New financial complaints authority a landmark initiative

• Published on September 14, 2017
• Kate Carnell  - Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman

I welcome today's announcement by the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O'Dwyer, regarding plans for a new one-stop shop dispute resolution scheme, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). The initiative addresses a key recommendation from ASBFEO’s Small Business Loans Inquiry and will significantly improve access to justice, especially for capital-intensive enterprises.


AFCA will consolidate the existing Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), the Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO) and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT).


A small business will be able to seek resolution of a dispute where the credit facility is up to $5 million and potentially receive compensation up to $1 million. The FOS is currently limited to considering disputes of not more than $500,000 arising from a credit facility no higher than $2 million, which excludes many small businesses.


Small businesses do not have the money or time to challenge banks through the court system and there is a significant power imbalance between banks and small businesses. Small businesses do not have the financial capacity to hire expert legal advice to help them overcome this disadvantage.
The new one-stop-shop will be able to make binding determinations.


The higher compensation cap should also incentivise banks to resolve disputes through internal processes before progressing to the AFCA. The Government’s proposed model will provide a genuine alternate dispute resolution option in a forum where the needs of small business are understood. It will save time and money by significantly reducing the need for litigation.
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I also welcomed the proposed transitional arrangements and the Government’s commitment to consult on AFCA’s terms of reference.

By Bob Ciura


Another year, another dividend increase for tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PM). On September 13th, it raised its quarterly dividend by 2.9%.


With the raise, PM has now increased its dividend 10 years in a row, each year since the spin-off from Altria Group (MO). This makes PM the newest member of the Dividend Achievers list, a group of stocks with 10+ consecutive dividend increases. You can see the entire list of all 265 Dividend Achievers here.


This is a difficult time for PM, due to declining smoking rates and toughening regulations. And yet, the company continues to raise its dividend each year. PM’s consistent dividend growth is the result of a very strong business model. It has a long history of steady growth, and dividends.
With a 100+ year operating history and a 3%+ dividend yield, PM fits Sure Dividend's definition of a blue-chip stock. You can see our entire list of nearly 70 blue chip stocks here.


This article will discuss PM’s recent dividend increase, and why it remains an attractive stock for dividend growth investors.


Business Overview


PM is a global tobacco company. It sells its products in more than 180 markets, outside the U.S., where Altria reigns. PM has six of the world's top international 15 brands, including the No. 1 global brand Marlboro.
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PM’s financial performance has been negatively impacted by the strong U.S. dollar, which wiped away $1.3 billion of revenue in 2016 alone, but the core business continues to perform well. Organic revenue, excluding excise taxes, increased 4.4% in 2016. Adjusted earnings-per-share increased 12% for the year.

In any business, there is usually one person who outsells everyone else. You wish that all your sales staff were as good as this person. Often this person is you, the owner, but it doesn’t matter how much training you give the sales staff, or even if you increase incentives, little seems to change. What you have stumbled across is the best known sales secret in business.

On average, most sales people are average.

So what’s to be done?
You could try and find more sales superstars and try and hire them away from a business that knows what they will lose if they leave, so they won’t come cheap, or you could try a different approach.


The best sales people use a sales pipeline. They prepare, they take buyers through their own defined sales process step by step, close and then follow up. This may not have been written down anywhere, but over time, they have honed their process so that it produces excellent results throughout the year.

This is not just about greeting the buyer, or how they close the sale, but all the steps between. Often it’s the little things. Is the appointment confirmation just a rushed off note with date, time and location, or does it also contain information that will heighten anticipation of the meeting?

Is the quote just a whole lot of numbers and list of features, or does it contain information on how the solution will address the problems the buyer is trying to solve, along with results similar buyers have achieved?

What is being described is a sales pipeline. The requires the dissecting of the current sales process and identifying the best way to move a buyer through each stage of the pipeline and achieving the sale, using the best practice experience for your business.

Each step of the sales pipeline, once defined can be tested and refined to improve the outcome. It becomes the way all sales people are trained in the business, and makes it easier to compare results. If results aren’t achieved, what part of the pipeline isn’t being followed? Training thus is focused on the weaknesses of the sales person rather on things already mastered.

With an excellent pipeline, even average sales people can produce excellent results.

​http://www.australiansmallbusiness.net.au/

There is a massive problem in Australia with illicit tobacco. 

The national retail and wholesale committee that is committed to trying to limit this illegal activity and we need your help as individuals by helping sign a petition that requires the government to help us in this cause.
 
A petition was submitted to Parliament on behalf of Australian retailers against illegal tobacco a few weeks ago.
 
The petition highlights the serious impact of illegal tobacco on retailers and calls on the government to:

1. Establish a National Anti-Illegal Tobacco Strategy to:

a. Coordinate cross departmental activity;
b. Ensure enforcement of current laws;
c. Prosecute offenders to ensure penalties relevant to the crime; and
d. Guarantee continuity of the effective Australian Border Force Tobacco Strike Team.

1. Progress legislative reform announced in the 2016-17 Budget

 
The petition is now live and we request that you act. The steps are very simple and laid out below:

1. Click here to go to the Parliament petitions list
2. In the search box type EN0285
3. Click sign
4. Complete your name and email address in the form
5. Click sign

 
The petition will close on 6 September 2017.  It only takes a minute to do, so would appreciate your help in trying to make our industry better and more profitable.