increase profits

5 ways to Improve Cash Flow in your Trades Business

cash flow, Owner

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any construction business. Without it, even profitable companies can struggle to survive. While there are many ways to enhance cash flow, (here’s a list of 23 strategies) these five strategies stand out as the most effective for ensuring stability and long-term success. Expand the article to find out how to implement them.

1 Smaller, More Frequent Progress Payments
2 Invoice Immediately & Systemise Your Invoicing Process
3 Tighten Payment Terms & Enforce Collections
4 Negotiate Better Terms with Suppliers
5 Increase Your Prices & Sell on Value

TOFU-MOFU-BOFU Sales funnel

Using content to improve sales conversion

cash flow, Marketing, Sales

Up to half the people who first contact your business aren’t ready to buy yet. And by contact it could mean just a visit to your website without your knowledge. This is especially true if it is a discretionary spend project they have in mind or a large ticket item. Understanding the buyer’s journey is essential and creating an effective content strategy can keep the potential buyer closer to you and more likely to buy.

The buyer’s journey is often segmented into three stages: Top of the Funnel (TOFU), Middle of the Funnel (MOFU), and Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU). For trades businesses—such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or building services—tailoring content to these stages can significantly enhance the conversion rates for any leads. This guide outlines some content category ideas for each stage of the funnel to help you attract, engage, and convert prospects. For examples of what specific content material might suit your company at each of the customer journey stages, email me at andy@tradescoach.co.nz and I will help.

cash flow cycle

Improve cash flow in your trades business

cash flow, Owner

In order to have a successful working capital (cash flow) situation you need to have the cash cycle going as fast as possible, or increase the volume of cash invested in the business. You also need to become good at the cash flow game: making the cash come into your business as fast as possible and in as much quantity as sustainably possible and pay it out as slowly as you can get away with.  There are multiple levers you can tweak to achieve this and the balance of this guide is about five of the key strategies you should look at implementing into your business.  Working with an advisor like The Trades Coach will be the fastest way to have these strategies, and other relevant ones, implemented effectively into your business and watch the working capital steadily increase. Until then, read on to find out what my top 5 suggestions are.

Retentions – How to Handle

cash flow

I attended Geoff Hardy’s builder breakfast recently on the topic of retentions. Consensus was, they are a good thing to avoid (retentions, not the breakfasts), but in many commercial situations you can’t avoid them. Apart from having to wait months to earn your profit in the job in some case many sub-contractors are left with retentions unpaid when the main contractor goes under. This is caused by the retentions not being held in trust and are used to pay others (which is illegal).

Despite directors and senior management breaking the law in this matter, MBIE seem reluctant to bring criminal charges against head contractors. Perhaps because intent is difficult to prove. So what can you do as a sub-contractor to protect your self? Read on….

AC75-yacht

Controlling a fast growing business.

cash flow

Team New Zealand has recently launched their AC75 rocket ship, Te Aihe. It looks like something designed by an Italian super car manufacturer and will probably have the power to match. They anticipate reaching speeds of around 50 knots when up and planing on it’s high-tech foils, which is mind blowing. The only problem is at that kind of speed, things happen real fast and there is limited room for error. If things go wrong, they will go wrong quickly and probably spectacularly.

The same principles apply in business. The faster your business is growing and trading, the less room for error there is as things can go sideways very quickly. This article will help you manage a fast growing business better.

Cash. The lifeblood of your business

cash flow

Effective management of cash-flow is a key issue for growing organisations. One of the most common downfalls of growing businesses is unexpectedly high running costs. What is important is not just the size of operating costs, but the cash-flows around it.

In order to stay in business, it’s important to have the fundamentals right. Managing the cash-flow of your business is a critical fundamental. Cash is literally the lifeblood of the business.

Learn to Love Budgeting

cash flow, Owner, The numbers

Let’s face it.  Most tradies would rather be forced to watch replays of marathon chess matches than put time into creating a budget for their business.  I can understand their reluctance, but I would also like to show them the error of their thinking. Creating a budget for your business can be one of the…