Also in the running to help the small business owner is B2Bee. They recently added a bookkeeping product to their line of tools for the entrepreneur. For more information about online invoicing, expense tracking, and bookkeeping features, visit http://www.getthebee.com/.

Having good business tools in hand to help you run your business can help you make the most out of your most valuable resource; your time. And, as always, if you need assistance easing your cash flow pains, please feel free to contact us.

The article highlighted a different perspective on business development. There were some great take-aways that I would like to share with you. (Thank you Mr. Keseric for your insights). And, though I believe these are all things that we are aware of, I think we forget to be actively engaged. I know that I found his ‘laundry list’ a good reminder. It doesn’t matter what your business is, or how large/small you are, you can implement and benefit from these suggestions.

• Stay in close contact with your clients and ask them for referrals.
• Suggest addition services that your firm provides for your current clients.
• Work your referral network as you never know when it will be the right place and right time.
• Network like a politician running for office—meet, greet and shake a ton of hands.
• Be observant. Look for new businesses coming into your market.
• Be positive in your attitude.
• Embrace technology. Use it today because we may not understand it tomorrow.
• Be passionate in what you do and how you do it. Others will see it.
• Host and moderate a seminar for business owners on topics that can help them run their business better. Invite clients and prospects, and offer your referral sources to bring in clients. Don’t make it an infomercial for accounting services. Make the topics unrelated to your firm. By doing so you will make the program more impactful and important.
• Follow up on everything you do and say (see dot above).
• Look at how you get to places vs. just looking at the destination only. In other words, don’t focus on the revenues only, but focus on the relationship that will bring you to those revenues.
• Improve the internal communications avenues in your firm by responding to e-mails and voicemail messages…the first time.
• Market your firm year round.
• Join organizations to meet new people and businesses. Time consuming but needs to be done.
• Easier to say than do, but be more welcoming to others. Give people a reason to remember you. Enjoy being yourself and let others see you who you are.
• Be a teammate to your colleagues.
• Lead and look to the future on how to grow your business. There is no book or iron-proof marketing plan available, just hard work on your part.
• Strive to be rewarded as a trusted advisor by clients.
• Get social: FaceBook, LinkedIn, others. They’re too big to ignore and they’re not going away.

As you all know, I am all about the business of helping grow your business… whether it is by offering funding options or information.

1. Get busy recognizing where your cash flow challenges are. Are you allowing those that buy your goods or services to adopt a slow pay policy? Whether it is a slow leak or a fast leak, slow payments are an increase in your cost of doing business. Put your customers on notice that they need to pay in a timely fashion. Whether you choose to adopt a policy where you require payment at time of providing goods/services or allow your customers to pay you within a certain time frame you need to maintain control of the process. I recommend the pay as you go option, but realize that may be something you will work with as your comfort level allows. Be aware that, if you allow customers to pay within a certain time frame it is essential that you don’t allow them to ‘forget’ about you. Follow up in the form of a statement – 15 to 30 days after payment was due. You might then try a follow up phone call or letter. It is a good idea to have a plan “B” in place, in the event the slow pay drags on beyond 60 or 90 days; either in-house collector or a collection agency. The phone calls don’t have to be threatening. We find that making calls as a courtesy, “We wanted to ensure you received the invoice and that there is not a problem with the services you received,” is often all it takes.

2. Funding – A revolving line of credit with your lender is a good tool to establish in your business arsenal. A revolving line of credit can open up funds to allow you to take advantage of cash payments to your vendors, when they offer specials, and a plethora of advantages to keeping “cash on hand”. In the event that a revolving line of credit is unavailable to you in your business (often the case with new startups or those that might be extended beyond what the lender feels is a good risk) there are some wonderful alternate funding options open. Factoring is a great option to the traditional lender and is a great way for a business to improve cash flow without incurring additional debt.

3. There is a lot to be said for the tried and true art of putting something away for a rainy day. We all know that in business, as in life, there are ebbs and flows. If you have a program set up with your lending institution where they take out a certain percentage of your deposits, off the top before they even hit your business account, you will find that it is easier to implement a savings program. If you can establish this practice in the good times, then when times are lean, you may have set aside enough to fall back on.

Please contact our office and we can discuss some of our alternate funding options to help improve your cash flow. Or you can email me directly at Kim@Funding4You.com.

This step is absolutely critical. You may approach this final step by having a monthly meeting (perhaps bring in lunch or have an off-site teambuilding activity) or appoint a compliance officer who follows up with individual employees and departments.

Success for all businesses:
You may already be familiar with best practices, but have always assumed that the concept was designed for big business. These policies have their place with a business at any level. After all, there is a reason those mega-companies have grown to the level they have achieved. Implementing best practices can be a good first step toward growing your business in 2011.

Email Kim@Funding4You.com to discuss how our funding products can be put to work for you to grow your business.

Execute:

If you simply take stock of the issues you will not see much of an improvement. While knowledge is power, you have to implement that knowledge into real action. Turn your ideas into policies, and formalize them. Make a big deal out of introducing them to your employees and explain the rationale behind them. Best practices are intended to improve your company’s financial bottom line. Ideally, this will translate into a positive outcome for everyone. During the meeting to discuss the new policies make certain to emphasize the constructive nature of the changes. You may also want to put the policies in writing and have them available at the meeting.

Here are some examples of best practices that other businesses have implemented.

 Invoice for goods and/or services at the time they are provided.

 Set a specific time interval to deal with collections, ideally once a week.

 Estimate your income tax obligation monthly, not just quarterly. When payments come due, there won’t be any major surprises.

 Provide cross training for employees where practical. That way you won’t have downtime if someone is ill or out for a period of time.

 Utilize technology where you can (i.e. set us a merchant account to receive payments).

 If possible, have employees who incur billable time use a timer. A few minutes lost here and there can add up, and this can be a big ‘leak’ that needs to be plugged.

 Review your pricing structure. Ensure that you are building in enough to cover overhead and still realize enough profit to not only sustain but grow your business.

 Run inventory reports regularly. This will allow you to keep close tabs on your inventory and not have any surprises. This may also allow you to shop for the items you need at a lower price rather than having to replace something last minute and potentially having to pay a premium.

This is not a difficult process. You simply need to utilize the publicized practices of the most successful businesses and adapt them to your business situation. Also keep in mind that you can network with other business owners that you know to see how they have approached implementing best practices. If cash flow is hampering some of your best practices, such as maintaining your inventory numbers, then please contact us for a solution.

To help you better understand the role of a factoring company and how it can benefit your business, we have listed the Top 10 Reasons to Considering Factoring:
1. Your start up company has no credit history: Factoring can offer financing when you have creditworthy customers.
2. Your young company does not have 2 to 3 years of tax returns showing profitability: Use a factor to increase sales and start showing profit.
3. Your company is growing very fast, but the bank doesn’t feel comfortable extending your line of credit: A factor can work with the bank and supplement cash flow.
4. Your financing needs are for a short-term contract: Use a factor to bridge that gap.
5. You deal in large dollar transactions with high margins: Getting access to your capital will increase sales.
6. Your company experiences seasonal demands: Factoring provides capital to meet demand.
7. Accelerate customer payments by using a factor.
8. Payroll demands cause a “cash crunch”: Factoring can alleviate the problem.
9. Factoring is not a loan; therefore, no additional debt is created, resulting in strengthened financials.
10. Unfortunate events such as a bankruptcy, judgments, or tax liens will not disqualify you.

The Factoring Alliance LLC provides factoring services to small businesses and start-up companies. Please contact Kim Deveney at 888-493-3666 kim@thefactoringalliance.com for more information.