ADVICE FOR BOTH YOUNG AND ESTABLISHED BUSINESSES THAT NEED HELP

Over the past few months we have been surprised by the number of new enquiries which we have received from both young and established companies for accessing finance/investment; business planning (both growth and turnaround) and leadership/management development.

It is clear that many companies are still growing, yet a significant number are struggling to make ends meet, seemingly lost in a world of challenges and hurt. We’ve noted that the cost of living crisis, high inflation and interest rates, concerns over cashflow and challenges around how management teams are coping under the growing levels of stress appear to be the main areas of concern that we are helping companies address.

Whilst we cannot do anything to influence government and the Bank of England’s policies we are helping companies:
1. Raise more funds for growth and or turnaround
2. Restructure current lending and ease cashflow burdens
3. Help companies reduce operating costs and increase efficiencies
4. Sell more and generate greater profits which are sustainable
5. Work with management teams to create a vision and busienss improvement plan
6. Help the management team gel and work together more cohesively

In addition to this we’d like to offer some further advice that business owners can do to help them during this period of challenge:
1. A Profit and Loss review – ask yourself are all costs still relevant to your business and if not drop them. If they are relevant, ask yourself if you are getting the best value for money from that provider.
2. How quickly do our customers settle their invoices and do you incentivise them to pay on time?
3. What interest rates are you paying on your debt (overdrafts and loans)? Can you refinance them elsewhere at better rates?
4. Review your sales and marketing strategy – how are you going to market and what is your cost of acquisition per customer
5. Procurement Processes – does you need to review your process, price points and payment terms with suppliers.

Finally, I’d urge business to try and breath and think!! Do not panic and do anything rash or get too excited and make a decision you may regret. Businesses don’t scale to huge profits or even fall overnight- there are many tell tale signs of a company succeeding or failing and its not just visible with cashflow (even though that is the #1 metric to measure).

Always remember help is available, don’t feel you and your team need to struggle through your current minefield alone.

If you would like a confidential initial chat, please feel free to reach out to Roy Shelton, our Managing Partner on roy.shelton@dropjawventures.co.uk