Growing a small business is an exciting endeavor but can come with challenges. CB&T Treasury Management Manager, Annette Isaacs, lays out some trends, common pain points and recommendations for small business owners faced with cash management obstacles.
Business owner pain point: “I always worry about the cash position of my business and need help monitoring it.”
Recommendation: There are digital resources to help you and your finance team watch your cash position daily, so decisions can be made based on available balances. Business Online Banking[cite::279::cite] and Business Mobile Banking are helpful tools that provide a full picture of your bank account(s) and transactions. QuickBooks ® integration with Online Banking is also available.
Business owner pain point: “My business is very cyclical and/or is being affected by an emergency circumstance. This is impacting my revenue.”
Recommendation: Strive to maintain cash flow by using a business line of credit.1 Lines of credit can help you meet short-term cash needs. We understand the challenge of navigating business and economic cycles and depending on your circumstances, we can help structure a customizable line of credit tailored to your needs.
Business owner pain point: “Paying my vendors can be a time-consuming process that takes away from other important tasks.”
Recommendation: By automating payables, you can achieve greater efficiency, cost reduction and even enhanced security for your organization. You’re able to significantly decrease the time and resources devoted to payments while mitigating fraud.
Using ACH Origination is a helpful approach to tracking your payables. You can control the timing of fund disbursements to optimize liquidity and initiate electronic funds disbursements to your accounts or vendors and employee accounts for payroll and expense reimbursements. Most importantly, you can free up time to focus on strategic issues that elevate the success of your company.
Business owner pain point: “I don’t receive timely payments from my customers.”
Recommendation: Streamlining invoice processing and providing customers with convenient ways to make payments can help give you faster access to funds. With E-Invoicing and payments, you can reduce your receivable cycle and days outstanding by providing an electronic invoice to customers with convenient ways for them to pay—checks, ACH, wire, online payments and cards with clean remittance information.
Business owner pain point: “Due to the COVID-19 environment, I have a lot of inventory that isn’t selling as quickly.”
Recommendation: Having cash flow available is vital to the success of your business. If other options haven’t worked (selling product at a low margin, etc.), consider a line of credit[cite::44::cite] as a back-up resource to get you through tight cash flow periods. If you already have a line of credit, another option is a business credit card that can help you manage payment cycles while potentially earning rewards based on your spending activity.
Every business is unique. We can help you find the right options or resources tailored to the needs of your small business. Contact us today to get started. [cite::171::cite] [cite::172::cite]