Managing cash flow can be a challenge for many startups, small businesses and personally. Cash flow problems have many different causes and can have a significant impact on the health of a business or personal finances. The following are 20+ tips to help improve cash flow (mostly for businesses):
Receivables/Customers
- Send invoice as quickly as posssible.
- Suspend services for clients who haven’t or appear that they won’t pay.
- Require up-front partial payment when starting a new contract.
- Follow up with delinquent customers frequently.
- Charge interest on late payments.
- Accept credit cards for payment, when necessary.
- Give discounts in order to persuade customers to pay in cash. This will help move your cash flow in the positive direction.
- Establish payment expectations of new customers in your welcome letter.
Suppliers/Expenses
- Make use of discounts offered for early payment.
- Unless discounts are offered, pay suppliers only when invoice is due.
- Find out from suppliers whether payment terms can be extended.
- Where possible, make payments by credit card.
- Avoid interest and penalties by making sure that credit card and loan payments are made on time.
- Look for possible deductions in current expenses.
- Whenever possible, do some comparison shopping for new suppliers.
Other
- Sell excess inventory to generate cash.
- Identifying the 20% of your inventory that takes the longest to sell and discontinue it.
- Reduce or suspend salary for owners until cash flow problems are resolved.
- Setup a line of credit with your bank. There are many institutions you can go to for personal credit that have great interest rates and can give you an instant loan.
- Prepare a budget to determine your short and long term cash needs.
- Taking out short-term loans: Loans from various financial institutions are often necessary for covering short-term cash-flow problems. Revolving credit lines and equity loans are other types of credit used in this situation.
- Automate the mundane and use your human assets to innovate and add value.