create a digital marketing plan

Create a smart digital marketing plan on a budget

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When the pandemic forced many businesses to close their brick-and-mortar locations, successful entrepreneurs doubled down on their digital marketing plan. Here’s how you can too.

create a digital marketing plan

The pandemic forced many businesses to shift their focus online and left them to come up with creative solutions to selling. Pivoting their company was the only way to survive, and many found success when they shifted further into a digital strategy. 

If you’ve decided to take this leap forward, here are a couple of things to keep in mind when you’re integrating the ‘new digital normal’ into your marketing and sales efforts — and creating a smart digital marketing plan on a budget: 

1. Determine your business goals

Would you get in the car without knowing where to go? Similarly, when you’re creating a marketing plan, you need to know what your business needs to accomplish before you set that plan into action. 

Start by asking yourself the following questions related to your company:

  • Do I want to increase sales?
  • Do I want to connect with different customer segments and increase brand recognition?
  • What are my long-term revenue and profit projections? 
  • Are there new products or services that should be added to the mix?

Then look at things from your customer’s point of view. How would they answer these questions:

  • How was my experience dealing with that company?
  • How would I describe this company? Do I really know what they do?
  • Do I trust them?
  • Would I buy from them again?
  • Would I recommend this company to a friend or colleague?

Establish your short and long-term goals based on the answers to these types of questions, and stay focused on that ‘prize.’ Ensure your entire team knows what these goals are, and connect their individual KPIs to the higher-level objectives.

2. Understand your market

You need to know your market fit to build an effective marketing plan (and then budget for it). When you understand how you stack up against your competition, you can better establish which strategies you need to compete with and apply them to your roadmap. 

Start by running a competitive analysis to research what others are doing, including what kind of market share they hold in digital channels. You can use tools such as SpyFu and SEMRush to analyze the keywords they rank for, what kind of traffic they receive on their websites, and research how they position on search engines. 

Create a competitive analysis

This knowledge is essential to stay ahead of the curve and build strategies that capitalize on your findings. Competitive analysis isn’t about «spying» on your rivals though. It’s about learning from their victories and their mistakes to proactively save your business time — and potentially wasted efforts. 

This step will improve your overall knowledge of your industry by analyzing the pros and cons of different company’s processes, products, services and sales. This will help you modify your digital marketing plan and determine how to fill gaps to deliver better results.

There are so many different directions you can go with digital marketing, but narrow in on the tactics that match your desired outcomes and a better ROI.

3. Who do you want to work with?

In-house vs. outsourced team. This is a significant factor that will influence your digital marketing plan and budget.

There are many advantages of hiring an in-house marketing team. The obvious benefit is that you have complete control over how your marketing is executed. There can also be stronger collaboration amongst various departments across your company, and you’ll be building a company culture that can have many spinoff advantages.

However, the obvious disadvantage of relying on your in-house marketing team is that you’ll need to dedicate a lot of time and resources to sourcing, interviewing, hiring and training that staff. You also have to prepare for drawbacks such as running into the same creative execution time and again and dealing with turnover costs. If a team member leaves, you’ll need to have a process to quickly replace them to keep your plan on track.

Marketing teams

Alternatively, there are some advantages to working with vendors, contractors and outsourced teams. First, they tend to be more specialized and come with extensive experience and skills to execute the marketing plan. It’s up to them to stay on top of current trends, marketing best practices and bring new ideas to the table — so that is off your plate. They can also offer guidance and help you through any obstacles or failures that you may face during the execution of your project. 

It can take time to bring an external group up-to-speed with your products, solutions, company workflows and various people they’ll need to work with. In addition, it can be hard to find a truly trusted outsourced team who understands your goals and vision — so this should be a high priority.

 

Up next, you may want to do a deeper dive into your digital marketing tactics and mix in order to focus the right time and resources. By reviewing these few things as part of your digital marketing strategy updates, you’ll be able to match your next action items with your intended goals — and develop an outstanding digital marketing plan. Naturally, you’ll also review your budget and need to ensure you have the working capital to execute these strategies — and that’s where we can help further with our alternative funding solutions such as invoice factoring.

If you’re in need of financing to bring this plan to life, whether it be for payroll, inventory or any part of your strategy, get in touch today and we’ll be happy to discuss how we can help.

Emerging trends in the COVID-19 recovery market

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Liquid Capital’s July Roundup: Here’s what we’re reading this month.

Emerging trends in the COVID19 recovery market

As markets across the world begin opening up and we start emerging from pandemic restrictions, business leaders are looking for ways to remain competitive, increase sales and manage organizational changes. From sales to leadership to change management — if business leaders want to thrive in the post-COVID period they must stay on top of how things have changed. 

This month, we’re sharing some of our favourite articles that can help business leaders navigate their next steps.

Sales Have Changed Forever: How To Move Beyond Relationship-Building

move beyond relationship-building

Every salesperson knows that building strong relationships is essential for success, but they also know that relationships don’t always equate to sales. Just because someone ‘likes’ you doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll buy your product or service. 

With the pandemic, it has become even more difficult to turn relationships into sales. There’s more competition for smaller sales, and in-person meetings have been replaced with virtual ones. This can make it harder to have meaningful connections, so business professionals need to be more efficient, targeted and focused.

If you want to build relationships that turn into sales in the COVID-19 recovery market, there are tactics that you can use to increase your chances of success. Provide value to your prospects and clients by really getting to know and understand them. Focus on cultivating dialogue and stay positive, optimistic, persistent and courageous. 

Read more

 

What impact do authentic leaders really have on employees during change?

What impact do authentic leaders really have on employees during changeMany organizations have had to pivot or make changes to their operations over the past year and a half. This impacts employees, too. Undoubtedly, two of the biggest factors for how workers will react include the organizational culture of the company and leadership behaviours.

So how can leaders support a positive experience for their employees during times of transformation? A new study looks at how ‘authentic leadership’ can make a big difference, along with the four areas they should focus on (self-awareness, moral perspective, transparency and balanced processing).

Read more

 

Making transformation stick

Making transformation stick

You’ve researched, planned and carefully executed a shift within your organization. But after the initial launch, what comes next? 70% of organizational changes do not last long-term, so how can leaders ensure that their efforts have staying power?

Follow these 3 steps to make sure changes are sustainable and not just a flash in the pan:

  1. Dedicate leadership energy to sustaining the transformation
  2. Make adhering to the changes part of performance management
  3. Be a living example of the new paradigm 

Read more

 

20-minute podcast: Lessons in Innovation from Bowie, Beyoncé, and More

What can some of the biggest recording artists of all time teach business leaders about innovation? From demo tapes to artist collaboration, to egoless experimentation, no matter what industry you work in, these lessons from famous musicians can help you support innovation in your organization. So as you lay by the pool, lake, ocean, or wherever else your summer takes you, plug in your headset and check out this motivational podcast. 

Listen here

Up next: Get inspired with these 10 motivational business quotes.

Business quotes

10 business quotes for a jolt of motivation

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Sometimes, the smallest reminders can be the biggest motivation. Review these business quotes to inspire you and your executive team.

Business quotes

We’ve all had those days. Your to-do list keeps piling up, your tank is quickly draining, and you’re running on fumes! You seriously contemplate throwing in the towel and taking that year-long vacation to Italy. 

It’s easy to keep sinking further into this mindset, but keeping a motivational quote nearby from the best brains in business can give you the jolt you need — without the caffeine jitters! 

Business quotes on taking action 

We’ve all heard the buzzwords — grit, resilience, drive — but what does it mean to truly take action? Read more below:

1. “The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.”
— Socrates, father of Western philosophy 

By focusing on the future and using the past to inform your decisions, rather than dwelling on the past, you open yourself, and your business, up to new possibilities.

John Quincy Adams

3.“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
— John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States 

A leader isn’t always the person with the right title, but the one with the right attitude.

 

2. “Always deliver more than expected.”
— Larry Page, co-founder of Google 

The difference between the good and the great is those who go the extra mile.

  

Business quotes on relationships

Relationships bring meaning to our lives, and if you’re able to develop great business relationships, get ready to reap the benefits (both financially and personally). Get inspired below:

Mark Cuban4. «Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.”
— Mark Cuban, Entrepreneur

 Trust is the most important part of any good relationship — whether it’s business or personal. If you’re willing to sacrifice someone’s trust with the aim of making a sale, that will surely be the last one you make to them!

 

5. «It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently”
— Warren Buffet, Investor

Good relationships take time and effort to build, and this effort must be put in consistently. There’s no shortcut to building and maintaining a great relationship.

 

6. «All things being equal, people will do business with a friend; all things being unequal, people will still do business with a friend.»
— Mark McCormack, Businessman

People do business with people they like — plain and simple. Being a good friend to someone will pay off in dividends down the road.

 

7. Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.» — Ben Stein, Comedian 

Nobody is an island, and everyone needs some help every once in a while. Your achievements in life are often linked to the help of others. 

Business quotes on communication

Being a good communicator doesn’t come naturally to most. But, it can be learned. Read more below:

Tony Robbins8. “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.”
— Peter Drucker, Management Consultant

Understanding someone’s intent, reading body language and asking deeper questions can often help you become a better communicator. 

 

9.“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.”
— Tony Robbins, Author and Coach 

We live in an interconnected world, where communication is constant, and the need to understand and be understood is paramount. If you are able to master the art of communication, you’ll be well on your way to success.

 

10. “In many ways, effective communication begins with mutual respect, communication that inspires, and encourages others to do their best.”
— Zig Ziglar, Author and Motivational Speaker 

Good communication is not only about being heard, it’s about listening to others. As we all know, the hallmark of great communication is that it’s a two way street — a fact which many often forget.

 

At the end of the day, business quotes are just that — motivational quotes to inspire the greatness you have inside you. Now, it’s time to take action and apply these principles to your daily life. Take action to move your business forward, spend the time building meaningful relationships, and refine your communication skills  — and you will be well on your way to success! 

To learn how Liquid Capital and invoice factoring can help your growing business, contact us today.

Invoice Factoring FAQs

Online business: Master the shift to a digital world

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Over the past year and a half, the pandemic has taught business owners a valuable lesson: the power of going digital. Here’s are some important steps to setting up an online business.

Online business

Shifting your business from traditional selling to online or e-commerce is not just a luxury or nice-to-have. It’s an important avenue for you to connect with your audiences, providing many benefits, such as increased customer reach and lower administration costs. 

It’s extremely important that businesses adapt to the changing ways of the market. If you fail to adapt, you risk losing out on business or face major obstacles in running a successful business. In fact, if you don’t change the way you do business and offer products or services online, there’s a significant chance you may risk losing out on your business entirely and see all your hard work go to waste. 

Although it may seem overwhelming to shift business online, there are a few steps that will help you make the shift to the digital world: 

Step 1: Identify your online business audience needs

Your target buyer should be at the core of your shift to online business. After all, you’re going digital because of them. So it’s a good idea to understand what their needs and wants are, and how they’ve changed over the years. 

What do they expect from you moving forward? How will you adapt your existing products and services when selling online? What about upsells, cross-sells, returns and post-sales support?

Although service-based firms won’t have to worry about storage and shipping, traditional B2B businesses that offer tangible products may have to trim down their inventory to keep costs low. 

Start by interviewing your customers and ask them what you can do to meet their needs. It may be as simple as offering delivery or offering on-site consultations. Once you’ve identified how their expectations have changed, you can tailor your product feature or services and operations to meet customer needs. 

It’s also essential to obtain feedback and collect information about your efforts — especially to find out if you’re meeting customer expectations.  

Step 2: Choose the right online business platform

The way you sell online is going to be very different from how you sell offline. So you must choose a digital platform that compliments your business model and supports your transformation to a digital storefront. 

With the right platform, you can extend your customer reach, drive more traffic to your website, and ultimately increase sales. 

For example, if you sell retail products to other businesses at wholesale prices, it may be a good idea to choose an eCommerce platform such as Shopify, Magneto or WooCommerce.

Alternatively, let’s say you offer freight services to manufacturers. It may be a good idea to choose a platform that enables you to set up customer portals and accept booking requests such as Setmore, HoneyBook and SimplyBook. 

But we know that searching for and choosing a platform can be a daunting task. Here are some additional options to get you started with the most common and popular platforms that can serve many businesses in the B2B space:

Amazon
BigCommerce
WooCommerce B2B
Shopify Plus
OpenCart
WordPress

 

Step 3: Hiring the right team

Online business team

The biggest hurdle — and cost — associated with shifting your business online is assembling a team responsible for the move. 

There are two ways to go about it: hiring an experienced in-house team or outsourcing the project to a professional firm or contractors.

While you may be tempted to take on the project under your own supervision, going digital requires a lot of specialized skills and resources. This translates into a lot of time and task management.

What roles are needed? It would help if you had a designer and a website developer. Depending on the size of your business, you may also need a project manager, content strategist, writers, editors and even UX designers. It might end up being a lot more budget-friendly and stress-free to hire someone outside of your organization to manage the entire project. 

On the other hand, if your business does not operate on a large scale, you can hire a small team to manage the project in-house and stay on board to offer ongoing support and assistance.  

Step 4: Maintenance and ongoing support

One of the most overlooked aspects of shifting a business online is the maintenance and upkeep of going digital. Your online storefront needs as much TLC, love and care such as your physical storefront. The only difference is, you can’t see it right away!

Consider it this way… Would you leave your brick-and-mortar unattended, especially on a busy day? Or if you had a leak in your office, would you fix it right away so that it’s not an inconvenience to your employees? 

Just like your offline store, it’s important to do the upkeep of your online presence, too. This is especially true for businesses that operate in the retail space and face heavy traffic on their digital front. 

Hiring a team to provide ongoing support will ensure that things run smoothly and help you overcome technical problems. Similar to our point above, you can either hire an outside company to take care of this, or rely on your internal team to maintain this in-house. 

Are you ready to make the shift to an online business?

In this day and age, you can’t afford to fall behind your competitors. The pandemic has given the last push to those in the traditional selling environment to rethink how to pivot their business and take their offline business online. 

You can be a part of this massive change. Take a look at your current business model and think about how going digital can help you get more customers and revenue. Follow our step-by-step guide to get your foundation in place, and when you do go digital, create a marketing plan that supports your shift to the online world.  

 

Up Next: If you’re building your business growth plan, include invoice factoring

how invoice factoring works

Refresher: What is invoice factoring and how does it work?

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how invoice factoring works

Invoice factoring is a type of financing available to businesses that sell to other businesses on account — invoicing clients, usually with 30, 60 or 90-day terms.

For businesses who haven’t established a track record with a major lender yet, or who don’t fit traditional bank lending qualifications, invoice factoring is a way to get faster access to working capital.

How does invoice factoring work?

After you establish payment terms and issue invoices to your customers, you may be left waiting to receive payment. Instead of waiting the full term, you can receive upfront payment from your invoice factoring partner, also known simply as a “factor.”

There are five key steps to the invoice factoring process:

  1. You sell products & services to your customer
  2. You sell your invoices to your factoring partner
  3. Your factor sends you the funds minus the reserve
  4. Your factor then will wait the required time to collect payment from your customer
  5. Your factor refunds you the reserves minus discount fee

Aside from improving cash flow, a major benefit of this invoice factoring process is that your factor will assume, manage and collect the financed debts for you. A good partner will also provide transparent, accessible reporting to keep you up to date on the process.

Learn more about invoice factoring

Access these resources and articles to brush up on the ins and outs of invoice factoring.

 

At Liquid Capital, we understand what it takes for small, medium and emerging mid-market businesses to succeed – because we’re business people ourselves. 

Our company is built on a network of locally owned and operated Principal offices, so whenever you’re talking to Liquid Capital, you’re talking directly to your funding source — and a fellow business person.

 

Up Next: Medal-winning ways to leverage invoice factoring

clear cash flow hurdles with invoice factoring

Medal-winning ways to leverage invoice factoring

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Some business hurdles are easier to overcome than others, but cash flow related obstacles are sometimes the most difficult to clear. Avoid a false start and reach the finish line with invoice factoring.

clear cash flow hurdles with invoice factoring

Surviving the past year has been like winning an Olympic gold medal for most business owners. Even under normal circumstances, running a company is like running a marathon, but it takes another level of determination, grit, perseverance, and nerves of steel during an international health crisis.

Beyond those herculean entrepreneurial qualities, you need to have the cash flow to support your operations and growth plans to reach your business finish line. And since 82% of new businesses will fail because of cash flow, it’s the biggest hurdle.

Luckily, there are creative ways to leap over capital problems with more confidence. Invoice factoring is one of our go-to solutions since it allows you to sell your unpaid invoices and get cash upfront for whatever you need it for. We collect the invoice payment directly from your customer, and we work by your side to strengthen your cash flow planning. This tried and tested financing method can help you remove hurdles altogether.

Here are other ways that invoice factoring can take your business to the top of the podium:

1. Get a great coach.

Being an entrepreneur requires passion, sacrifice and exceptional focus on any given day. But entrepreneurs, just like athletes, need someone to guide them and encourage them to push through the setbacks to come out stronger and better at their business.

With invoice factoring, we partner with businesses and act as that coach and mentor role with many of our clients. We get to know your business, your personal goals, your strengths and weaknesses. And when we assess your business as part of the funding process, we make it a priority to help you develop a plan — like an Olympic training plan — so you know the hard work you’ll be putting into your business will pay off in spades.

Whether you work with us or any other lending company, you need to find that trusted ‘coach.’

2. Be quick out of the blocks.

When your business operations are flat, it’s time to make a bold move and act swiftly. The faster you can get sprinting, the further you’ll be ahead of any cash flow problem. But finding ways to achieve rapid growth at scale is another challenge. And if your growth is exponential, you may also see an equal increase in expenses — creating a need for more cash — fast.

By qualifying and finding the right invoice partner before a cash flow problem exists, you can start to rely on this method to access more cash when you need it — no more searching for capital in a crisis while your competitors are lapping you. Instead, you’ll now be the first to react out of the blocks.

Success Story: Here’s how one small business owner was able to embrace innovation to outlast the effects of the pandemic.

3. Create your own track record.

There’s an old saying that banks will only give you loans when you don’t need them. Factoring, thankfully, is impervious to old sayings and archaic banking restrictions. Where a bank won’t provide a loan to a small or mid-sized business for any number of reasons, factoring has a different structure and set of regulations, making it much easier to apply to businesses of all sizes.

Read: To get more on the specifics of invoice factoring, see how it works here.

4. What if it turns into a marathon?

Depending on your industry, you may have to wait 30, 60 or 90 days from the date of the invoice to receive payment. While this may be okay for the more established players, for a newer business or one under a cash crunch, waiting 90 days on an invoice (especially a large one) can be extremely difficult or even damaging. And offering early payment discounts can often cost more than leveraging invoice factoring.

5. A dropped baton doesn’t have to mean it’s over.

Nobody likes late payments, but every business has experienced the pain of waiting on accounts receivable. And no matter the size of the business, late payments can have far-reaching consequences. Factoring eliminates this problem and often shifts the responsibility of collections from you to the factor.

6. Sometimes it’s a sprint to the finish.

Stocking up your inventory often requires paying suppliers on the spot. It’s imperative to have cash upfront to keep inventory at the right level to meet demand. The flexibility offered by factoring means you can have the right working capital to keep inventory levels on target, avoiding supply issues before they happen.

Ask these questions to get on the inside track

If factoring could be the solution to your cash challenges, it’s crucial to find the right partner who understands your industry, the specific challenges you’re up against and can offer the best funding solution to advance your business.

But before signing an agreement, there are 10 important questions to ask any invoice factoring partner. The answers will help you quickly narrow down the pool of candidates and find the perfect match.

Do you have questions about invoice factoring? Get the answers to the most commonly asked questions in our Invoice Factoring FAQ guide.

Drive business results

Drive business results: Rely on your invoice factoring partner for more than just cash

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At Liquid Capital, your local Principal is more than just a source of capital — they’re industry and funding experts who want to help you drive business results.

Drive business results

When a business is experiencing a lack of sufficient cash flow, taking out a bank loan and offering clients early payment discounts are two common tactics used to fill the gaps. But there’s another solution that could be a better strategic decision: utilizing invoice factoring services from a commercial finance company.

Unfortunately, invoice factoring is often misunderstood among business owners who view it as a “last resort” financing option. In the right circumstances, however, invoice factoring can be the ideal strategic solution for business owners and CFOs who are looking to drive business results.

“The partnership has been really positive and Liquid Capital helped position us to grow the company. Last year, we grew around 20% and we expect to grow another 20% next year. With this funding strategy, we’re set up to keep expanding.”

— Claudia Serna, Owner of Serna’s Trucking

If you are a commercial finance professional, you know that your clients look to you for creative and strategic financing solutions, including solutions that might be a little bit outside the traditional box such as invoice factoring. However, you can build trust and strengthen client relationships by being proactive and presenting invoice factoring as a reliable option with them before they find themselves in a cash flow crunch.

Choosing the right financing partner to help drive business results

Who you partner with is important, and if you choose the right one, you’ll gain much more than just working capital. Your invoice factoring partner will have insights into your customers and your company’s financial records. They should also act as a trusted business advisor who can help guide you through various challenges and opportunities.

Learn key questions to ask to choose the right factoring partner.

Liquid Capital offers invoice factoring and other asset-based and alternative lending solutions to businesses throughout the U.S. and Canada. We go beyond a transactional approach with our business clients in order to help them with overall strategic planning when it comes to commercial financing.

Our local Principals are business owners, helping business owners.

“My Liquid Capital Principal is always just a call away. It’s so reassuring to know that I can ask them questions and get their advice. They’re a great wealth of knowledge on the business operations side as well as the financial side. It’s helpful to have someone in your corner, to have an advisor that you didn’t really expect to find, especially someone who’s so available that you can just give them a quick call.”

— Adelle Starin, Owner of Baby’s on Broadway

Come for the capital, stay for the partnership

Having a trusted invoice factoring partner as part of your extended team can also focus your entire team’s attention on positive cash flow. Review this solution with the appropriate team members and ensure you’re leveraging all its potential. Accountants, bookkeepers, office managers and other team leads can often contribute to budgeting, resourcing and cash flow conversations.
Naturally, CFOs and other leaders on your executive team should also be working invoice factoring into their financial planning as a key capability, to ensure that your business is never in a crunch.
For many of the business owners that we work with, their local Principal becomes an invaluable resource for information and advice on how to achieve business results. They can also work directly alongside your team to ensure everyone is on the same page.

“Sometimes I call my Liquid Capital Principal when I have questions and he is there to lend a hand. When we wanted to start working with a new company, he was able to advise me about the possible benefits and risks. It’s a really good relationship.”

— Claudia Serna, Owner of Serna’s Trucking

In short: Invoice factoring can be part of a strategic plan to keep a business’ working capital flowing, so you can get the results you need.

Want to read more about how invoice factoring can fuel business growth? Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2 of our series on making invoice factoring part of your business growth plan.

Pandemic pivot in business

Keep your company’s pandemic pivot from becoming a money pit

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Like many companies these days, you may have gone through your own pandemic pivot. Make sure that strategy helps increase revenue, not expenses.

Pandemic pivot in business

Plenty of businesses managing the wider supply chain ebb and flow evolved to meet dynamic consumer demands amidst the coronavirus pandemic. But you might find that juggling new revenue streams is more complicated than you thought. Liquid Capital presents a guide to how you can boost profitability while continuing to scale your business and meet customers’ needs.

Boost efficiency with smart tools and processes

One way to ensure your new business strategy remains profitable is by increasing efficiency — whether it be a new fleet of vehicles, a new product line, supplemental services or a shift in your operations and personnel. The right combination of smart tools and hyper-efficient processes can help you preserve funds while ensuring your customers stay happy.

Manage assets with the help of technology

Tracking inventory is a significant challenge when you’re trying to move products quickly. But equipment ID tags and custom labels can help your team identify assets in a super-quick way. With easily readable print or scannable barcodes, less time is wasted scouring the shelves for the right item to ship to your consumer.

Whenever possible, automate

Automating as many steps in your supply chain as possible is another way to enhance efficiency. Supply chain automation is a popular tactic for big businesses — and especially those impacted by COVID-19.

While implementation comes with a price tag, it can be cost-effective in terms of revenue increases over time. Budgeting for automation now can mean fewer bumps in the road if another pandemic—or any other industry upset—threatens your business model in the future.

Keep your remote teams productive during a pandemic pivot

From coordinating delivery drivers to overseeing customer service reps, you likely have many work-from-home staff to manage. Even if telecommuting is new to you and your team, there are ways to make the process easier to stomach.

Overall, keeping your team accountable requires a willingness to adapt and roll with the punches. Outlining your expectations and following work at home best practices is a good start. Using job scheduling software, for instance, can be a boon. An app like QuickBooks provides text or email reminders, time tracking and estimation, GPS tracking, and even has drag-and-drop capability. From there, personally checking in with your people can reduce turnover and maintain motivation.

Offering more on-the-job perks is a great way to incentivize your team, too. Many companies are providing free services like coaching, fitness and even psychotherapy to support their workforce. Consider what types of freebies your team would appreciate and consider the potential payoff for implementing such offerings.

Consider outsourcing where feasible

You might not think that hiring more people could actually save you money. But when it comes down to it, investing in your workforce is one way to boost your bottom line. Whether you’re aiming for a lower turnover of existing staff or plan to delegate tasks to save time, outsourcing can support your profitability goals.

For example, instead of hiring another part-time employee to work on your website, you could hire a freelance developer to tackle the project. If your company needs rebranding to suit your pandemic pivot, a freelance marketer can create a package that works for your budget.

Not only does hiring contract workers make sense for your short-term payroll, but it also helps you avoid personnel costs. Generally, businesses don’t pay unemployment or benefits for independent contractors. This means you don’t have out-of-pocket costs beyond the scope of the project you’re hiring for.

Of course, both pros and cons exist when it comes to hiring independent contractors. But you might find that the balance weighs in favor of sourcing freelance help.

Continuing to maintain profitability post-coronavirus boom can be challenging. Even if your business has done well by scaling to suit customers’ needs during the shutdown, the evolving economy is sure to bring more changes. By implementing smart tech and creatively managing your team, you’ll be poised to remain profitable well into the future.

Liquid Capital provides business funding with heart. To learn more about how invoice factoring can help you with working capital before, during or after your pandemic pivot, please get in touch today.

 

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Post-pandemic perspectives - The times they are a-changing

Post-pandemic perspectives: «The Times They are A-Changin»

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Bob Dylan’s poetic lyrics and timeless melodies have been stitched into modern culture. Although Dylan’s 1964 song was not about the business world per se, his words are just as applicable today. The times certainly are a-changing as we soon enter into the post-pandemic era.

Post-pandemic perspectives - The times they are a-changing

Without question, much has changed since March 2020.

Fueled by the COVID 19 pandemic, our world has been dramatically impacted by this medical crisis. In almost every aspect of our lives, both personal and professional, some form of change was required to deal with the multiple issues affected.

Within the banking industry, bank executives, lenders and staff members witnessed the impact on their customers in general and commercial customers in particular. Some industries were harder hit, such as restaurants, hotels, hospitality, and retailers. Many businesses were scrambling to survive, with rightful concerns as to the impact on their employees, as well as the ripple effect on their suppliers and other vendors.

Ironically, the pandemic presented some companies with unique and sizeable opportunities to expand their businesses or to pivot to another product or service. As the pandemic wore on, governmental programs were developed to provide some level of relief, albeit temporary.

In all of these scenarios, an underlying need and theme was and is, where can I source financing? As with similar situations, where there is a gap, someone will find a way to fill the void. Many business owners turned unconventional lenders offering merchant cash advance loans and other types of “unsecured” loans. While this type of lending appeared attractive on the face of it, in many instances it only exacerbated the problem by subjecting the business owner to onerous terms and conditions.

Keeping up with financial demands

In responding to the needs of business owners, Congress approved various programs such PPP, CARES Act and EIDL loans. Banks initially led the way in assisting their customers with the application process, followed by the loan forgiveness process. Other third-party, non-bank lenders joined in to address the volume of applications.

The congress then approved a “2nd Draw” PPP loan program for those businesses qualifying. While these programs have clearly been helpful for many businesses, the government can’t continue an open-ended level of support. Unfortunately, while helpful, these governmental programs have, in a number of instances, served to mask underlying problems and/ or give a company a false sense of confidence to overstep their bounds.

With that being the case, as the financial support progressively dissipates, the scope and severity of a given company’s financial condition will become apparent.

Every bank executive and commercial lender that I’ve spoken with, as well as numerous economists and chief investment officers agree that as we progress into 2021, many businesses will have financial challenges that impair their operations or put them at risk of failing.

On the other hand, as mentioned earlier, some companies will experience a level of growth that can also pose challenges. In both instances, the need for sufficient financing will be mandated.

Both banks and customers are changing to new business models

Post-pandemic perspectives

As the magnitude and severity of the financial impact on businesses became known, banks started to assess the level of risk within their loan portfolios as well as revisiting their credit policies. While governmental programs for payment deferrals, covenant easing and loan classification allowed banks some level of latitude in working with their customers, these too were only temporary support.

While the extent of financial impact on current and prospective customers and the length of this evolving scenario is unknown, it fosters thought as to what issues will banks need to address in whatever is considered the “new normal..

Clearly, the needs of businesses to have the appropriate level of financing will continue. However, the lending landscape has been altered by the pandemic. Prospects that previously appeared bankable may not be. Current customers may have facilities that don’t qualify for increases, are subject to reduction, not renewed or in more severe situations, the bank may wish to exit the relationship.

Conversely, some customers may experience a level of growth that either surpasses the bank’s ability to approve the requested level of financing or involves a business transaction that the bank is unwilling to underwrite (i.e., purchase order financing). Given the pandemic’s emotional and psychological strain imposed on business owners, any of these scenarios does not bode well for the bank from a relationship and reputational perspective.

Although a similar situation existed prior to the pandemic, in a post-pandemic world, it’s even more important that banks have alternative options (such as invoice factoring) to offer the customer to enhance their ability to secure a new customer or maintain the allegiance of customers they wish to retain. In a highly competitive industry, losing an attractive prospect is a missed opportunity or having to replace a current customer is time consuming and costly.

Read: Bankers where capes, too! How funding superheroes work together

 

Even before the pandemic, banks recognized the need to expand the range of non-bank financing options.

Through strategic alliances, organic development and direct acquisitions, a number of banks have equipped themselves and their lenders to offer solutions that enhance their ability to more broadly attract new customers and offer alternatives to supplement a current customer’s lending facility.

With so much demand for financing in the marketplace, a bank needs to demonstrate their desire to address the needs of their customers with a thoughtful and innovative approach. The “new normal” requires new thinking.

Reassessing the marketing thrust and branding of the bank is a serious consideration. Messaging will play an important role in communicating the bank’s sensitivity to the business owner’s situation and the bank’s desire and intent to address their needs. It needs to be communicated uniformly among all team members to convey a unified image.

Do you have a client that hasn’t met all the criteria for lending? Send them this quick guide so they know what steps to take next.

To say that we’ve all been through a lot would be a gross understatement. Everyone looks forward to the day when we can resume regular activities. The changes, adjustments, and adaptations we’ve had to make has, in many instances, caused us to rethink our priorities and values in our personal and business lives.

While it has been stressful in many respects, it has been a teaching moment and raised our awareness as to what were temporary changes or those that are permanent. In many respects, it’s caused us to reflect on what needs to be changed going forward.

The banking industry, in its efforts to attract and retain customers, most of which have been impacted by the pandemic, is one where that analysis and thought process is well served by doing so.

As the old saying goes, “the one constant is change.” Recognizing the need to change and acting in a strategic and decisive manner can make a meaningful difference in the final outcome. The time to prepare is now.

 

 

Editor’s Note:This article originally appeared in the Illinois Banker Magazine. Liquid Capital is an IBA Preferred Vendor, and author Tom Stamborski (President of Liquid Capital of Illinois) is the program manager for the Liquid Capital Bank Alliance Program.

With the Liquid Capital Bank Alliance Program, we help banks grow their market share and strengthen client relationships — now and ongoing post-pandemic. Learn more about how this exclusive program can work for you and your customers here.

Business growth plan and invoice factoring

If you’re building your business growth plan, include invoice factoring

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Invoice factoring shouldn’t be considered a last resort. It’s a powerful alternative funding solution that can jumpstart your business growth planning, and should be included as a fundamental funding resource for many companies. Here’s why.

Business growth plan and invoice factoring

Often business owners think that invoice factoring is only for failing businesses. But this is a common misconception. Businesses that are on a high growth trajectory can benefit greatly from alternative funding such as invoice factoring.

Unlike a traditional bank loan or line of credit, your funding amounts are based on the size of your accounts receivables. While banks qualify you based on your business credit strength, your invoice factoring partner will look at variables such as your accounts receivables and your customer credit strength. 

This means you may often qualify for funding amounts larger than what a bank can offer, which can really help when you’re looking at ways to fund your business growth plans. You can also access extra working capital quickly, allowing you to seize growth opportunities when they arise without worrying about how you’ll support the associated operational costs. 

 

Does your current funding solution and partner support your business growth plan?

It’s a common situation that many of our clients find themselves in: they have a great growth opportunity, but their current funding arrangements aren’t enough. 

For instance, when Carm Borg, President and CEO of Global Aviation wanted to expand his business growth plans, the bank couldn’t sufficiently support the financing he needed.

 

“The banks want three to five solid years of history, whereas factoring will base their funding solutions off of your current book of business.”

— Carm Borg, President and CEO of Global Aviation

 

With Liquid Capital, Borg was able to access over $40 million in working capital over the years he spent working with his local Liquid Capital Principal. “They gave me the ability to grow the business twice as fast,” says Borg.

Other traditional sources of funding, such as venture capital deals, often require that you sacrifice some of that equity, factoring does not. You’re able to keep ownership of your company, access the funds you need and manage your business growth plans on your terms.

 

Is invoice factoring really too expensive?

One common concern about many financing solutions is the cost to the business — both monetary and other. If you take into account the planning, time spent and other expenses that go into just attempting to get loans, lines of credit, grants, venture capital, angel investments, family donations and other investment dollars, those costs really add up. You may not even be successful in gaining capital, and then you’re further behind.

 

When compared to the fees, interest and equity lost from these other kinds of financing, invoice factoring can be much more favourable. Your invoice factoring partner can work out the numbers quickly to explain how much you’ll receive upfront, which allows you to plan your next move with reliability. 

As part of the factoring process, you can also cut your admin costs.

When a business factors invoices, it no longer has to worry about collecting accounts receivable. This responsibility (and risk) shifts to the factoring partner, which effectively becomes the business’ outsourced credit and collections department. The factor takes over all aspects of credit and collections including folding, stuffing, mailing and documenting invoices and payments. This frees employees up from these time-consuming tasks so they can focus on core business pursuits.

At Liquid Capital, we also don’t make you jump through hoops just to learn if you’ll qualify for funding. We try to qualify our clients quickly and provide practical guidance if there are areas you need to improve.

 

Want to read more about how invoice factoring can fuel business growth plan? Check out part 1 our series on making invoice factoring part of your business growth plan.