1. Align Your Salespeople’s Goals

Alignment, alignment, alignment. Employees at all levels need to be aligned with their businesses’ larger goals. These goals need to be broken down to a smaller scale to ensure that people are engaged in day-to-day operations. Consistent feedback, allocating tasks properly and recognizing employee success are key elements in building a successful organizational goal alignment strategy. 

Sales success starts with measurements. Create a commission plan that pays off of sales that deliver higher gross margins. A commission plan shows results and rewards higher productivity. 

2. Make Customers Pay On Time

Money, money, money. No one likes doing work and not being paid for it. It is important to maximizing cash flow by having your customers pay on time. If you’re meeting face to face with costumers, paying then and there can make life easy. For some businesses this isn’t an option. Before starting the work, make sure to have a written agreement on its scope, cost and the procedure for getting paid. When all the work is finished, be sure to invoice promptly to not fall behind. 

Don’t let customer take advantage of you by making you wait for your cash. Make sure to use your resources when setting up a transaction. Don’t forget cash, checks, credit cards and online payment platforms. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what form your money takes as long as you get the right amount on time.

3. Schedule and Predict Your Demands

Planning, planning, planning. Forecasting is useful for reorders, new merchandise, steady costs and also determining the best time of year to make capital outlays. Using programs like excel can plan out your cash flow. Forecasting and planning out the course of the next few months to year can create a more precise budget and upcoming cash needs. 

Don’t let scheduling fall behind. Staying on top of demands will prepare your business for maximum cash flow. 

4. Allocate for Big Purchases

Save, save, save. Always prepare for the future. This means allocating your money throughout the year to save for big purchases. Either it’s an investment, new inventory or even replacing something in the office, you always want to be prepared. Nothing worse than having a surprise come your way and not being able to pay for it.

5. Look For Government Incentives

Grants, grants, grants. Do research on government incentives from the local to state to even federal government.  Your local government may have grants for new signage, landscaping or even modernization of your computers. There are a wide range of government-sponsored incentives. Following the guidelines for the incentive can lead to lower payroll costs, capital expenditure and even your taxes. Most importantly, you don’t have to pay grants back like you do loans!