once the promotional credit is exhausted. Offer subject to ad approval, valid registration, and acceptance of the Google AdWords Program standard terms and conditions. If you indicate that your Google AdWords account should be subject to a different currency to the one in which your promotional credit has been awarded, then the actual amount of the promotional credit may be subject to foreign currency fluctuations. Offer subject to ad approval, valid registration, and acceptance of the Google AdWords Program standard terms and conditions. The promotional credit is non-transferable and may not be sold or bartered. Offer may be revoked at any time for any reason by Google Inc. One promotional credit per customer. Offer valid only for sign ups through the URL provided for the promotion by customers with a billing address in Australia. Your use of this voucher and/or the promotional credit constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions. Offer void where prohibited by law. Expires 15 November 2011. © Copyright 2011. Google and AdWords are trademarks of Google Inc. and are registered in the U.S. and other countries.