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PAGE 8, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, TANTJUARY 11, 1989 WHITBY FREE PRESS A BUSINESS UPDATE INFORMATION FEATURE NEWS Sunday shopping bill will soon be law By Dpbbie Luchuk Despite opposition parties' pro- test against Sunday shopping legislation, Durham Centre MPP Allan Furlong said that the Bill will be out of committee by this week and voted into law by the endof January. "It (Bill) is in committee, and will hopefully be out of commit- tee by this Monday," Furlong, Liberal MPP, said of the Bill which he supports. A private member's bill brought forward by Conservative party leader Andy Brandt would increase the maximum fine for breaking the Retail Business Holidays Act to $50,000 in December. Furlong and the government menbers voted it down. "Brandt was making political hay. I support the government position, and I hope the Bill is passed by the end of January." Furlong said that closure could be invoked by the premier. "We've been through the pro- cess, and at this stage, enough's enough." Furlong thinks the ,main area of concern for those opposed to the Bill is the "domino effect". "If the Eaton Centre applied. for a tourist exemption (to open on Sunday), then there would be a domino effect. What would the Scarborough Town Centre or Yorkdale do? "The legislation (new Sunday shopping Bill) says clearly that all businesses will be closed. If the municipality has a reason to open a business, they have that option." "But if a business is open contrary to that (municipal approval), then a fine (to $50,O00) will apply." The local option is the issue, the rest of the Bill is much the same as before, with stronger penalties, Furlong said. And Furlong pointed out that regional council has already in- dicated that region businesses will not be open for Suiday shopping. "It s a non-issue here." Regarding concerns that per- sonnel of retail stores may be forced to work Sundays, Furlong said that there will be a com- panion piece of legislation to protect employees from "unrea- sonable" Sunday work assign- ment. "It doesn't say that they (wor- kers) can refuse to work Sundays forever. For example, a head of a department may have to work one Sunday out of four. It means that you don't have to work every Sunday for the next six months." For those whose religious con- victions will not permit them to work Sundays, there will be pro- tection. Furlong does not see Sunday work hours as a problem, and said that he thought most of those working Sundays will be -part-time stucdent staff who need weekend hours to earn money. YOUR BUSINESs Writing a business plan Trying to start a business without a proper business plan is like trying to travel through uncharted territory without a map. Pretty tricky to figure out where you're going. It is critical, in fact, to have a comprehensive business plan for a number of reasons. Unless you have a clear, written profile of the company's expected performance and prospects, it's virtually impossible to get any financial backing, apart from family largess. What's more, putting it all down on paper makes it easier to judge whether the venture is sound to begin with. And once you're established, the plan serves as a good reference to track performance. Although it's not a legal requirement, a formal business plan is pretty well deemed mandatory by the financial community. Gary Angst, a consultant in the Small Business Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Industry, Trade and Technology, points out that it's foolish to approach a banker with only some preliminary calculations. "Some people actually jot numbers on a napkin or on the back of a cigaret package, not ·surprisingly, they don't get more than the time of day from the banks," he says. Angst covers the province each year giving numerous seminars to prospective entrepreneurs on how to develop a sound business plan. "A typical business plan begins with a summary of your operation, your idea, the market need, the amount of capital >IH "With a business plan like this, your best hope is to win a lottery, back a winner, or be very nice to a rich relative!" required and the projected financial results," explains Angst. "Your- plan must make sense on paper before you dip into your wallet and get involved in business." Graham Conningham, an accountant and senior partner with Toronto-based G.G. Cunningham & Associates Inc., is convinced there's a definite correlation between a valid business plan and commercial success. "In your business plan, you should make a yearly sales forecast," advises Cunningham. "Then, compare your monthly cash flow with your projections. Although there will always be some variance, you can red flag a problem right away." Based on his long experience as a management consultant to small business, Cunningham cautions against one fairly common problem in drafting business plans. Often, he says, owner-managers are too optimistic when forecasting sales. Figures may be pulled out of thin air or calculated too nimbly using spreadsheet software. "Sales forecasts are virtually meaningless if you don't calculate the profit spread for each product line," says Cunningham. To help you create a valid business plan, the Small Business Branch of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Technology provides three low-cost, comprehensive guide books that cover business planning for the manufacturing, retailing and service sectors. These booklets contain forms to be filled out. Once completed, they provide a blueprint of your management, marketing and financial capabilities, solid groundwork on which potential investors can build. Toshiba's family of telephone systems are the very hallmarks of reliability. The first thing they'll do is take care of business. The last thing they'll'do is break down. The phones are comp- atible across all Toshiba systems! This protects your original investment as you grow. Everything you'd expect from a company that's been in telecom- munications for over 100 years. This also includes facsimile / /- 1 Before you buy your next system, call MoTel, your authorized Toshiba dealer and see Strata and Perception. Now you can be sure you'Il make the right call! MoTe lli Serving the Durham Region 430-7242 FACTS ABOUT FAX By Marc Forget Motel Telecommunications Inc. Purchasing behavior is generally motivated by three factors: price, quality and service. Quality and service or "fit" are collectively called performance. It is the object of the buyer to obtain the highest performance to price ratio possible: this is called cost. Performance and price are in fact antagonistic and very often lead buyers to confuse price with cost. The buying price will partially determine the profitibility of the selling organization. The lower the margins are, the greater the tendency is to sell large volumes in order to be profitable. Imagine the goods being sold require servicing and training, such as a. fascimile machine. A company with a large selling volume in today's market usually gets there by discounting: a natural response to the 'best price" pressure created by the buyers. The low profits and large installed base usually translates into poor or weak continuity in service: a financial' reality. Keep in mind that the buyer creates this unfortunate situation by demanding low price and not low cost. Sustained low profitability coupled with a poor service record is financial suicide for a company and when they fail and they will, you, the customer, lose all service. The only thing that makes any sense is to pay the list price (as incredible as it may seem!). Discounters are buying your business at the future cost of poor service. On a similar note, you may be oversold to compensate for discounting, or sold a poor situation. The bottom line is: you can't have high quality and good service at a low price. The law of sound buying states that you can only have two of the three: which one are you prepared to give up? Please consider this the next time you buy or sell a product. -r4ý-