Bit of passion and a good dose of common sense.

Every journey starts with a single step, so it’s important to just get up and begin the process of re-invigoration and reconstruction.

Thanks.

Surprisingly, our challenges last year were not our sales (they have remained strong) it has been staying on top of our receivables.

As a result of these challenges, we have changed the way we process orders with new customers. We have also started “grading” our clients and filtering out those that are the least profitable.

All the best in 2010!

Hal Homler

Great suggestions. All of them have direct impact on making working capital more efficient in a business. Thanks for your thoughts and advice!

Ken K.

Thank you for uploading and sharing this article with us. This article has indeed given me enough information on how to design the financial feasibility for a start-up b-plan. And one new term that I came across while reading this article is factoring.

The points you mentioned not only apply to SMBs in AMERICA but around the world in some way or the other. SO thank you once again.

If you would like to see more information on “Managing Cashflow in Downturn” and other valuable information related to business then please visit the below mentioned link…..

http://deepakagrawalblog.wordpress.com/category/finance-banking/finance/page/2/

When I was consulting on manufacturing company turn-around projects, some other tactics we used to conserve and generate short-term cash included:

1 – negotiating with building and equipment (production, office, lift trucks, etc) leaseholders to move 3 – 6 months of lease payments to the end of the lease.
2 – re-writing loans in the same manner as item #1 – typically involved some fees or small penalties at the end of the loan.
3 – working with local economic development department for low-interest loans to pay off other loans or leases, or to extend terms.
4 – selling and leasing-back equipment, real estate, etc.
5 – assuring commodity price increases are passed along to customers in a timely manner.
6 – offering volume discounts to customers for increased levels of business.
7 – pitting raw material suppliers against one-another to assure lowest cost.
8 – putting raw material suppliers on consignment and extending terms.
9 – requiring customers to reduce (eliminate) demand variation, which can cause excess inventory, overtime, late shipments, etc.

The list goes on, but we can’t be too creative when working to save a cash-poor company from instinction.

Thanks.

Here’s some info to pass on to fellow LinkedIn members: view my SlideShare at http://www.linkedin.com/in/billmerrow.

Although this particular presentation is geared to physicians, almost any established business can get up to $150,000 in 10 days with NO personal guarantee.

I hope this program can help businesses needing cash now!