It is becoming increasingly accepted that customer experience is everyone’s responsibility in a business. A customer may value the quality of products or services, but ultimately it is the customer experience that will keep them coming back. Every touch point a customer has with your business contributes to their experience and so it is important that every team member provides a consistently positive experience. 
A customer who has a positive experience with a business not only becomes a returning customer, but also becomes an unofficial ambassador for your company. Word of mouth can be an incredibly powerful advertising tool and costs you nothing.
What does a good customer experience look like? A significant part of the customer experience is managing customer expectations. Expectations of customers and clients vary across industries and target markets. Balance these expectations with your company’s goals and values, and your business will be able to build an effective customer base. A business that listens to its customers will be able to constantly adapt to meet their expectations while staying true to their values.
This article offers some tips on how to make sure your team is consistently providing a great customer experience at all times.
Build a Team That Embodies Your Company Values
If customer experience is important to your business, your company values should reflect this. Your hiring strategy should be to find team members who will uphold your values in their various roles. 
Remember that every interaction your customer has with your business impacts on their customer experience. This means that everybody who has a customer-facing role needs to provide a great service. Customer service is not only the responsibility of a dedicated customer support team. One negative interaction or touchpoint with a customer can ruin their whole experience of your business, so it is important that your team members are consistent across the company.
Manage Expectations (With Some Flexibility)
A good way to make sure your team is providing a consistently good experience is to set guidelines or expectations for their interactions with clients. This could be as specific and structured as setting clear response times to any customer correspondence. 

For example, all emails must be responded to within three hours or within 24 hours. 

Expectations could also be around what you tell a customer in each interaction. Customers always value clear communication. A helpful rule could be to make sure all your team members end any communication by telling the customer the next steps. This:

reassures the customer; and
makes it clear what they are expected to do next or what they can expect from your business.

When choosing how you want your employees to interact with customers, you should only put in place guidelines that are going to help improve the experience. Rules for the sake of rules or expectations that are too onerous for your employees may diminish the impact you are trying to achieve. If your structures and process are truly serving to enhance customer experience, your employees will be able to use this to their advantage, and ultimately provide a great customer experience.
Collect Feedback From Customers
Every company should always be looking for ways to improve your product or processes. It is not enough to only source ideas internally. The most valuable suggestions will come from the people using your products or services. For this reason, you should make it as easy as possible for your customers to provide you with feedback. This may be through a formal feedback form or through your interactions.
All your customer-facing teams and team members should be ready to listen to feedback from a client. The customer should feel heard and reassured that their feedback will be passed on. 
To help your team, set up a system to capture feedback team members receive from customers. It is important that this information is stored somewhere. Relevant information you may want to record could include:

who provided the feedback;
what aspect of your product the feedback relates to;
in what context the feedback was provided; and
how significant the comment or suggestion was in relation to your overall product.

As you collect this information, you will be able to see patterns in feedback from customers and make changes to your product accordingly. 
A lot of businesses use a formal survey process like a Net Promoter Score to understand their customers’ satisfaction. An email asking a customer how likely they are to recommend your business based on an initial purchase or a customer support interaction is a great way to find out how you did. There are various ways to measure customer satisfaction, so choose one which will give you the most useful information.
Take Action Feedback From Customers
Once you start collecting feedback, you need to do something about it. Put in place a process for acknowledging positive reviews and complaints as well as sharing these with the team.
When a customer offers constructive feedback or makes a complaint, it is important to acknowledge their comment. As much as possible, try to call your customer and speak with them personally. If they have been unhappy with your product or service, discuss with them and find a way to make it up to them. If they have offered a suggestion to improve your product, find out more and make sure the comments find their way to the right team. Regardless of the nature of the conversation, make sure the customer feels that they have been heard and that action will be taken.
Just as it is important to make amends with unhappy customers, it is good to acknowledge positive feedback from satisfied customers. Some businesses send a thank you note or a small gift to thank customers for working with them and taking the time to provide feedback. This is a simple yet effective way to add a personal touch and keep the relationship going.
Make sure the feedback is shared with your customer-facing teams. Do regular analysis to identify recurring themes and understand what your customers value. This ensures that your team is focussing on the right areas in their customer interactions. When the team understands what their customers respond well to, they will know how they can improve.
Provide Ongoing Training and Support
Even if you have hired the right people, set guidelines and created an effective feedback loop, you still need to support your team members. 
Organise regular training sessions focussing on specific customer service skills like communication, tone and rapport-building. Even if team members are not learning new skills, it reflects the importance to the company and keeps customer experience front of mind.
If you have identified an area where your team is lacking, give your team tools to improve. The more you communicate with your team, the more you will be able to work out whether certain members would benefit from specific training. 
It is important to have a leader responsible for customer experience who is able to provide feedback and support to team members. Your employees should also know who to approach when they have situations they are not sure how to handle correctly.
Key Takeaways
Your business needs customers to survive. Invest your resources into providing a great customer experience and your returning customer base will grow and thrive. It is important that you:

establish early on how you want to provide any customer service; and
take care to make sure your employees are on board and upholding this approach.

As your business grows and you learn more about your customers, be willing to listen and adapt. A great customer experience involves a business being in tune with their customers’ needs and expectations. This is what keeps a customer coming back. 
If you need help with legal matters associated with your business, LegalVision’s experienced commercial lawyers can assist. Call 1300 544 755 or complete the form on this page.

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The nomination stage of the subclass 407 training visa requires you to submit a detailed and structured training plan that provides details about:

the nominee and position;
the purpose of the training; and
how you will implement the training.

Each subclass 407 visa training plan will be different and specifically tailored to the individual’s training needs, the needs of the business and the relevant occupation. In particular, it must be compliant with the relevant migration rules and satisfy the nomination requirements under the relevant occupational training stream.
This article will discuss the key factors you should consider when preparing a training plan and will be assessed by the Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) officers.
Purpose of the Training
The training plan should outline the purpose and objectives of the training program. This should be tailored to the stream to which the trainee has been nominated, namely whether the occupational training is:

required to meet certain registration or licensing requirements (stream one);
to improve skills in an eligible occupation (stream two); or
for capacity building overseas (stream three).

For example, a vehicle repair shop that currently employs a motorcycle mechanic may explain that the purpose of the training is for the nominee to attain the skills required to perform the role of an automotive electrician.

You should explain how your business and the nominee will benefit from the training program.

For example, you could explain that the training would allow the nominee to train more junior employees which would, in turn, allow the business to provide a higher quality service.

You could also discuss how the training will impact the nominee’s professional development and career prospects in the business.
Provide Details of the Trainers
Details of all trainers, supervisors and assessors who will be involved in the training program should be provided, including their:

role in the business; and
qualifications and experience.

The training should be conducted by trainers and supervisors with specialised knowledge and experience in the area. You will need to provide copies of the trainer’s and supervisor’s resumes as supporting evidence.
Describe the Position
The training plan should include a brief description of the nominated position, including duties and tasks, and explain how the position fits within your business. In particular, you must specify:

which eligible occupation the nominated position relates to; and 
which relevant Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification Occupation (ANZSCO) code the position falls under.

For example, if the nominated position is for a software engineer, this occupation is on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List with a corresponding ANZSCO code of 261313. Therefore, the skills and tasks outlined in your position description should be consistent with those under ANZSCO code 261313.

To support this, you could provide job descriptions for the position the nominee is currently employed in and the position the nominee intends to train for.
Demonstrate the Nominee’s Suitability
It is important to demonstrate that the nominee has the skills, qualifications, and experience required for the nominated role. In particular, if you are nominating someone under stream two, you must show that:

the nominee has at least 12 months of full-time experience in the same or related role; and
the experience was gained within the last 24 months before lodgement of the nomination.

For example, you may include a table outlining the key positions that the nominee has held in the business and are relevant to the nominated position. You could also refer to the nominee’s resume to demonstrate the qualifications and skills they bring to the role.

Skills Gap Audit and Analysis
In addition to demonstrating the nominee’s suitability for the role, you will need to provide an assessment of the:

nominee’s current level of skill in a relevant role;
core skills the nominee currently lacks; and
skills and knowledge to be gained in the training role.

This analysis will be carefully assessed by the DOHA officers and should form the basis of your training plan. Even where your nominee has worked for your business for several years, you will need to explain how the nominee will develop and progress to the nominated occupation.
Training Tasks
One of the most important factors in a training plan is demonstrating how the training will be provided and assessed. The tasks and outcomes listed in the training plan should increase in difficulty over time to allow the nominee to progress and attain a higher level of skills.
While you can include a brief overview of each task or module in the training plan, it is recommended to provide a separate table or schedule that outlines:

a description of the task or module;
the delivery of the specific task;
allocated trainer or supervisor for the task;
the commencement date of the task; and
duration of the task.

See the table below as an example.

Task
Description
Current Skill
Required Skill
Training Delivery Method
Supervisor
Duration
Start Date
Completion Date
Status

Food preparation
Bakers are required to store food in designated containers and storage areas to prevent spoilage.
Basic
Sound
On the job training
James Johnson
2 hours
20 March 2020
21 March 2020
Pending

The tasks and outcomes listed in the training plan should be consistent with the objectives of the training program as previously described.
Training Outcomes
Lastly, the outcomes of the training program must be identified in the training plan. In particular, you should consider the:

additional or enhanced skills the nominee will gain upon completion of the training; and
tasks or duties the nominee will become competent in upon completion of the training.

The outcomes will depend on the individual, the nominated position, and the purpose of the training.
Key Takeaways
One of the most important documents you will need to submit under the subclass 407 training visa is a training plan. This will outline the structured training program that the nominee will undertake to satisfy the requirements under the relevant occupational training stream.
The key factors you should consider when preparing a training plan are:

the purpose of the training;
the trainers and supervisors and their qualifications;
whether the nominated position fits within your business and is consistent with the relevant ANZSCO code;
whether the nominee has the required skills and experience for the nominated position;
the skills the nominee currently lacks and how these will be attained through the training position;
the individual training tasks or modules and timeframe for each task; and
the learning outcomes of the training program.

Each training plan will be tailored and specific to your business, the nominee and their training needs. Providing a generic training program or template may indicate that the training opportunity is not genuine. If you need assistance with preparing a training plan for the training visa, contact LegalVision’s immigration lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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All companies in Australia must maintain a register of their shareholders (or ‘members’), known as a share register or members register. Many companies also maintain a capitalisation table (‘cap table’). Assuming all the information required to be kept on a members register is contained within your cap table and you are able to extract that information in physical form at any time, your cap table software could also act as a members register for your company. However, most cap table software providers do not store all the necessary information.
What Information Should a Members Register Include?
Under the law, a members register must include the:

member’s name and address;
date on which the member first became a shareholder;
date on which every transfer or issuance of shares took place;
number of shares in each allotment;
total number of shares held by each member;
class of shares;
share numbers or certificate numbers (if any); and
amount paid on the shares.

It must also include:

whether or not the shares are fully paid and, if not, the amount unpaid on the shares;
where applicable, the date the member ceased to be a member of the company; and
the name and details of each person who ceased to be a member within the last seven years. 

If your company has granted options (e.g. options issued to employees under an ESOP) or convertible securities (e.g. convertible notes), you must also keep a register of these security holders.
Why Do I Need to Maintain a Members Register?
It is important to maintain an accurate and readily available members register because anyone has a right to inspect a copy of it. When they do, you must provide access within seven days. If you do not keep your members register on a computer, they may inspect the register itself. If it is on a computer (as is most likely the case), the person inspects the register by computer. Maintaining a members register is a legal obligation. The company and its directors may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with the law. 
Where Must the Members Register Be Kept?
You must keep the company register at:

the company’s registered office;
the company’s principal place of business;
a place in your state or territory where the work involved in maintaining the register is done; or
another place in your state or territory approved by ASIC.

Traditionally, companies kept physical copies of their share register in a bound or loose-leaf book. Today, it is very common for companies to maintain their registers digitally. 
The law states that you may keep a members register on a computer as long as it is ‘capable of being reproduced in a written form at any time’. Therefore, if your company maintains an electronic register, you must be able to export the data at any time in a form that:

shows all the necessary information; and
is in a standard format (e.g. a Microsoft Word or Excel file).

What if I Am Using Cloud-Based Cap Table Management Software?
Cloud-based storage raises an additional problem. Technically, the relevant data is not stored ‘at’ the place of business digitally, but rather on remote storage systems which are available to users via the internet.

Currently, the law does not consider the possibility of cloud-based storage. In fact, the law still states that companies must provide data by means of floppy disks if requested.

However, you will have satisfied the requirements of maintaining a members register as long as you can:

extract all the information required of a members register from your online cap table; and 
provide it to anyone who requests it in an easy to access and read file format.

Key Takeaways
Whilst it is technically possible for a cloud-based cap table management platform to act as your company’s members register, many systems do not satisfy the legal member register requirements. Therefore, you should consider the software carefully. If it does not record all the necessary information, you should maintain a separate member register for your Company. If you have any questions about your startup’s cap table or members’ register, get in touch with LegalVision’s capital raising lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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One of the biggest risks of any court proceeding is that you might need to pay the other side’s costs if you lose. On the upside, if you win, the court will likely order that the other side pay your legal costs. But if you do not win, you might:

lose any damages or money you originally sought; and
receive a costs order to pay the other side’s costs. 

This article sets out what happens after a court gives a judgment and decides which party should pay costs, including the steps to take if you’re on the winning or losing side. 
Costs: What Happens After Judgment?
The process to determine costs can be a time-consuming and complex part of any legal proceedings. Courts can make costs orders at various points during court proceedings, such as after a directions hearing. However, courts will make the most important order for legal costs after the trial, when the court: 

issues its judgment; and 
determines which party is successful. 

Types of Legal Costs Orders 
The most common order for legal costs requires the unsuccessful party to pay the other side’s costs. This is known as an order that ‘costs follow the event’.
However, courts can choose to decide what costs to order. Its decision will rely on both the: 

final judgment; and 
parties’ conduct during the court proceedings. 

For example, if you have made genuine and reasonable attempts to reach a settlement with the other side, the court may reward you by ordering the losing party to pay a higher proportion of your legal costs. This is known as ‘indemnity costs’. Similarly, where a court finds that both parties are to blame in a dispute, the court may split costs orders according to each side’s degree of fault.

Courts do not usually refer to a specific amount of costs. Rather they refer only to the ‘costs’ of a party. Sometimes this is referred to costs ‘as agreed or assessed’, which means the amount of costs is either: 

that agreed between the parties; or 
the amount determined by a formal cost assessment. 

Arguments About Legal Costs
Courts will usually make a costs order when delivering their judgment. If you do not agree with the order that they make, you will have a period of time within which to apply for a variation of that order.

In NSW, for example, parties have 14 days to apply for a variation of that order. 

In some cases, the judge or magistrate may first ask you to make your own arguments or submissions regarding costs. This may be the case where you have: 

made settlement offers; and 
believe you should be awarded the higher’ indemnity costs’. 

Or, it may be appropriate where certain events throughout the proceedings might affect the final costs decision, such as one party causing substantial delay. 
If You Win
If you are successful in a hearing and the court orders that the other side pay your costs, you still have to take several steps before you receive the money. Unfortunately, it can be a difficult process to get the other side to pay, particularly if the other party is in some financial difficulty. 
If you receive a costs order in your favour, these are the steps to follow: 
1. Negotiate the Amount of Legal Costs
The first step is to: 

write to the other side;
refer to the court’s cost order;
provide them with your costs, including a breakdown; and 
request payment by a certain date.

If the other party can not pay, you may consider agreeing to a payment plan or other arrangement. If you can not reach an agreement with the other side on the amount of your costs, then you can have your costs assessed by an independent cost assessor. 
2. Ask For the Costs to be Assessed
You must carry out the cost assessment process at your own cost. It will generally take several months, depending on the volume of costs to be assessed.
Your solicitor can assist with this process and engage a specialist cost consultant if required. The assessment will result in a determination of the fair and reasonable amount of costs that the other should pay. You can then enforce this determination as a judgment or court order that the other party must pay. 
3. Enforce the Costs Order
If the other party has not paid the costs within the deadline you provide, then you are entitled to take other legal steps to obtain payment of that amount. That may include: 

issuing a garnishee order of their wages or bank account; or 
having the sheriff seize their property.

A garnishee order is an enforcement mechanism that allows you to forcibly recover the debt owed to you from the other party’s wages or bank account.

You may also be able to issue a bankruptcy notice against an individual or take steps to wind up a company. Unfortunately, these enforcement steps will require extra time and money.
If You Lose
If you are not successful in a hearing, the court will likely order that you pay the other side’s costs. As set out above, the parties need to either agree on the costs or have the costs assessed.  
If a court orders you to pay the other party’s costs, follow these steps:  
1. Negotiate the Amount of Legal Costs
If you do not agree that the other side’s costs as notified are reasonable, you are entitled to object. Your solicitor and barrister will be able to advise on whether the costs are within a fair and reasonable range. You should also ask the other side to provide a breakdown of the costs so that you can properly assess whether they are reasonable.  
2. Ask for the Costs to be Assessed
If you still can not agree on the amount of costs, ask the other side to have their costs assessed. This is a better option for you, as independent assessment often results in a reduction in the original costs claimed by the winning party.  
3. Pay the Costs Order
Once the other party has assessed the costs, you should take steps to pay that amount as soon as possible. If you do not pay within any deadlines given:

the other side may enforce the cost assessment determination as a judgment; and 
this judgment may affect your ability to obtain credit. 

Be aware that if you fail to pay the costs, the other side may take steps to enforce the judgment. This could include:

a bankruptcy notice against you personally if the judgment is in your name; or 
steps to wind up your company if the proceedings were in your company’s name. 

Key Takeaways
The process of dealing with costs orders is complex. Whether you win or lose the hearing, there are no guarantees about: 

what type of costs orders the court will make; or 
whether a party will pay those costs within any deadline, or at all. 

It is essential to understand the options available to you after a hearing to: 

negotiate these costs;
have them assessed; or 
otherwise ensure any costs orders owed to you are paid.

If you have any questions about court costs or need assistance with a dispute, contact LegalVision’s litigation lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.  

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As a business owner, you will probably need to manage an employee with a physical illness or injury at some point. While handling these situations, you will need to navigate the employee’s legal entitlements and consider the risks of dismissing an injured employee. You should ultimately seek an outcome that: 

is beneficial for you and the employee; and
avoids the potential for the employee to make a legal claim.

This article explains:

employees’ entitlements; 
the legal risks associated with dismissing an injured employee; and 
how to mitigate those risks.

How Much Paid Sick Leave is the Employee Entitled To?
Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act), a full-time permanent employee can take ten days of paid sick and carer’s leave for each year of service.
An employee may take paid sick or carer’s leave:

if they are not fit for work because of sickness or an injury; or
to provide care to a member of their immediate family or household.

For example, an employee who takes leave to provide care to their sick child will reduce their balance of leave.

Sick leave accrues progressively throughout the year. This means that your employees need to work a certain number of days to be entitled to this form of leave. 

For example, if an employee starts on 1 January, they will have accrued five days of sick leave by 1 July. 

However, sick and carer’s leave will not accrue over periods where a worker takes unpaid leave. This is except for:

community service leave; or
any contradictory provision in an award or agreement.

Sick leave also accumulates from year-to-year, so employees can build their balance of leave over time.

For example, if an employee starts on 1 January 2016 and takes no sick days, they will have accrued 40 days of sick leave by 1 January 2020.

Employers can be uncomfortable with employees accruing significant sick leave, as it may pose a financial risk to your business. To control against employees’ dishonest behaviour, you can require that they provide you with evidence that:

they are sick: or
they must provide care to a family or household member.

For example, you may request a doctor’s certificate or a statutory declaration. You can also direct the employee to seek an examination from your chosen medical practitioner.

Importantly, paid sick leave does not apply for any period covered by workers compensation.
Who is Entitled to Sick Leave?
Part-time employees are entitled to sick leave in proportion to the number of hours they work in a full work week. 

For example, an employee that works 24 hours per week is entitled to five days of paid sick leave for each year of service. 

Casual employees are not entitled to paid sick leave, unless they are engaged on an ongoing and systematic basis, with an ongoing expectation of work. However, the casual nature of their employment allows them to refuse to work a shift, including due to sickness.
Can I Dismiss an Employee for Taking Sick Leave?
Absences of Less Than Three Months
You cannot dismiss an employee merely because they are temporarily absent from work due to an illness or injury, where the:

employee has provided a medical certificate for the illness or injury within a reasonable timeframe; and
employee’s absence extends for less than three months or their absences over a twelve month period total less than three months.

Absences of More Than Three Months
You may be able to dismiss an employee if they are temporarily absent from work because of illness or injury where:

the employee’s absence extends for more than three months or their absences over a 12 month period total more than three months; and
the employee is not on paid sick leave for the duration of this absence.

However, you may be subject to certain risks, and as such legal advice should always be sought.
What are the Risks of Dismissing an Employee for Taking Sick Leave After Three Months?
Although the law does not prohibit you from dismissing an employee for absences of more than three months, you may still be at risk of a claim under the FairWork Act’s:

general protections provisions; or
unfair dismissal provisions;

You may also face a claim made under other State, territory and federal anti-discrimination legislation. These claims may cause your business financial harm or damage your reputation.
1. General Protections Claim
An employee may lodge a general protections claim if you take adverse action against them because they exercised a workplace right. This type of claim is broad and intends to secure employees rights, for instance:

protection from discrimination (for example, on the basis of a disability);
joining a union; and
taking sick leave.

Therefore, you cannot dismiss an employee merely because the employee took sick leave.
You also cannot take adverse action against an employee, including dismissing them because of a physical disability. 
If an employee brings a general protections claim against you under the Act, you must demonstrate that you dismissed the employee solely because they were no longer able to perform the inherent requirements of the role. 

For example, a packaging and shipping employee can no longer perform their role if: 

they are indefinitely on leave and not attending work; or
their disability prevents them from working in a warehouse environment.

2. Unfair Dismissal Claim
Similarly, you may only dismiss an employee if you:

have a valid reason; and
provided procedural fairness to the employee.

Ensuring procedural fairness to the employee requires you to be equitable and unbiased, such as allowing the employee to explain themselves.
You likely cannot dismiss an employee just because of their sickness or injury. This means you will need to consider other ways they are failing to uphold their workplace duties. To ensure procedural fairness, you should also maintain communication with the employee throughout their absence. 
3. State, Territory and Federal Anti-Discrimination Legislation
You should also be aware of specific State, territory and federal anti-discrimination laws. State, territory and federal legislation prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee. 

For example, you cannot treat an injured employee any less favourably than your other employees, unless they are unable to carry out the inherent requirements of the role. 

You must also consider reasonable adjustments that would allow the employee to meet these requirements. However, you will not be required to undertake these adjustments if they would impose an unjustifiable burden.

For example, it may be overly expensive to install wheelchair access for an injured employee. 

Key Takeaways
You should ensure that you understand your employee’s leave entitlements so that you treat them fairly and avoid breaching the Act. You cannot dismiss an employee if they are absent for less than three months. Even after this three month period, you may be at risk of the employee bringing a claim for unfair dismissal or discrimination. If you would like legal advice concerning the removal of an employee with a physical injury, contact LegalVision’s employment lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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A trade mark is any sign that you use to distinguish your products and/or services from those of other people. This can be a name, slogan, logo, image, colour, shape, scent or even a sound (or a combination of these things). Most often, trade marks are names or logos. Whether you are interested in filing a trade mark, have one trade mark of have a portfolio trade marks, it’s important to stay up to date with any trade mark fee changes. 
IP Australia recently announced that it is updating some of its fees. This includes:

Australian Trade Mark fees commencing from 12am AEST, 1 October 2020; and
some of Madrid Import Application fees commencing from 12am AEDT, 7 November 2020.

This article outlines the notable changes to these fees. 
Payments Made by Another Means
IP Australia is increasing fees for a number of payments that are made by “another means” such as by paper and fax, rather than the using the “preferred means”, being via online electronic payment. This is to deter people from making applications by “another means”.
Key Fee Increases
A comprehensive list of all trade mark fee changes can be found here. 
Increased Trade Mark Application Fees

Fee Description 
Old Fee 
New Fee

Standard TM Application – First Class – Another Means
$350
$450

Standard TM Application – Additional Classes – Another Means
$350
$450

Standard TM Add Prescribed Goods – First Class – Another Means
$350
$450

Standard TM Add Prescribed Goods – Additional classes – Another Means
$350
$450

Madrid Import Application – First Class*
$350
$400

Madrid Import Application – Additional Classes*
$350
$400

Standard TM Application – First Class – No Pick List – Preferred Means
$330
$400

Standard TM Application – Additional Classes – No Pick List – Preferred Means
$330
$400

Series TM Application – First Class – Another Means
$500
$600

Series TM Application – Additional Classes – Another Means
$500
$600

Series TM Add Prescribed Goods – First Class – Another Means
$500
$600

Series TM Add Prescribed Goods – Additional classes – Another Means
$500
$600

Series TM Application – First Class – No Pick List – Preferred Means
$480
$550

Series TM Application – Additional Classes – No Pick List – Preferred Means
$480
$550

Updated Trade Mark Hearing Fees 

Fee Description 
Old Fee 
New Fee

Request for a hearing under regulation 5.17, 6.9, 9.17, 9.20, 17A.34M, 17A.48S, 17A.48V or 21.20E
$600
Replaced by new Item

Request for an oral hearing in relation to any other matter
$400
Replaced by new Item

Attendance at an oral hearing under regulation 5.17, 6.9, 9.17, 9.20, 17A.34M, 17A.48S, 17A.48V or 21.20E
$600 for each day, or part of a day, less any amount paid under item 14 in relation to the hearing
Replaced by new Item

Attendance at an oral hearing to which item 16 does not apply
$400 less any amount paid under item 15 in relation to the hearing
Replaced by new Item

Filing a request for a hearing
New Item
$400

Appearing and being heard at an oral hearing in person:
(a) for the first day
(b) if the hearing runs for more than a day
New Item

$800 less any amount paid in relation to requesting a hearing

$800 for each day, or part of a day, after the first day

Appearing and being heard at an oral hearing in by means other than in person:
(a) for the first day
(b) if the hearing runs for more than a day
New Item

$600 less any amount paid in relation to requesting a hearing

$600 for each day, or part of a day, after the first day

Being heard on the basis of written submissions only
New Item
$400 less any amount paid in relation to requesting a hearing

Decision with reasons issued in accordance with section 55, section 101, regulation 17A.34N or 17A.48D
New Item
$400 less any amount paid in relation to requesting a hearing

Please note: LegalVision always ensures filings and submissions are made by the “preferred means” via electronic online payment to IP Australia.  
Key Takeaways 
IP Australia will be updating some of their Australian Trade Mark fees commencing from 12am AEST, 1 October 2020 as well as some of their Madrid Import Application fees commencing from 12am AEDT, 7 November 2020. 
In particular, while trade mark filing fees have increased across the board, IP Australia appears to be actively discouraging trade mark filings by “another means” such as by paper and fax, by increasing these filing fees by a higher rate.  
You can take advantage of IP Australia’s current fees by ensuring your renewals are paid as soon as possible. If you have any questions about IP Australia’s change to their Trade Mark Fees, please contact LegalVision’s Trade Mark Attorneys on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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A patent is a right that is granted for any device, substance, method or process that is new, inventive and useful. A standard patent can last up to 20 years if all renewal fees are paid, while pharmaceutical patents can last up to 25 years if all renewal fees are paid. 
IP Australia recently announced that it is updating some of their Australian Patent Fees, commencing from 12am AEST, 1 October 2020. This article outlines the notable changes to these fees.  
Payments Made by Another Means
IP Australia is increasing fees for a number of payments that are made by “another means” such as by paper and fax, rather than the using the “preferred means”, being via online electronic payment. This is to deter people from making applications by “another means”.
Changes to Excess Claim Fees
Excess claim fees have increased. These are fees for each claim over and above 20 claims. Most Australian Patent Attorneys draft with a view that each claim over 20 incurs an additional fee. This is not always the case if your patent applications are being drafted overseas. Many overseas applications originate from countries where:

there are either no excess claim fees; or 
very small excess claim fees;

resulting in the application containing far more than 20 claims. As such, it is important to assess a patent application before acceptance and, if applicable, reduce the claim set to ensure that unnecessary excess claim fees are not incurred. 
Changes to Standard Renewal Fees
Standard patent renewal fees will be increased from 12am AEST, 1 October 2020. As such, if it is possible, it is beneficial to pay renewal fees before the 12am AEST, 1 October 2020 deadline to ensure you benefit from the current fees, rather than paying the increased fees. 
Key Fee Increases
A comprehensive list of all patent fee changes is available here.

Increased Fees for Excess Claims  

Fee Description 
Old Fee (per claim) 
New Fee (per claim) 

Standard Patent – Greater than 20 claims & equal to or less than 30 claims
$110
$125

Standard Patent – Greater than 30 claims
$110
$250

Increased Renewal Feels for Standard Patents Paid Online (Preferred Means) 

Fee Description 
Old Fee  
New Fee  

Standard Patent – 5th anniversary – Preferred Means
$300
$315

Standard Patent – 6th anniversary – Preferred Means
$300
$335

Standard Patent – 7th anniversary – Preferred Means
$300
$360

Standard Patent – 8th anniversary – Preferred Means
$300
$390

Standard Patent – 9th anniversary – Preferred Means
$300
$425

Standard Patent – 10th anniversary – Preferred Means
$550
$490

Standard Patent – 11th anniversary – Preferred Means
$550
$585

Standard Patent – 12th anniversary – Preferred Means
$550
$710

Standard Patent – 13th anniversary – Preferred Means
$550
$865

Standard Patent – 14th anniversary – Preferred Means
$550
$1,050

Standard Patent – 15th anniversary – Preferred Means
$1,250
$1,280

Standard Patent – 16th anniversary – Preferred Means
$1,250
$1,555

Standard Patent – 17th anniversary – Preferred Means
$1,250
$1,875

Standard Patent – 18th anniversary – Preferred Means
$1,250
$2,240

Standard Patent – 19th anniversary – Preferred Means
$1,250
$2,650

Increased Renewal Fees for Pharmaceutical Patents Paid Online (Preferred Means)

Fee Description 
Old Fee
New Fee

Pharmaceutical Patent -20th anniversary – Preferred Means
$2,550
$4,000

Pharmaceutical Patent -21st anniversary – Preferred Means
$2,550
$5,000

Pharmaceutical Patent -22nd anniversary – Preferred Means
$2,550
$6,000

Pharmaceutical Patent -23rd anniversary – Preferred Means
$2,550
$7,000

Pharmaceutical Patent -24th anniversary – Preferred Means
$2,550
$8,000

Reduction of Fee for Preliminary Search & Opinion (PSO) 

Fee Description 
Old Fee 
New Fee 

Patent voluntary Preliminary Search & Opinion (PSO)
$2,200
$950

Please note: LegalVision always ensures filings and submissions are made by the “preferred means” via electronic online payment to IP Australia.  
Key Takeaways 
IP Australia are updating some of their patent fees commencing from 12am AEST, 1 October 2020. In particular: 

IP Australia appears to be actively discouraging patent filings by “another means” such as by paper and fax by increasing these filing fees, while the filing fees performed by the “preferred means”, being online electronic filings, remain the same. 
excess claim fees, being fees for each claim over 20 have increased; and 
patent renewal fees have increased for standard patents, including pharmaceutical patents. 

Take advantage of IP Australia’s current fees before the 12am AEST, 1 October 2020 deadline by ensuring that renewals are paid as soon as possible. In particular for pharmaceutical patents, where prices have been significantly raised for the 20th to 24th renewal anniversaries.
If you have any questions about IP Australia’s change to their Patent Fees, please contact LegalVision’s Patent Attorneys on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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Australian employers have access to a range of visas to hire foreign workers to fill a specialised position within the business. These visas can cover employees on a temporary or permanent basis. However, an important consideration for many businesses is the cost to sponsor an employee through this arrangement. There are different types of costs associated with sponsoring a foreign worker, which primarily depend on which visa option you choose. Further, as with all visa applications, you will need to pay some fees to the Department of Home Affairs (DOHA). This article will discuss the costs that you must pay when sponsoring a foreign worker under the three main types of employer-sponsored visas in Australia; the:

Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (subclass 482);
Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186); and
Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494).

Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482) (TSS visa)
The TSS visa is a temporary visa and the most common type of employer-sponsored visa in Australia. It allows you to sponsor a skilled foreign worker to fill a position that you cannot find a suitable Australian worker to fill. The worker may stay in Australia for anywhere between one to four years, depending on the occupation and stream they are eligible for under the visa (e.g. short-term or medium-term stream).
When applying for a TSS visa and other employer-sponsored visas, the application process involves three stages:

sponsorship;
nomination; and
visa application.

You must pay the fees involved at the sponsorship and nomination stage, whereas you can ask the applicant to pay the visa application fees.
TSS Fee Outline
The table below provides a guide on the government fees involved with each stage. All fees are in Australian dollars (AUD) and apply at the time of this article.

Visa

Stage

Fees (AUD)

Details

TSS visa

Sponsorship

$420 (paid by employer)
This is the cost of becoming an approved sponsor under this visa.

Nomination

$330 (paid by employer)
This is the cost of nominating an applicant under this visa.

Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy – from $1,200 (paid annually by employer)

The purpose of the SAF levy is for employers to contribute to the broader skills development of Australians.
As the employer, you must pay the SAF levy to the government. You cannot transfer the cost to the applicant.
The levy that you are required to pay falls under two separate categories:

businesses with an annual turnover of less than $10 million – $1,200 per year (per worker); and
businesses with an annual turnover of $10 million or more – $1,800 per year (per worker).

Therefore, the amount of the SAF levy will depend on your business’ turnover and how long you intend to sponsor your worker in Australia.
For example, if you have a business turnover of less than $10 million and want to employ a worker for 2 years on this visa, your SAF levy would be $2,400 (2 years x $1,200).

Application

$2,645 – for the primary applicant if the occupation is on the medium/long-term list ($2,645 for applicant over 18 and $660 for applicant under 18) 
OR
$1,265 – for primary applicant if occupation is on the short-term list ($1,265 for applicant over 18 and $320 for applicant under 18)
The costs involved with preparing and lodging the visa application can be paid by the applicant and will vary depending on:

which stream the applicant’s occupation belongs to; and
whether there are additional applicants included in the application.

Further, the DOHA may charge a subsequent temporary application charge (STAC), depending on the applicant’s individual visa history. If the STAC is applicable, it is $700 per applicant.

Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186) (ENS visa)
The subclass 186 visa allows businesses to employ skilled workers to live and work in Australia permanently. The ENS visa is a two-stage process, involving: 

nomination; and 
visa application.

The employer does not need to be an approved standard business sponsor. Although, in many instances, they are. 
There are three streams available under this visa:

direct entry;
temporary residence transition; and
labour agreement.

ENS Fee Outline
The table below outlines the fees for each stage when sponsoring an employee under the ENS visa.

Visa

Stage

Fees (AUD)

Details

ENS visa

Nomination

$540 (paid by employer)
If the applicant falls within the labour agreement stream and the position is located in regional Australia, there is no nomination fee.

SAF levy – from $3,000 (once-off payment by employer)
The SAF levy payable under this visa is as follows:

businesses with an annual turnover of less than $10 million – $3,000 one-off (per nomination);
businesses with an annual turnover of $10 million or more – $5,000 one-off (per nomination).

Application

$4,045 – primary applicant
$2,025 – secondary applicant over 18
$1,010 – applicant under 18
You can cover these fees or pass the cost onto the applicant.
This amount will depend on the relevant stream and any additional applicants.

Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 494) (SESR Visa)
The SESR visa replaced the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa (subclass 187) in November 2019. The SESR visa allows employers in regional Australia to sponsor skilled workers to fill positions they have been unable to hire locally. While this is a temporary visa, there is a pathway to permanent residence via the subclass 191 (which will come into effect in 2022).
The process is similar to the TSS visa, as the SESR is a three stage process. 
SESR Fee Outline
The table below outlines the fees for each stage when sponsoring an employee under the SESR visa.

Visa

Stage

Fees (AUD)

Details

SESR visa

Sponsorship

$420 (paid by employer)
This is the cost of becoming an approved sponsor under this visa.

Nomination

SAF levy – from $3,000 (once-off payment by employer)

There is no fee to nominate an applicant for either stream of this visa.
However, you will need to pay the SAF levy of $3,000 (turnover <$10 million) or $5,000 (turnover >$10 million).

Application

$4,045 primary applicant
$2,025 – secondary applicant over 18
$1,010 – applicant under 18
These fees can be covered by the applicant/s or the employer
This amount will depend on the relevant stream and any additional applicants.

Other Costs
In addition to government fees, there may be other costs associated with sponsoring an employee, including the professional fees of a Registered Migration Agent or lawyer to prepare and lodge the application on your behalf.
Further, the applicant may need to pay certain costs to assist with their application, including fees for:

an English test;
skills assessment;
police check;
health check; and
document translation.

Not all of these fees will apply. This will depend on your personal circumstances.
Am I Expected to Pay for All the Costs?
As the employer, you must pay for all costs associated with becoming a sponsor and nominating an applicant (i.e. the sponsorship and nomination stage). This includes the DOHA fees and costs involved with job recruitment and professional fees, for example. These cannot be passed on to the applicant.
You may also pay for some of the applicant’s costs, however, you are not obligated to do so.
Further, employers must not offer or receive a benefit in exchange for visa sponsorship, such as where the applicant pays the employer in return for sponsorship. This is illegal and serious consequences apply.
Key Takeaways
There are various costs involved when becoming a sponsor and nominating an employee to work for you in Australia. It is important to consider these costs from the start so that you understand whether employer sponsorship is a good option for your business. The costs will largely depend on the type of visa you choose. However, for all employer-sponsored visas, the employers must pay the fees associated with:

sponsorship; and
nomination.

It is illegal to transfer these costs to the visa applicant. You may pay for some of the applicant’s costs, such as the visa application fee. However, you are not required to do so. This should be discussed with the applicant before applying to avoid any issues or misunderstandings. For more information relating to the cost of sponsoring an employee, visit the DOHA website. If you need help in understanding the costs involved with sponsoring a worker in Australia, contact LegalVision’s immigration lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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In early August 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took HealthEngine to Court for allegedly misusing patient data and manipulating reviews. The ACCC is the regulatory body that enforces consumer protection laws and takes action against businesses who engage in misleading and anti-competitive conduct.  
HealthEngine admitted misconduct, and on 20 August 2020, the ACCC ordered them to:
pay a $2.9 million fine;submit to ongoing independent reviews of its consumer law compliance plan; contact affected users to explain what had happened and assist them in regaining control of their personal information; andpay the ACCC’s costs for bringing the proceedings.  
This article will explain the key lessons from the HealthEngine decision so that you do not make the same mistakes for your business.
Who is HealthEngine?
HealthEngine is a well-known online platform that allows users to make bookings with health practices and practitioners. It also allows them to leave reviews about their experiences receiving those services.

The online platform has considerable reach, and is supposedly used by over one million consumers a month and provides those users with access to over 70,000 health practices and practitioners.

Previously, users of HealthEngine were able to access reviews provided by other users about the quality and service that they received. Where available, they have now limited to an indication of the percentage of users that would recommend the service. This percentage is based on the number of reviews received by HealthEngine.
What Was the Issue?
There were three key issues that the ACCC called out.
They claimed that HealthEngine had:
manipulated the reviews of users that is published on the platform; misrepresented to users why a rating was not published for some health practices; anddisclosed the personal information of users of the platform to health insurance brokers for a fee without making this sufficiently clear to those users.
What Misconduct Did the ACCC Find?
In relation to the manipulation of reviews, HealthEngine admitted that over almost three years, approximately:
17,000 reviews were not published; and3,000 reviews were edited by adding improvements or removing the parts that were negative. 
This and the misrepresentation as to why a rating was not published, were considered issues by the ACCC because users may have visited certain health practices and practitioners based on reviews that did not accurately reflect the users’ experiences. 
On the disclosure of information, HealthEngine admitted that over a period of almost four years, it earnt more than $1.8 million by giving the non-clinical personal information of over 135,000 users to health insurance brokers. This information included:
names;dates of birth;phone numbers; andemail addresses.
The ACCC’s concern here was that this disclosure happened without HealthEngine properly informing users that they would use their information in this way. This made it a misuse or use of data that could result in consumer harm.  
What Does the Decision Mean for You?
This HealthEngine decision serves as a reminder that if you allow users to make and view other users’ reviews, you should be careful about how you manage and present these reviews. This includes where your business is an online marketplace, and the reviews are about services other than your own.

For example, these reviews may be about third-party services which are listed on your platform.

It is also a warning from the ACCC that misuse of information is not just a privacy issue. It is also a consumer law issue that the ACCC is actively pursuing with very tough consequences for wrongdoers. This is in line with the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry, which recommended introducing certain General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles into Australian privacy law. These include stronger notification requirements when businesses collect personal data.
Tips for Managing Online Reviews
The ACCC has a lot of useful information on its website about how to manage online reviews. Key points include that you should:
ensure the reviews are genuine;make it clear to viewers what reviews are (and are not) visible;avoid editing reviews in any way that may be deceptive or misleading;restrict people from leaving a review for services they have not used or that they have not used recently (for example, within the last month or so); encourage reviewers to be honest, specific and factual in their reviews; andensure that reviewers reveal any biases (for example, if they are receiving payment to provide the review).
Tips for Avoiding Misuse of Data
Find out whether you are an Australian Privacy Principle (APP) entity. An APP entity is any sole trader, partnership, trust, company or unincorporated association that has:
an annual turnover of over $3 million; orless than $3 million in turnover but falls under certain exceptions. 
If you are an APP entity, you must make sure that you are compliant with Australian privacy laws (including the Australian Privacy Principles).
Even where you are not an APP entity, it is good practice to:
be upfront and clear about what personal information you are collecting;how you are collecting the information; andwhat you will do with this personal information.

This is also a great way to gain the trust of your customers.

An easy way to achieve this transparency is through a privacy policy. Alternatively, when collecting any personal information, you could provide a notice to the person you are doing so. Here, you need to outline: 
why you are collecting the information; and what you are planning on doing with it.
If you have a privacy policy, you should review it to make sure that it is clear, accurate and up to date. Where a privacy policy is not clear, accurate or up to date, there is a risk that it could be misleading.
Key Takeaways
A huge fine for HealthEngine shows that the ACCC is serious about making the misuse of information a consumer law issue, and preventing consumers from misleading conduct. If you have any questions or would like to know more about whether your business is compliant, get in touch with LegalVision’s IT lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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If you are a franchisee who is considering selling your franchise, the options available to you might be confusing. Just like any negotiations for buying and selling a business, you need to consider all commercial factors and your legal rights properly. Importantly, one of the first steps you will need to take is sending a notification to the franchisor of your intent to sell. Additionally, there may be: 

certain steps that you will need to follow; and 
fees that you may need to pay.

Therefore, it is vital that you understand the entire process before you get started. This article explains the various ways you could sell your franchise, specifically focusing on your requirement to give a notification to the franchisor.
Selling Your Franchise as a ‘Going Concern’ Business
If you plan to sell your franchise business but not the shares in the company that owns the current operation, then you will be selling the business as a ‘going concern’. Essentially, this means that you are selling everything that is required for the new owner to continue operating the business, including:

information;
documents;
equipment;
access keys;
stock;
employees; and
anything else that the purchaser will need to carry on the business.

This type of sale is generally GST exempt, meaning that you do not charge GST in addition to the purchase price.

When selling an existing franchise, you may have an obligation to seek the consent of the franchisor and your landlord. Therefore, you should understand when you are required to notify them. 
In addition, you will likely need to operate the franchise right until the point of sale. Stopping early may be a breach of your franchise agreement, which could impact your ability to sell the business. 
Finally, you should receive a full release from both the franchisor and your landlord to document that you are no longer responsible for your obligations under the franchise agreement and lease.
Transfer of Ownership
Another way to transfer control of your franchise business is to simply sell your shares, either: 

in whole; or 
in part, where you transfer a controlling interest to the buyer.

In this case, the company operating the franchise business remains the same but the shareholders change.

This method of selling your franchise is not as common as the sale of your business as a going concern, as it renders the buyer responsible for any old debts or claims against the company once the shares are purchased. Therefore, the buyer will need to be very confident that they understand the history of the company before they are comfortable with a transfer of ownership.
Instead of a business sale agreement, this method requires a share sale agreement to: 

document the transfer of shares; and 
confirm the seller of the shares has disclosed all relevant information concerning the company prior to the transfer.

Sometimes, franchisees may not realise that they are required to notify and seek the permission of their franchisor when they transfer a controlling interest in the shares of the franchisee company. It is important to treat this as a “sale” similar to the sale of the franchise business itself. This means that you need to review your assignment and transfer obligations under the franchise agreement and lease, to ensure you comply with the conditions associated with this sale. If you need to give a notification to the franchisor, make sure to comply with these obligations.
Handing Back the Franchise or Transferring Ownership to the Franchisor
If it is difficult to find a suitable buyer for your franchise, you have the option to:

continue operating the franchise until the end of the term of the franchise or lease; or
offer the business to the franchisor.

If you want to transfer the business to the franchisor, your franchise agreement may include specific provisions dealing with the valuation of the business. Generally, the value is based only on the value of the physical assets you own after accounting for accounting for depreciation or amortisation. This will often be much less than what you could have received by selling the business as a ‘going concern’ to a third party.
Once your franchise agreement ends, the franchisor would then enter into a completely new agreement with a new incoming franchisee. This is called a grant of a franchise. A franchisor may also decide to operate the franchise themselves whilst they look for a replacement. 
In difficult circumstances, you may: 

ask the franchisor to operate the business until you can find an owner; and 
negotiate the transfer of the net funds to you once a buyer has been found, less the franchisor’s operating costs whilst running the business after you exited. 

This will allow you to make a fresh start and move on, whilst the franchisor looks for a buyer. The costs involved in this option are considerable and should only be contemplated as a last resort.
Prerequisites for Selling Your Franchise
Your franchise agreement will set out any rights and restrictions on selling, transferring and assigning your franchised business.
The franchise agreement will outline:

the information you need to provide prior to any sale;
any approvals that you (or the purchaser) need to obtain from the franchisor; 
whether you have to pay any transfer or assignment fees; and
other conditions that you may need to meet before a sale is allowed.

You should take these considerations into account when pricing the business for sale.

For example, you can note the value of any assignment fee that you are required to pay and pass this cost onto the new buyer.

Conditions and Fees in a Sale
Before you can sell your franchise onto a new franchisee, your franchisor may require you to resolve any outstanding items or issues.

For example, they may require you to:

correct any breaches; 
resolve any defaults; 
settle any outstanding fees; or
demonstrate that you have met certain performance criteria.

Additionally, it is common for franchise agreements to set a fee for an assignment or transfer of your business. This is primarily to cover the franchisor’s costs in facilitating the process. 
Your franchisor can set any method to calculate the assignment or transfer fee. However, it is common to see the fee:

fixed at a minimum value;
specified as a proportion of the sale price or initial franchise/licence fee; or
a combination of all of the above.

You may come to an agreement with your franchisor to waive all or part of the assignment/transfer fee. Any agreement should be in writing as part of the formal legal documents signed by you and the franchisor when facilitating the sale.
Importantly, you should seek to negotiate a reasonable assignment fee before you even enter into the franchise. It is often easy to neglect this aspect of your agreement, given that selling the business can seem like a long way off. However, you should try to bargain down the assignment fee if you consider it unreasonable before signing any franchise agreement. 
Timeline for Sale
The time between first realising that you want to sell your franchise and completing the sale can be quite lengthy. This means that it is important to start the process early.
Some factors you will need to consider when determining your timeline include:

the time it takes to advertise your franchise and find a purchaser;
the time between taking a deposit on the business (if any) and paying the full amount;
any due diligence that the purchaser wants to conduct on the franchise;
any requirement to provide a notification to the franchisor before a sale;
how long it would take the franchisor to approve the buyer as a new franchisee;
any commercial negotiations regarding price, equipment, stock (etc.) that need to take place;
how long it would take you to prepare the necessary information and paperwork;
any further steps that the franchisor may require, such as ensuring that all your business records and information are up-to-date;
whether the purchaser needs to obtain finance to buy the franchise from you; and
any unpredictable delays or obstacles to the process.

Franchisor Approval and Right of First Refusal
Most franchise agreements will require you to obtain franchisor approval of the buyer before you can sell your franchise to them. However, some franchise agreements also contain a right of first refusal. This creates an extra step in the process of selling your franchise.
A right of first refusal means that when you receive an offer from someone to purchase your franchise, you are obligated to:

provide a notification to the franchisor; and
give them an opportunity to purchase the franchise on the same terms offered.

They will often have a limited window of time to accept or reject this offer. You will only be free to continue negotiations with the potential purchaser if your franchisor is not interested in purchasing your business on those terms.

Depending on the terms of your franchise agreement, the franchisor may be entitled to see and accept or reject any further offers made to you throughout the negotiation process. This is particularly so if they are lower than previous offers.

Selling your franchise back to the franchisor may be an effective way to: 

square off any debts that are owing; 
avoid assignment/transfer fees; and 
minimise or eliminate the costs of engaging an agent/broker. 

However, you should always compare the market value of your franchise against the franchisor’s offer as part of any commercial negotiations.
Key Takeaways
If you want to sell your franchise business, you must consider your obligations under your franchise agreement. Particularly, you will likely need to provide a notification to the franchisor. This will be the case whether you:

sell your franchise as a ‘going concern’ business; or
transfer ownership by selling the controlling interest of your shares.

Under any arrangement, you will also need to fulfil any prerequisites, conditions and fees for the sale of your franchise. If you would like assistance navigating the sale of your franchise or providing a notification to the franchisor, contact LegalVision’s franchise lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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A bill seeking to make amendments to the Retail Leases Act 2003 (VIC) is now one step closer to becoming law in Victoria as it has now passed through the Lower House. The bill introduces some fairly significant changes to the Act which tenants should be aware of. This article will take a look at some of the key changes that the legislation is implementing.
Options 
Previously, once a tenant formally issued its notice to exercise its option to the landlord, both parties entered the option lease. This would sometimes be problematic for tenants, particularly small business tenants, who may have exercised their option to not miss out on the opportunity to secure a further term, but without:
seeking professional advice; orcommencing the formal process to review the rent.
The Small Business Regulation Review found that many Victorian tenants were unable to make informed decisions and were exercising options without sufficient information on:
what the rent would be; or whether there were any significant changes which would impact their lease.
This is because landlords do not have to provide further disclosure statements before the tenant has to determine whether to exercise the option.
In response to this, not only will landlords be required to give tenants notice at least three months before the last date to exercise the option (this was previously at least six months and not more than 12 months), the notice must now set out the:
last date the tenant can exercise the option to renew; rent payable for the first 12 months; availability of an early rent review;availability of a cooling off period; and changes (if any) to the disclosure statement. 
Early Rent Reviews
Where a lease provides for rent to be reviewed on the basis of the current market rent (i.e. a market rent review), tenants will now be able to request an early review within 28 days of receiving all of the information the landlord is required to provide above. This way, the market rent is determined before a tenant has to exercise the option. This way, when it does come time to exercise, tenants can make an informed decision and know what rent they are signing up for.
If an early determination results in a rent that is less than the rent which the landlord offered in its notice, the higher rent determined will apply. 
Cooling Off Period 
The 14 day cooling off period is also something unique to the Victorian legislation. It is available to tenants who have exercised their option but have not requested an early rent review. 
Such tenants will now have 14 days to change their mind and notify the landlord that they no longer wish to exercise the option. By doing so, you will permanently lose the option and cannot change your mind and seek to exercise it.  
Essential Safety Measures 
Essential safety measures include items such as: 
sprinklers; fire detection alarm systems;fire doors;fire-rated structures; andother building infrastructure items, such as exit paths.
While landlords, as owners of the building, are responsible for compliance with these items, they had previously sought to recover the cost of compliance and maintenance from their tenants. This was not specifically prohibited under the Act and was consistent with the approach of other states.
An advisory opinion released by the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal in 2015, however, caused some confusion in the industry. This opinion stated that landlords are expected to pay the costs of ESM compliance and cannot pass this on to tenants.
This has now been clarified under the proposed changes so that landlords can recover these costs as an outgoing. This may also apply to existing leases.
Key Takeaways
There are key changes coming to the Victorian retail leasing landscape, which will have a significant impact on both landlords and tenants. These changes include: 
additional disclosure obligations on landlords regarding options; a right for tenants to request an early market rent review to determine the rent before exercising the option; a 14 day cooling off period during which a tenant can withdraw its notice to exercise in certain circumstances; and confirmation that landlords can pass on the costs of compliance with essential safety measures as outgoings.
While it is not yet clear whether these changes will apply to leases already on foot, or only on leases entered into after the amendments come into effect, it is important tenants are aware of the changes. If you have any questions on these changes and your rights as a tenant, contact LegalVision’s leasing lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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If you are a registered health practitioner and wish to advertise your services, you must make sure that you comply with the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. This law is in force in each Australian state and territory (National Law). This article explains some of the advertising requirements for the advertising of regulated health services.  
Regulation of Advertising Health Services
A regulated health service is a service that is usually provided by a health practitioner. If you are a registered health practitioner and wish to advertise your services, or you are otherwise looking to promote regulated health services, you must make sure that any advertisement or promotion complies with the National Law. 
Advertising regulated health services must also comply with the Australian Consumer Law. If the advertisement also directly or indirectly refers to a therapeutic good, you just comply with relevant therapeutic goods laws. Registered health professionals must also comply with their relevant National Board’s code of conduct, which sets out the professional standards, including in relation to advertising.
General Requirements
The National Law places limits on the advertising of regulated health services. In general, an advertisement for regulated health services must not contain false and misleading information, create an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment or encourage the unnecessary use of a regulated health service. 

For example, false or misleading information includes advertising health benefits of your service where there is no proof that such benefits can be obtained. It could also include purporting to be a ‘specialist’ in an area that you do not hold speciality registration for.

Your advertisement should include factual information that helps consumers make an informed decision about seeking your services.

For example, your advertisement could include your:

office details;
hours;
fees (if any price information is exact); and
your qualifications and experience.

Gifts, Discounts and Inducements 
If you offer a gift, prize or discount to consumers, you must clearly state the terms and conditions of such an offer.

For example, if you offer a free consultation for new patients, you must clearly set out any conditions on the offer in the advertisement. This might include:

what the free consultation includes; and 
whether there are any eligibility restrictions.

The National Law prohibits advertising that encourages unnecessary or indiscriminate use of health services. Therefore, you must ensure that by offering a gift, prize or discount to consumers, you are not encouraging consumers to purchase or undergo a regulated health service that they do not require. 
You should also avoid time-limited promotional techniques such as, ‘hurry offer won’t last’ or ‘get in quick’. These can make a consumer feel pressured to make a decision about cost, rather than a health need.
Testimonials
The National Law prohibits use of testimonials when advertising a regulated health service. A testimonial could include any recommendation or statement of support about clinical aspects of a health service.
As a registered health practitioner, you must not use testimonials in any of your advertising. This includes patients posting comments on social media about your services or business.  Accordingly, you should not encourage patients to leave a review or testimonial and remove any testimonials from any website or social media page that is within your control. 
However, you will not be required to remove unsolicited testimonials published on a website or via a social media account over which you have no control.
Scientific Information
If you want to include scientific information in your advertising, you must make sure that it is:

accurate;
balanced;
not misleading; and
presented in a way that can be easily understood by your target audience. 

You should ensure that the relevant research or study is from a verifiable source with a good reputation. You must identify the researchers or sponsors of the scientific study in your advertisement.
Health Services and Related Therapeutic Goods
If your advertisement also refers to a therapeutic good used in the delivery of the service, your advertisement will also need to comply with the requirements for advertising therapeutic goods.
Some services, such as imaging or vaccination services, inherently involve therapeutic goods. As such, advertising for these services will need to comply with relevant therapeutic goods advertising laws.
Key Takeaways
Advertising of regulated health services has strict regulations. Non-compliance with advertising requirements could result in:

disciplinary action;
penalties; or 
various other consequences.

Before advertising your regulated health services, consult a commercial health lawyer to ensure your advertising is compliant with relevant law. To speak with a commercial health lawyer about advertising your therapeutic goods or making therapeutic claims, contact LegalVision’s business lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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Earlier this year, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) fined the activewear brand, Lorna Jane, nearly $40,000 for alleged advertising breaches in relation to its advertising of “anti-virus activewear”. The brand claimed the clothing prevented and protected against infectious disease. You may be wondering why the TGA fined the activewear brand when activewear is not generally a ‘therapeutic good’. That is because representing a good for therapeutic use (such as “anti-virus activewear”) brings the product within the meaning of a therapeutic good under Australian laws. The advertising of therapeutic goods is subject to the regulations administered by the TGA. This article explains some of the advertising requirements that you must comply with when advertising therapeutic goods.
Regulation of Therapeutic Goods Advertising
In Australia, the TGA regulates the advertising of therapeutic goods. Under therapeutic goods laws, advertising can include a statement or pictorial representation that intends to promote the use or supply of the goods. The statement or pictorial statement may be on:
the label of the goods;the packaging of the goods; orany material you include with the package that the goods are in.
Even if your material promotes the use or supply of relevant therapeutic goods in an indirect way, this will still be an advertisement and will need to comply with relevant therapeutic goods advertising laws.
Social media posts, such as posts on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram, which promote the use or supply of a therapeutic good, are also advertisements. Therefore, you must comply with the rules for advertising therapeutic goods.
Certain goods are prohibited from being advertised or marketed to the public. Instead, they can only be advertised to health care professionals in accordance with the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct.

For example, medicines requiring a prescription from a doctor (products containing ingredients specified in Schedule 4 the current Poisons Standard) must not be advertised to the public.

Advertising of therapeutic goods must also comply with:
the Australian Consumer Law;the National Health Practitioner Law (where applicable); and state and territory poisons legislation.
General Requirements
In general, an advertisement for therapeutic goods must support the safe and proper use of the product. It should not encourage inappropriate or excessive use of the good. 
Your advertisement should only contain claims that are:
valid;accurate; andsubstantiated.
You should also make sure your advertisement does not make a claim or representation that your product:
cannot cause harm;has no side-effects;is always effective; or is otherwise magical or miraculous.
Restricted Representations
A restricted representation is an advertisement for therapeutic goods that refers to a serious form of:
disease; condition; ailment; or defect. 

For example, it may refer to heart disease, arthritis or cancer.

A restricted representation may only be used in an advertisement for therapeutic goods directed to the public if the TGA has permitted or approved the use of that representation. You may need to apply to the TGA for prior approval if you want to use a restricted representation in your advertising.
The TGA has recently fined a number of other companies for advertising goods as being effective against COVID-19. This is a restricted representation and is not permitted unless the TGA has approved the product for treating or preventing COVID-19. 
Testimonials & Endorsements
In general, an advertisement for your therapeutic good must not contain an endorsement by a:
health professional;medical researcher;government authority;hospital; or health facility
This includes employees or contractors of a government authority, hospital or health facility.
However, your advertisement may contain testimonials made by a person that claims to have used your good. There are a number of requirements for using testimonials in advertising for these products.

For example, a testimonial used in an advertisement for therapeutic goods must be made by a person who has used the goods for their intended purpose and is not involved in the production, sale, supply or marketing of the goods. They also cannot be an employee or officer of a corporation involved with the production, sale, supply or marketing of the goods or a health professional, medical researcher, government authority, hospital or health facility (or employee or contractor of a government authority, hospital or health facility). 

Further, a testimonial must disclose whether the person providing the testimonial has or will receive any payment, gift or other inducements for providing the testimonial.
Key Takeaways
Advertising therapeutic goods have strict regulations. Not complying with therapeutic goods advertising requirements could result in severe penalties from the TGA as well as various other consequences. Before advertising your products, you should consult a commercial health lawyer to ensure your advertising is compliant. To speak with a commercial health lawyer about advertising your therapeutic goods or making therapeutic claims, contact LegalVision’s business lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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Most non-CFOs will agree that accounting is not sexy. But it is useful and can even be a powerful window into the future of a business. A humble line item in a financial statement – like Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) – can tell you a lot about your company’s ability to scale up. 
COGS refers to the direct expenditure required to produce the goods or services you sell to customers. It includes labour and materials but excludes indirect costs like sales and marketing.
This article explores how COGS can be used to calculate one of the most important ratios for a growth company – gross margin – and how managing this ratio can transform your ability to scale up. 
What is COGS?
COGS is the sum of direct costs required to produce a product. Direct costs include:

materials;
labour; 
transaction costs; and sometimes 
a portion of your fixed costs (like hosting fees for a business that sells software). 

COGS appears in your Profit and Loss statement. 
It can be useful to calculate the average cost to produce one widget. 

Divide your total COGS by the number of widgets sold in the same period to find your average COGS per unit sold. 

This tells you the cost to produce one unit of your product, also known as your marginal cost.
Your marginal cost can be used to calculate your gross margin.
How to Calculate Gross Margin
Gross margin is the ratio of gross profit and revenue. It measures what percentage of your gross revenue (the money paid to you by customers) is yours to keep.
To calculate gross margin, subtract your COGS from your revenue and divide the result by your revenue. Gross margin is expressed as a percentage.

 % Gross margin = (Revenue – COGS) / Revenue

For instance, if my shoe manufacturing business sells $100,000 worth of shoes this month and spends $20,000 on the salaries of factory workers and $30,000 on raw materials, then my gross margin is 50%.

($100,000 – ($20,000 + $30,000)) / $100,000 = 50%

Why Gross Margin Matters
Gross margin gives you a powerful insight into the cost structure of your business. Understanding your cost structure is critical to knowing how – and how fast – to grow your business.
Let’s look at two examples.
1. An Accounting Firm With a Low Gross Margin
A business with a lowl gross margin (<50%) only keeps a small percentage of its revenue. The remainder is paid to employees (for their labour) and suppliers (for materials and other services). The high COGS translates to a low gross margin. An accounting firm has high COGS. For each ‘unit’ it sells, it needs to pay one of its accountants a fairly high salary to deliver the service. For an accounting firm to scale up, it needs to hire more accountants. This takes time and incurs recruitment and training costs. Also, not every accountant will be busy with clients every day – so the COGS will include the salaries of any underutilised accountants. Clearly, growing an accounting firm is challenging and expensive. We can predict this from the gross margin. 2. A Software-as-a-Service Company With a High Gross Margin A business with a high gross margin (>80%) keeps a large percentage of its revenue. A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company’s COGS consists only of hosting and supporting costs. The low COGS translates to a high gross margin.
The low COGS means a SaaS company can scale very quickly. It can sell more instances of its product to more customers with very little incremental cost. This is the reason why many of the world’s fastest growing companies have a SaaS business model.
A business with low COGS and high gross margin can also invest its gross profit in sales and marketing. This can accelerate its growth even further.
Key Takeaways
Accurately measuring your COGS allows you to calculate your gross margin. Understanding your gross margin provides a powerful tool for assessing the potential of your business to grow profitably. Businesses should work to reduce their COGS before pouring money into sales and marketing. This will ensure that you get to keep a larger proportion of the revenues you collect from new customers. 
If you need assistance with the legal side of growing your business, LegalVision’s experienced business lawyers can help. Call 1300 544 755 or complete the form on this page.

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There are certain rules that you must follow when you communicate with prospective customers about your goods or services. To comply with the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), it is important that you do not make any false statements about the qualities, characteristics or values of goods and services. This is an important consideration across your:

advertisements; 
sales calls; or 
other means of communication. 

Failing to ensure the truthfulness and accuracy of your communication with customers may violate the ACL and: 

open you up to financial penalties; or
require you to pay compensation.

This article explains how you can communicate with your customers without infringing the ACL.
When Are You Being Misleading or Deceptive?
Your conduct may be misleading or deceptive if:

you engage in communication with your customers, such as publishing advertisements;
the conduct occurs for the purpose of trade or commerce; and
it misleads or deceives consumers, or induces a consumer into error.

Whether or not your conduct is misleading or deceptive is assessed as a whole, within the context of the surrounding facts and circumstances.

For example, you may have inadvertently given your customer the wrong pricing when speaking to them but corrected yourself immediately or shortly thereafter. The whole conversation would be assessed when determining whether your conduct was misleading.

Significantly, omissions or silence in relation to relevant information can also amount to misleading or deceptive conduct.
It is important to note that your intention is irrelevant when determining whether you have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct. This means that you could still be liable for a breach of the ACL even when you may make a statement which you honestly believe to be true.
Common Mistakes
Businesses can often make misleading or deceptive statements to customers when communicating with consumers. Some of the most common areas are:

disclaimers;
unsubstantiated performance claims;
using the word ‘free’; and
misleading consumers about their rights.

Disclaimers
Many businesses rely too heavily on the use of disclaimers to cure any misleading statements. Importantly, your communications may still be misleading or deceptive, even if you include a disclaimer. This means that you cannot rely on a disclaimer to comply with the ACL.
A disclaimer will not be effective if the:

overall message or impression is misleading; and 
disclaimer contradicts the overall message of your conduct. 

For example, if an advertisement states “50% discount on all goods in store” but the disclaimer reads “discount applies only to t-shirts”, the disclaimer is unlikely to be effective.

A disclaimer must also be clear and prominent. This means that it cannot be in tiny print, as a consumer is unlikely to see or read this message.
Finally, you must consider the format of the advertisement. 

For instance, a small disclaimer is unlikely to resolve a misleading message on a billboard because a consumer driving past is unlikely to see the disclaimer.

Unsubstantiated Performance Claims
A performance claim is a statement that you make about the superior quality or performance of your products or services.

For example, a performance claim might look like this:

“Australia’s favourite milk”; or 
“Most effective skincare range for aging skin”.

You must make sure that you: 

have a reasonable basis to make the claim; and 
can substantiate it with evidence.

Using the Word ‘Free’
You should use the word ‘free’ cautiously when communicating to consumers. You must ensure that no significant conditions apply where you suggest that something might be available for ‘free’.

For example, a café may put up a sign that says “Free coffee!” However, if customers can actually only get a free coffee when they purchase a muffin, it may be considered misleading or deceptive conduct.

In general, the use of disclaimers is not sufficient to avoid the risk of being misleading.
Misleading Consumers about their Rights
When a consumer buys goods or services, those products automatically come with consumer guarantees under the ACL. Notably, there is an expectation that the goods or services are of acceptable quality.
Consumer guarantees: 

apply regardless of any other warranty offered; and 
may continue to apply after express warranties expire.

Some businesses offer extra warranties in relation to their goods or services. However, these additional promises do not replace the consumer guarantees. 

For example, it is not entirely truthful when a business displays a sign in their store that says “No refunds under any circumstances”. Therefore, it is capable of misleading consumers about their rights. However, the business could state that there are “No refunds for change of mind”.

Key Takeaways
It is important to be conscious of how you communicate with your prospective customers, to ensure that you avoid any misleading or deceptive conduct. You should take steps to ensure that any claim you make: 

is accurate; and 
can be supported by evidence. 

Further, you should also implement a monitoring policy, whereby you regularly review your: 

website; 
sales materials; and 
any terms and conditions.

This will help you ensure that: 

all statements are up to date and remain accurate; and
you comply with the ACL. 

If you would like advice about how to comply with the ACL, contact LegalVision’s advertising compliance lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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It is fairly easy to access and download unlicensed copies of software on the internet. However, you should be aware that downloading this software can get you into trouble. Software owners generally own copyright over these works and are willing to enforce their rights. If you have downloaded unlicensed software and the owner of the genuine software is demanding damages, you should carefully consider your legal rights and obligations before responding to the letter. This article sets out:

how copyright protects software; and
how to respond to a demand of damages.

How Does Copyright Protect Software?
Copyright is a legal protection that preserves the intellectual property of peoples’ creative works. This allows the original creator to control how people use their work.

For example, copyright applies to:

photographs;
literary works;
designs; and
music.

Software is generally protected by copyright as a literary work, just like a book would be. This means that the owner has exclusive rights to use and distribute the software. They can also extend licenses to people, which gives them the right to use the software.
Copyright in software will usually be infringed where a person downloads and runs an unauthorised or unlicensed copy of software. This means that you should: 

always obtain a licence before downloading or using software; and 
comply with the conditions of your licence or permission.

How to Respond to the Demand?
If you receive a demand from a copyright owner for using unlicensed software and you have in fact infringed their copyright, you should try to resolve the matter before it progresses.
What to Expect From a Demand for Damages
The letter will likely include a demand for payment. This will likely represent: 

the value of the unpaid licence fee, which you would have paid if you had legally licenced the software; and 
costs for the copyright owner’s legal fees.

The copyright owner may also request payment for additional compensation. This is because, in certain circumstances, a court can order you to pay additional penalties for causing harm to the copyright owner. 

For instance, if: 

your infringement is particularly blatant or deliberate; 
you derived a benefit; 
your conduct after being alerted to the infringement has warranted additional compensation; or
other circumstances have arisen that warrant compensation.

You should contact a lawyer to discuss: 

whether you are in fact guilty of copyright infringement; and 
what your rights and obligations are.

Options for Settlement
If you have infringed copyright by downloading unlicensed software, you may wish to consider making a settlement offer to the copyright owner. Most parties would prefer to resolve a matter privately, to avoid the cost and time commitment required by court proceedings.
When making a settlement offer, you should initially agree to certain ‘undertakings’. Undertakings are legally enforceable promises. In the circumstances, you may wish to undertake to: 

avoid infringing the copyright owner’s copyright in the future;  
delete all copies of unlicensed software immediately; or
take out a licence fee for the software going forward.

If a financial offer is required, you should assess what you would have paid for the software had you licenced the software properly for the period of your unauthorised use. This is a reasonable way of determining what amount of compensation you should offer.
In any case, if you wish to settle the matter, you should: 

demonstrate to the copyright owner that you are serious about reaching a resolution; and 
make a reasonable offer. 

Even if your first offer is not accepted, it may encourage further negotiations to resolve the matter. What you offer will depend on: 

your financial restrictions; 
the circumstances of the matter; and 
what you are comfortable with. 

You should ensure that you make your settlement offers ‘without prejudice’. Any communication that you mark as ‘without prejudice’ for the purpose of resolving a dispute cannot be used against you in any court proceedings, except where an award of legal costs is concerned once you have resolved the matter. This means that if the copyright holder rejects your offer, it will not affect your rights to defend the matter in court proceedings.
Confidentiality
Depending on your circumstances, it may be important to you that the: 

matter remains confidential; and 
copyright owner does not discuss the contents of any agreement that you reach.

Negative publicity may be harmful to the reputation of your business. Therefore, you may wish to make it a term of your settlement offer that the parties: 

keep the matter confidential; and 
do not disclose the details of the matter to third parties.

Statement of Final Settlement
Lastly, you should ensure that any offer you make to resolve the matter includes a statement that ‘the offer is made in full and final settlement’. This will prevent the copyright owner from making further claims against you, your employees or agents regarding the facts of the matter. 
Key Takeaways
Make sure that you seriously consider the implications of any demand letter that you receive from the copyright owner of unlicensed software. If you have in fact used unlicensed copies of software and your conduct is not defensible, you should consider: 

taking steps to resolve the matter; and 
settle the matter before it proceeds any further. 

You should also consider contacting a lawyer so that you understand your rights and obligations before responding to the letter. If you have downloaded unlicensed software and would like legal assistance, contact LegalVision’s IP lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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An employee share scheme is a great way for your company to align your employees’ interests with your own and encourage productivity and retention. This is because it encourages your employees to purchase shares in your private company and benefit from a share of the company’s profits. However, you need to ensure that you meet certain requirements to fulfil your obligations under the law. Notably, you must provide interested employees with a disclosure document outlining specific information before they invest. This article explains: 

when a company must prepare a disclosure document to accompany the offer of shares or options to an employee; and 
what type of disclosure document is necessary. 

What is an Employee Share Scheme Disclosure Document?
The Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act) governs the offer of ‘securities’ (e.g shares and options) by a company. It requires you to provide investors with a disclosure document if you want to offer the opportunity to purchase securities, unless an exemption applies.

For example, you could provide them with a:

prospectus; or
offer information statement.

When raising capital, a company will generally try to meet one of the exemptions so that it can proceed with its raise without a disclosure document. In the same way, a company that wants to issue options or shares to employees must also:

determine that an exemption applies; or 
provide the employee with a disclosure document along with their offer. 

Preparing a disclosure document is a big commitment for early-stage businesses. Therefore, it is important to know how you can fit into the exemptions where possible. 
Offers That Need Disclosure
The Act requires you to provide a disclosure document when you offer securities, unless an exemption applies. An offer of options or shares under your employee share scheme is an offer of securities. You are exempt from disclosure where the offer is:

to a sophisticated investor;
to a professional investor; 
a small scale offering; or
to senior management.

Small Scale Offerings
A small scale offering is where: 

you do not make offers to more than 20 people in a 12 month period; and 
those offers do not raise over $2 million in aggregate (i.e. the amount the employee pays to acquire the shares or exercise the options).

For these purposes, you can disregard any offers that are excluded under any of the other exemptions. 

For example, if you make offers to 21 people in a 12 month period and one of those offers was to a sophisticated investor, you will still be exempt from providing a disclosure document.

This exemption is commonly relied on by early stage startups, who may only offer options or shares to a small handful of people in a 12 month period.
Sophisticated Investor
You do not need to provide a disclosure document if your offer is to a sophisticated investor. This is someone who: 

has invested at least $500,000 in the company; 
holds net assets of at least $2.5 million; or 
whose gross income for the previous 2 financial years was at least $250,000 per year.

Professional Investor
A professional investor is someone who: 

has an Australian Financial Services Licence; or 
manages gross assets of at least $10 million.

They are exempt from receiving a disclosure document because they have the skills and expertise to make an informed decision by themselves.
Senior Management
If you are offering shares or options to members of senior management in your company, or their related parties, you do not need to provide a disclosure document.
Exemption Conditions
In each of these scenarios, it is important to note that ‘the offer’ must be a personal offer. This means that you must make the offer to a person who is likely to be interested as a result of: 

previous contact; or 
a professional connection.

You can only send the offer to the person who may intend to accept, meaning that you cannot send a blanket offer out to multiple recipients.

For example, an offer emailed to a specific employee would meet this requirement. However, an email blast out to your whole company would not.

Alternative Exemption Possibilities
If none of the above exemptions apply, you may still seek an exemption from your disclosure requirements under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Class Order 14/1001 (the Class Order). However, this is only possible if your company meets the relevant conditions.
A key condition is that the value of all offers of options or shares to any eligible participant in the applicable 12-month period is not greater than $5,000 per participant. Unfortunately, this generally precludes most companies from relying on the Class Order. However, there are some possible exemptions to the $5,000 cap, so it is worth speaking to your legal advisor about your particular goals and circumstances. 
Type of Disclosure Document
The Act states that if an offer needs disclosure, a prospectus must be prepared for the offer unless the Act allows for an offer information statement (OIS) to be used instead. 
Your company can use an OIS (rather than a prospectus) if the amount of money you raise, when combined with all amounts previously raised under an OIS, is $10 million or less. Importantly, this excludes amounts payable on securities issued under an OIS as part of an employee share scheme. 
This means that when determining how much money you have raised, you do not count amounts raised under the other disclosure exemptions. Notably, you can exclude any amounts raised by sophisticated or professional investors. 
It also means that you may offer options or shares under your employee share scheme according to your OIS, up to any value. This is so long as you do not use the OIS to raise other capital. 

In short, if you have not raised funds from investors under an OIS, you can use an OIS as your disclosure document for your employees. 

This is good news, as an OIS is a shorter document than a prospectus and simpler to prepare. Amongst other things, an OIS must:

identify the company; 
outline the nature of the securities;
describe the company’s business; and
 include a copy of a financial report of the company.

Importantly, the financial report must: 

be for a 12 month period; 
have a balance date that occurs within the last six months;
be prepared in accordance with accounting standards; and 
be audited.

You must lodge the OIS with ASIC and all directors must consent to its lodgment. It will expire 13 months after the date you lodge it with ASIC. This means that you will have to prepare and lodge a new OIS each year that you offer securities that need disclosure under your employee share scheme. 
How to Make an Offer Under an OIS
To make an offer under an OIS, your company must:

prepare an OIS (which must satisfy all requirements of the Act and include audited accounts, with a balance date within the last six months);
obtain the consent of your company directors;
lodge the OIS with ASIC;
update your employee share scheme offer letter to reflect that you are making the offer under the OIS;
provide the employee with the OIS along with their offer; and
proceed as usual with the offer of securities.

Key Takeaways
When you first implemented your employee share scheme, you probably did not need to worry about disclosure documents. This is likely because you were only issuing options or shares to a handful of people, meaning that you were covered by the small scale offering exemption. However, as your startup grows and you start hiring large numbers of people each year, you may no longer fall under one of the exemptions. If that is the case, you will need to prepare a disclosure document (most likely an OIS). This document is governed by the Act and you will likely need legal support to ensure that you meet your obligations. If you would like advice regarding your employee share scheme or assistance preparing a disclosure document, contact LegalVision’s startup lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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Rewards and loyalty can be one of the most interesting areas of business growth; they combine the hard numbers of quantitative analysis with the softer areas of psychology and social science. 
Rewards are one of the key considerations in creating a referral program to supercharge your business’ growth. But how do you get it right? 
Here are some tips on how to use rewards to drive referrals for your business, in particular: 

how to choose the structure of your rewards program; and 
how to choose the rewards. 

Structuring Your Rewards Program
The big question here is whether you create a “single-sided” or “double-sided” rewards program:

A single-sided program rewards either the person making the referral or the person being referred, but not both. A double-sided program rewards both. 

To decide which one works best for your business, you need to understand whether: 

giving a reward or discount to the potential new customer will actually increase sales. If it will not, there may be no reason to erode your bottom line by offering an incentive to the buyer. You can test this fairly easily using a standard A/B test with purchasers that have not been referred. For example, offer an incentive to a group of buyers (Group A) and no incentive to another group (Group B) and monitor the effects on conversion rates.
you expect most of your referrals to come from existing clients. If this is the case, unless there is a good reason not to (see the point above), a double-sided program is usually best as it can increase loyalty as well as driving new business sales. 
rewarding your potential referrers will make them more likely to refer. Some people/industries want to add value to their network by being a problem-solver – even for issues outside their core expertise. For these types of referrers, a reward will unlikely move the needle. Focus should instead be placed on building their trust in your business, educating them on what you do, but most importantly, giving their referrals a killer client experience.

The second key structural choice you need to make is when the rewards are granted, or, put differently, what is the behaviour you want to reward? Now, you don’t need to run a Pavlov’s-dogs-level experiment here, but you need to find a balance between: 

your ultimate goal (e.g. drive new sales); 
the point in your sales process you can reasonably expect your referrers to participate; 
the value of referrals at each stage of your sales process (i.e do you convert most of your leads or do you rely on high lead volumes? The answer can tell you whether it’s better to reward for leads or for sales); and 
how much effort is required from the referrer compared to the value of the reward. 

How to Choose Rewards
Picking your rewards is the fun part.
A useful framework for choosing rewards is this: 

Determine how much you can give away to set your budget; 
Understand what type of reward motivates the people you are rewarding;
Where possible, pick rewards that have a higher perceived value. 

Let’s go through each of these in turn.
1. How Much Can You Give Away? 
To decide how much you are willing to invest in rewards, you will want to weigh up your: 

customer lifetime value (CLV). CLV is how much you will earn from your average customer over an unlimited time (i.e total value of all transactions, including return business for a customer) You need to ensure your customer acquisition cost does not make you unprofitable (unless, of course, you don’t care about that at this stage in your growth); and
customer acquisition cost (CAC). This is how much it costs you to acquire a customer. It is often calculated by adding up all sales and marketing costs (eg. advertising, marketing and sales staff salaries) and dividing this by the number of customers you acquire – but you can also segment CAC on a channel-by-chanel basis to see which channels deliver the best ROI. 

The reason that looking at your CAC from other channels is important is because: 

you will often be able to switch out a lot of this cost to make room for your reward (referrals can eliminate a lot of the costs associated with acquiring customers through alternative channels; for example, advertising and marketing cost. They also tend to have a higher conversion rate, ultimately further reducing CAC); 
even if you do not have a goal to activate more cost-effective channels than the ones you currently have, it’s helpful to benchmark referrals against what you are already doing.

Why Bother If It Is More Expensive?
You might ask why you would want to activate a new customer acquisition channel if it is not more cost-effective than your existing channels. Three possible reasons are: 

it may allow you to access a market or client base that your traditional efforts simply cannot reach (e.g. people that aren’t seeing your marketing or advertising);  
you find that referred customers end up being stickier (i.e they are less likely to cancel and have a higher CLV than your usual customers); and 
the higher conversion rate of referred customers might surprise you – making the channel more cost-effective than you initially thought (i.e by lowering the CAC). 

Once you know your budget for rewards, you can now work on setting rewards at the right level. Remember that: 

there will always be a natural limit to how much a person can actually refer; and 
there will be an optimal reward level that maximises profit from sales (in this sense it’s not dissimilar to finding the optimal price for your products/services). 

Unless you are only concerned with increasing revenue or customer numbers, the goal should be to find the optimal reward level so as to maximise profit. As with pricing decisions, this will often take a bit of experimentation to nail. However, there are a couple of golden rules that can help in setting reward value:

do not give away more than is needed to generate the maximum number of referrals (to avoid unnecessary erosion of your bottom line); and
do not (with limited exceptions) give away so much that you are paying more for sales than you will earn in customer lifetime value. 

2. Choosing Reward Types
Once you know how much you can/should spend on rewards, you can explore what you actually want to give away. Why not just cash, you may ask? Well, it’s reasonably well-established that cash rewards are not as effective as other reward types. 
Some common ideas for non-cash incentives include: 

credit for your products or services (good for existing customers);
third-party products (e.g movie or event tickets, store vouchers, airline loyalty points, etc.). This is a good approach if you are a relatively unknown business as you can lean on known brands. It can also work well if you offer services that people may not be excited about purchasing (such as accounting services); and 
charitable donations (we love this approach and use it as part of our referral program at LegalVision).

You should be guided by your research and knowledge of your customer here in terms of what they want. Here are three ways to zero in on both optimal reward level and reward type: 

Conduct market research on what your competitors or companies in comparable industries are doing (ie. “best practice”);
Ask your customers what they would want (focus groups of promoters can be useful here); and
test in live A/B test environments with partner or client groups

Better yet, combine all of these and get creative. 
3. Picking Rewards With Higher Perceived Value

If you do not use cash, there is a great opportunity to choose a reward that has greater perceived value than what it costs you. 
For example:

rewards points or credits for your business do not cost you their retail value. Yet the customer perceives $100 store credit as worth $100; 
a ticket to an exclusive premier may only cost you $60 to secure, but its unavailability on the open market gives it a higher value to the customer receiving it; and 
the feel-good factor that comes from a customer knowing they supported a charitable cause is often perceived as more valuable than the cash value of money donated. 

Choosing rewards that have these attributes can allow you to reduce the cost of acquiring customers through referrals. It can also allow you to increase the value of the reward to hit optimal reward levels where you otherwise may not have had the budget (in cash) to do so. 
Key Takeaways 
Creating a powerful rewards program to drive referrals for your business can be very, well, rewarding. To do it well you need to:

understand your numbers. How much can you give away and how much should you give away to maximise your results? Customer lifetime value (CLV) and customer acquisition cost (CAC) are the workhorses here.
know your customers and partners. Know what motivates them so that you can give it to them! 
pick rewards that have a high perceived value to make your program as efficient and effective as possible. 

At LegalVision, we use donations as a reward for partners that choose it – planting groves of trees every time someone is referred, but also as long as they remain a member with us. You can even view our forest here. Pretty cool? We think so. 
Lastly – a quick note from our lawyers: make sure you have researched and are across the legalities and obligations of giving or receiving rewards in your industry and in your location. If you are unsure, seek advice before launching your rewards program. 
Want to learn more about building a great referral program or explore partnering with LegalVision? Get in touch! Call LegalVision’s partnership team on 1300 544 755 or complete the form on this page.

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Buying a franchise is an exciting opportunity for prospective business owners. It allows you to join a community of business owners, operate under an established brand and benefit from a tried-and-tested system. However, there are two different ways to enter a franchise network. Your first option is to buy directly from the franchisor. Via this method, you own a new store or territory, known as a ‘greenfield’ franchise site. Alternatively, you might like to buy an existing or established franchise. This article will explore the pros and cons of buying a greenfield franchise rather than buying an existing franchise.
What is a Greenfield Franchise?
A greenfield franchise is a new opportunity. You buy the franchise directly from the franchisor and: 
establish a new store; or develop a new territory. 
You will set up the new franchise and begin running the business from scratch. It will be a brand new business and you will be responsible for ensuring its success from the beginning.
A retail goods franchise will involve opening a new store location where there is no other store close by. Alternatively, a service-based franchise will require extending into new franchise territory that is not currently serviced by the franchise network.
Greenfield opportunities are advertised on the franchisor’s website. The ‘greenfield’ label is applied to distinguish the location from existing franchises. Whether the franchise is a greenfield or existing franchise should be made clear in the disclosure document provided to you by the franchisor.
What is an Existing Franchise?
Existing franchises are premises or territories that past franchisees have already established. You will buy the store or territory from an existing franchisee who wants to sell their business. In some circumstances, you can buy a corporate store from the franchisor and begin running the venue as a franchise. 
Existing franchises have a history and are often ready to start doing business immediately. There are numerous advantages offered by an established franchise. However, there are risks and you should do your due diligence before finalising the deal. 
Pros and Cons
Greenfield Franchise

Pros

Cons

Value
A greenfield franchise presents an interesting opportunity to open up a previously untapped market. A great business owner can set up a strong foundation for a store, build its reputation and then on-sell the business for a profit. 

Risk
With an untapped market comes the higher risk associated with an unproven territory or site. Unlike an existing franchise, you cannot rely on sales figure history or business goodwill. It may also take longer to develop a client base.

Lower Entry Cost
When you purchase a franchise from a franchisor, there will be an initial franchise fee that you pay for the right to become a franchisee. However, when you purchase an existing franchise, you will need to pay the sale price to the vendor for the reputation they have established in that location. Often the sale price adds a premium to the cost for existing sites or territories, meaning that a new franchise allows for a lower entry cost.

Missed Opportunity to Buy Poor Performing Franchises
In some circumstances, a greenfield franchise does not necessarily allow for a lower entry point. Certain existing sites that are performing poorly could be sold for less than the cost of the fit out. Franchises which have been improperly managed can also be easier to turn around and succeed than a fresh new location.

Profit Margin
Given the entry cost is likely to be lower, there is an opportunity to make a reasonable profit when you are ready to sell the franchised business.

Long Term Game
A new franchise may require more time to establish. You need to successfully operate the franchise, build goodwill, and demonstrate decent profit margins. Often new franchisees need to operate the business for around two years before realising a return on their investment. You also need to ensure you have sufficient working capital to sustain the start-up costs, business expenses, and personal finances until the business makes a profit.

Find a Lease that Perfectly Suits Your Needs
A new business allows you unlock the potential of a fresh and exciting new location or territory. You are able to fit out the store in exactly the way you would choose, with your franchisor’s approval. Further, you can obtain the benefits of a landlord contribution for the fit out, as you are building the site from scratch.

You Bear the Burden of the Leasing Process
You are required to search, gain approval and negotiate a new lease. Remember to inspect the area to determine the demographic, foot traffic, construction plans, rezoning requirements and prosperity of nearby businesses. This process can be time consuming and expensive. Then you need to plan and purchase a brand new fitout and equipment.

Existing Franchise

Pros

Cons

Benefit from the Goodwill of the Existing Business
If you are keen to buy an existing business, you probably want to buy the good reputation that the business holds. You will analyse the profitability of the business, meaning that you will have a good general understanding of the business’ likelihood of success. Importantly, you may pay more for an existing franchise because you will be paying for the goodwill of the business, in addition the cost of the fitout and equipment.

You May Suffer from Poor Goodwill
While goodwill of an existing franchise can be an advantage, you should carefully evaluate the outgoing franchisee’s relationship with the local community and the standard of customer service provided. Poor service experiences in the past may be detrimental to the success of your business and take some time to improve. 

Past Financial Records to Indicate Expected Revenue
Buying an existing franchise will give you the opportunity to inspect the franchise’s financial records and consult with an accountant. This will give you a better indication of your expected revenue and return on investment.

Existing Financials Records Might be Misleading
It is critical that you carefully check and understand all records and aspects of the sale. Sometimes it can be difficult to verify sales. Financials might be enhanced or outgoings might be downplayed by the vendor, to boost the sale price. You should carry out due diligence and not assume you are getting a good or trustworthy deal.

There is a risk that even when you complete as many checks as possible, you uncover the actual sale figures or costs after the purchase takes effect. Making a claim against the vendor can be difficult to enforce after the sale has completed.

Less Risk
If you carefully conduct your due diligence, you should be able to get a good understanding of the business’ history. You can ask both the franchisor and vendor for financial information to help you make your decision. This means that you assume far less risk than if you were to purchase a greenfield franchise and establish your business from scratch. 

Higher Sale Price to Buy the Franchise
While the initial franchise fee will be lower, you will generally have to pay a significant premium for an operating business compared to a new business. You may have to pay between two and four times the business’ earnings on top of fit out, equipment and stock to acquire an existing franchise. The reason for the premium is justified by the knowledge you have of the reputation, goodwill and success of the established business.

Fit Out and Equipment Is Already Organised
Buying an existing franchise often enables you to avoid finding and fitting out the appropriate premises to run the franchise. Depending on the business type, fit outs can be very expensive. Further, you may be able to purchase the business cheaply with a depreciated fit out and equipment. You should assess whether the fitout and equipment is still functional, or whether the franchisor will require the fitout and equipment to be replaced. You should ask the franchisor to inspect and advise on the state of the equipment.

Locked into an Existing Lease
Avoiding the search for a location is a benefit of an existing franchise. However, you must carefully understand the terms of the lease you are agreeing to. Purchasing a more established store might mean that the lease is due to be renewed in the near future. There is no certainty that the lease will be renewed or that the rent will remain at its current rate. When renewing the lease the landlord might increase the rent or require an expensive refurbishment. You should carefully consider your potential obligations under the leave before purchasing any business involving premises.

Keep on Existing Employees
Often the employees of a business being sold are happy to continue working for the new owner. Good quality employees can be valuable to keep to assist with the transition because they understand the business well. You should discuss this decision with the vendor and personally interview the employees.

Assume Employee Obligations
Remember to consider any unpaid employee entitlements (e.g. long service leave) in your calculation of the sale of business price. These entitlements will become your obligation after settlement. 

Franchisor Approval and Fee
In most franchise systems, the franchisor must be informed of and approve the transfer of a franchise from a vendor to a purchase. It is helpful to enquire with the vendor and the franchisor if possible as to what criteria you need to fulfil to enter the franchise network. Franchisors may require that you: 

have business experience; or 
are of good financial standing. 

Many franchisors will charge a transfer fee and some will ask you to pay for your required training. Certain franchisors necessitate that you complete a lengthy and expensive orientation prior to being approved by the franchisor. You should ensure that you have some legal instrument which allows you to depart from the sale if you are not approved.

Key Takeaways
Whether you buy a greenfield franchise or an existing franchise, you need to do your due diligence. Do your best to confirm the investment is a good choice for you and make sure you know:
how the initial franchise fee compares to the purchase price of an existing franchise;whether the location of the existing franchise is advantageous, considering any potential renovations or construction in the area;what the condition of the existing fitout and equipment is;whether you are happy with the performance of existing employees?;whether the financial records indicate that the business is likely to continue to be successful; and what the terms of the franchise agreement are.
If you would like legal advice about whether to purchase a greenfield franchise or an existing franchise, contact LegalVision’s franchise lawyers on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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Growth is a priority for most businesses. At LegalVision, effective and sustained content marketing played (and continues to play) a big role in our rapid growth from a 2-person startup to a 100+ employee business in just over five years.  
Attracting new clients at pace starts with building a strong, stable marketing funnel. It’s not enough to simply rely on the strength of your sales pitch. Good marketing funnels start with helping your potential and existing clients to solve their problems before they are a paying client. A cost-effective way of doing this is through content marketing. 
When implemented successfully, content marketing helps businesses: 

increase brand awareness; and
boost conversions and revenue by attracting new prospects and allowing for targeted messages throughout their buyer journey. 

In short, good content marketing = the foundations of a steady pattern of growth for your services business. 
In this article, we will cover: 

how to craft a content marketing strategy for service businesses; 
how to produce content for each stage of the journey; and 
how to share this content to maximise conversions and revenue. 

What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing allows service businesses to plan, create and distribute marketing information that addresses their audience’s pain points and challenges. 
Take special note of the word (marketing) “information”, as opposed to “collateral”. The goal of your content is to educate your potential (and existing) clients on how to solve a problem and why your services are the best solution in the market to this problem. But in order to do this successfully, you must put yourself in their shoes. 

Pro Tip: Stop trying to sell first. The needs and wants of your audience are (or should be) at the front and centre of your content marketing strategy. Knock down the wall between you and your clients and start building sincere and authentic relationships. Remember, it’s a two-way conversation.

What Does a Content Strategy Look Like?
Crafting a content strategy starts with understanding your audience and how they consume content. 
If you are not yet using a marketing platform, we recommend setting up a basic template in a spreadsheet to allow you to budget for and measure the results of your efforts. 
1. Define Your Audience
In order to produce content for a specific audience, first, you need to understand:

who your target audience is;
what problem(s) that audience is facing; and 
how your audience consumes content (including where, when and how often…).

When profiling your target audience, it is best to be as specific as possible. Try breaking down your audience into detailed customer types or personas. For example, if you’re a small accounting firm, some of your personas may look like: 

Sam, the small business owner;
Lucy, the independent contractor;
Dave, the property investor; and 
The Joneses, the retired couple. 

If you find yourself with more personas than you can cater for, try prioritising the ones that bring in the most revenue for your business. 
Next, document as much as you can for each of these personas using a mixture of: 

market research;
customer surveys;
focus groups;
past experience; and
educated guesses. 

Armed with this knowledge you can then dive into which channels are the best to reach them. But first, define some clear goals. 
2. Set Clear Goals 
Setting clear, specific goals help you think about what you’re trying to achieve and how to get there. When setting goals, it’s a good idea to be relevant, clear and specific. 
For example, you might find that leads generated from your LinkedIn posts have the highest conversion rate so you want to focus your efforts on increasing leads from this channel. Make this goal measurable by quantifying your desired increase, for example, by 10%. Another key aspect is to set a time limit on achieving your goal, whether that’s a month, a quarter, or six months (time-based). 
3. Map Content-Types to Your Buyer Journey 
Content marketing can take various formats depending on your audience demographics and their stage in their buyer journey. Some of the most common content formats include:

written content: blog posts, ebooks, reports, whitepapers, service comparisons, case studies;
visual content: infographics, videos, webinars, live interactions and demos; and
audio content: podcasts

Pro Tip: If you’re new to content, blog posts are a good place to start. Otherwise, consider auditing and repurposing your existing content. 

4. Set Up a Content Production Workflow
Whether your marketing team is small or large (or is just you with a different hat!), defining a content workflow can help your business produce more and better content by increasing efficiency and improving visibility over the whole process. 
A content production workflow outlines:

where your content is sourced from; and 
who is in charge of ideation, producing, reviewing, approving and publishing it. 

It also defines specific tasks within each stage and allocates an amount of time to complete them. 
There are plenty of tools in the market that allow you to automate your content flow, but remember not to fall into the trap of having too many tools in your stack, as you’re likely to end up under-utilising them. A basic Google Sheet can allow you to visualise the entire process and collaborate with others in your team. But if you need something more advanced take a look at tools like Hubspot.

Pro Tip: To make big waves with content, you need to produce a lot of it. If your services business has a small (or non-existent) marketing team but a large headcount, consider getting everyone in your business to contribute to your content production, such as writing a few articles or LinkedIn posts every month. This is the approach we’ve used at LegalVision which has helped us become the most visited legal services website in Australia.

If your business does not have the internal resources to make an effective content marketing play – hope is not lost. Consider engaging someone to write content for you, or whether you can leverage other businesses’ content that your audience will find valuable. For example, LegalVision encourages businesses to share any of our content to add value to their network as part of our LVAmbassador program, allowing them to use the power of our proven content without a cost commitment. 
How to Share Your Content to Maximise ROI
Once created, your content will come to life when you share it with your audience on your website, social media channels, forums, by email or any other medium they engage with. The key here is to understand how your audience consumes content and how it engages with your content. 
Define Your Channel Mix 
As well as knowing your audience, another key aspect of content creation is knowing how you’re going to distribute it and whether you will promote it. 
There is no optimal number of channels you should have in your mix. The key is to include a mixture of owned, earned and paid channels and to focus your efforts on those that will maximise your ROI. As with your audience definition, your choices should be informed by market research.

Pro Tip: Consider using an editorial calendar to plan and control how you’ll distribute your content across all these different channels. 

Analyse Your Content’s Performance 
Before publishing your content, don’t forget to set clear KPIs to help you track performance and guide your future efforts. For example, if your goal is to increase traffic, a useful KPI is the (unique) number of page views – by both channel and source. These metrics depend on your distribution channels, so take a look at Google Analytics and your social media dashboards to familiarise yourself with the data you have available. 

Pro Tip: It’s easy to skip this step when you have so many other things to focus on, so set aside a time every month or quarter to analyse your content’s performance and establish a baseline to measure your future efforts against. 

Key Takeaways
Content marketing done well can help your business enter a period of hyper-driven growth. The three most important things to get right are: 

solve problems that your audience has. Don’t sell. Trust that the sale will follow if you deliver real value by educating your audience. 
now everything you can about your audience and segment them into target personas; the more you know about their behaviour and challenges, the more specific you will be, and the more likely it is you will nail the first bullet point above. 
build a solid content production line. If you can’t do that in-house, consider outsourcing options or strategic partnerships with businesses who already create content that your network will find valuable.

Creating and executing an effective content marketing strategy can seem daunting. However, even the smallest of teams can make an effective content marketing play to drive growth for their business. If you want to talk all things content strategy or discuss how partnering with LegalVision could help grow your business, get in touch on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page.

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