Here are several ideas to help your small business grow and thrive.

First, understand your small business to help it grow

1. Understand your cash flow. Create a 12-month rolling forecast of revenue and expenses to help understand your cash needs. One of the biggest causes of business failure is a lack of understanding of cash flow. At the end of the day, you need enough cash to pay your vendors and your employees. If you run a seasonal business, you understand this challenge. The high-season sales harvest needs to be sufficient to support you during the slow, non-seasonal periods.
2. Know your pressure points. When looking at your business, there are a few big items that drive your business success. Do you know the top four drivers of your financial success or failure? By staying focused on the key drivers of your business, success will be easier to come by. Look at last year’s tax return and identify the key financial drivers of your business. Do the same thing with your day-to-day operations and staffing.
3. Know who your customers or target audience are, then tailor your business to them and to what they are looking for in your offerings. Who are your current customers? Are there enough of them? Where can you get more of them? How loyal are they? Are they happy? Several large customers can drive your company’s growth or create tremendous risk should they take their business to a competitor.
4. Once you know who your target customer is, understand why they buy your product or service. Know your point of difference. What makes you different from other businesses selling a similar item? If you don’t know what makes your business better than others, ask your key customers. They will tell you. Then leverage this information to attract new customers.

Then, use your growth to thrive

1. Inventory matters. Develop an inventory system with periodic counts to prevent shrinkage or theft and to identify when you need to liquidate old inventory. If your business sells physical products, you need a good inventory management system. This system doesn’t have to be complex. It just needs to help you manage your inventory. Cash turns into inventory that becomes stuck, creating a major cash flow problem.
2. Develop a great support team. Successful small business owners know they cannot do it all themselves. Do you have a strong support team helping you? You need accounting, tax, legal, insurance, and employment help in addition to your traditional suppliers. Conduct an annual review of your resources. Be prepared to review your suppliers and make improvements where necessary.
3. Sometimes focusing on a few basic ideas can help improve your business’s outlook. Feel free to contact our RRBB advisors if you wish to discuss your situation.