As Christmas and New Year celebrations come to an end, it’s back to reality as business owners turn their attention to getting momentum back in their business for a fast start to the new year.
At FactorONE, we understand how challenging it can be at this time, therefore, we have the following 8 actions you can take to give your business a strong start.
1. Don't let cashflow control you - The new year is a challenging period for many business' when it comes to cash flow. Sales are slow and payments are even slower. Be sure to chase up outstanding invoices with reminder letters or through a quick call to ensure all terms of trade are communicated clearly. Put together cash flow forecasts and make a cash flow plan for how your business will cope with the leaner months. Spend time creating a cash flow forecast to help plan for the leaner months of the year ahead.
2. Review your funding arrangements - Business circumstances are always changing, so if you think your current funding arrangements are no longer suitable, contact your financier to help suggest an alternative solution whilst it is relatively quiet.
3. De-clutter - It’s time for a clean, throw away anything that no longer has a practical purpose or has not been used over the past year.
4. File your year - Don’t let paperwork overtake the office, file the essential documents such as purchase and sales invoices, customer details and bank statements. Start to digitise your business where possible to improve productivity, taking a good look at some of the excellent productivity tools now available to businesses.
5. Work smarter - Plan your year, review business objectives and align what you want to achieve so you can prioritise tasks and not lose track to succeeding.
6. Balance stock - Don’t have all your funds tied up in stock. Do a stocktake and review your figures from last year to determine seasonal peaks of the business. Review sales by product and make decisions about whether to expand or prune your product lines.
7. Check in with suppliers and customers face to face - Whilst it is relatively quiet it can be an excellent time to ‘hit the road’ and check in with customers and suppliers face to face, to discuss any outstanding or potential issues, solidify relationships and share market knowledge. This ‘supply chain’ thinking can help your business weather storms but also help you spot new business opportunities.
8. Focus on people power - Staff management is essential to the efficiency and productivity of any business. If certain skills sets are missing within your workforce, offer opportunities to upskill your staff with external courses.
