For most Contractors, growing means more money. It’s important to have a growth plan in place with a strategy to overcome the shortage of funds that naturally occur. It’s one of those tight spots, but don’t fret, there are ways to break free.
Here are five unique business financial strategies to add to your growth plan even when you are in a financial pinch.
1. NEGOTIATE VENDOR TERMS
Vendors may work with you on payment terms. Most vendors and suppliers will take a partial payment – or even promise of payment – and deliver everything you need to fulfill all your customers’ commitments.
Call your vendors and ask about terms, either as a one-time emergency or a permanent plan moving forward. If you’re very careful with timing, you can do this with labor and track a monthly or semimonthly pay period.
2. EVALUATE YOUR SPENDING
In some cases, it’s not a matter of having no money to get in supplies. It’s a matter of having no money earmarked for that particular project. You don’t want to do this every month, but for a one-time push you can opt to spend less on marketing, or put your cleaning service on hold or reduce funding on any number of other projects to make the money happen in the clinch. This can help you identify the fat you didn’t realize you needed to cut.
3. SMALL BUSINESS CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT
Managing cash for a small business is so important, without efficiently managing cash flow it can soon go under. This means paying salaries, purchasing material & supplies, paying expenses and managing investments. Here are a few tips on how to stay ahead on the financials.
- The goal is to Keep Your Cash earning in interest-earning accounts. Consider the higher-paying accounts such as money market accounts. Can transfer funds from these accounts to your checking and meet the minimum balance requirement.
- Avoid long-term accounts such as certificates of deposit. These accounts lock you in for a certain length of time. To transfer funds will cost you interest but there are penalty-free options to invest in.
- Having a financial strategy on where the money is allocated is a solid practice. Keeping reserves and knowing what expenses will be paid part of the plan. This will enable you to make good financial decisions like when it is a good time to get a short-term loan.
4. BUILD CONNECTIONS WITH LENDERS
It is common when companies borrow money they are usually in desperate need and lots of times lessons their chance of getting the loan.
- Instead, think ahead before it’s too late. A few good tips on building a lender relationship are…
- Consider keeping on eye on your business credit. Healthy credit helps the lender make an easy approval.
- Build connections with lenders when you are not in need. At Express Capital, the relationship with the borrower is important as part of the approval process is a conversation with the borrower on the state of their current situation and trust is built.
98% of Express Capital’s business client’s return and know their loan specialist by name. Connect with our specialists to determine the nest financing option for your business.
5. PASS ON FINANCE COSTS
To save on those extra costs, it might be a good idea to pass it to your customer. It may be an opportunity to pass your finance costs onto the customer if …
- If your customer delays in paying for up-front costs on the job
- Delays a scheduled payment
At times, delay of payment cannot be passed on if you are on a government contract project, then it would be a good idea to help your business with a bridge loan or a short-term working capital loan.
Clearly state the monthly finance costs on the job upfront so that there are no surprises. The customer as they must agree to paying the interest and charges. This puts you in a business growth mindset even when you don’t have the capital. The best part is, you don’t have to pay interest on this capital as it is passed through.
6. BUSINESS CREDIT CARDS
Using your business credit card is the most simple and quickest way to access funds to a revolving line of credit. Nearly every vendor accepts credit cards. There are a few things to consider before going this route.
- Small business credit cards give you the ability to make purchases for material needed and allow cash withdrawals with a set credit limit.
- Use smart credit sense and watch your spending so you don’t exceed your credit limit.
- Pay off the balance before the end of the month so you do not incur the high interest charges.
- Credit cards can be helpful but in the long term can compound interest if you are not careful as it is easy to overextend.
7. ALTERNATIVE FUNDING
If you need money right now to make more money in the coming weeks or months, a small business loan from Express Capital Funding may help. You take exactly what you need and pay it back on the time line that works best for your business. This option doesn’t pull resources from other important projects and there are no collateral requirements from Express Capital Funding.
Qualification is easier than with most other loans and it is fast and flexible. Even though it costs more than borrowing from yourself it is less than a credit card.
Choose the strategy that works best for you. Usually the alternative funding helps more contractors who run short on funding than other means we have experienced. Look at all your options as situations will differ from business to business.
Have you adopted any strategies that helped your business to the next level?
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