Recent years have been demanding and exhausting for many business owners. Are you one of them?

The challenges have been relentless, and we know many small business owners have had to navigate unprecedented challenges first because of the pandemic and then from inflation and other market impacts.

Burnout results from long-term stress and can manifest in emotional and physical exhaustion, which may affect your enthusiasm for running the business you once loved.

So, What Can You Do About it?

We understand that as a business owner, you have many responsibilities, and often you do everything on your own. So we know how hard it can sometimes be to keep on top of all your legal obligations.

The most important step is to acknowledge you feel burned out and need a break.

Take a break as soon as you can. Plan ahead for time away from the business. However, while getting some rest in the short-term will help, long-term stress will take commitment to recover from.

Strategies to Help Recover from Burnout

What can you do differently to avoid prolonging or retriggering the burnout?

• • • Delegate – Look at the low-value tasks you spend time on and pay someone to do them for you. This will free up time and energy.
    • Re-energize – If you’re struggling with a lack of enthusiasm or purpose, talk to colleagues or a business coach for support. If possible, connect with people in the same industry so you can share among others who may be facing similar challenges.
    • Stand back – Take an objective look at how much you are working and how effective you are. For example, is it time to streamline your work activities and put boundaries around working hours?
    • Reassess your goals – Do you have clear business goals for the short-term and long-term? Either set some realistic goals or revise them if they are too difficult right now.
    • Commit to some regular self-care actions – Think about what you love doing outside your business that is nourishing. Regular exercise? Time in nature? Going on a retreat? Learning something for fun? Improving your diet? Get an app on your phone that reminds you to take mini breaks throughout each day. Whether that is movement, mindfulness or music, use technology to help.
    • Celebrate milestones and achievements – When overwhelmed with stress or exhaustion, it’s easy to forget the positives. Remind yourself of just how much you have done in the last year!

Need Some Support?

You’ll be better able to face challenges, run your business well and assist others if you are looking after yourself well.

We’d love to help support you back to passionate engagement with your business. If you’re feeling burned out and need help in managing systems, technology, payroll or other financial and administrative management, talk to us today, and we’ll back your recovery.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Customers are the true bedrock of your business.

Loyal customers become repeat buyers, spread word of your brand and provide a steady income stream of sales. But what can you do to build the very best relationships with your existing and future customers.

In this series, we’ll look at some keyways to optimize your business, exploring different avenues to evolve your enterprise and create a legacy you can be proud of.

Let’s take a look at some important ways to improve your customer relationships.

Getting to know your customers inside out

Customers want to know that you understand them. That you know their needs and tailor your products and services to make their lives easier.

The closer you can get to your customers, the better. That means getting to know your audience and doing everything you can to nurture the customer relationship, at each stage of the journey.

Here are five important ways to achieve this:

1. Improve your customer service

Make sure your customer service is second to none. Respond quickly to customer enquiries and aim to come back with a resolution, or the extra advice they need. Be welcoming, resourceful and effective with your customer support, so customers feel like they’ve had a positive experience from your brand.

2. Listen to customer feedback

You might think no-one knows your product better than you. But the reality is that it’s the customer that drives the evolution of your offering. Regularly ask customers for feedback and ideas for improving the product. Listen, pull out the action points and make sure you act on the feedback to create a better product.

3. Do your customer research

To meet the customer’s needs, it’s vital to know what drives them. Market research is a valuable tool, giving you both quantitative and qualitative data about the people who buy your products. By grasping your audience’s behaviors and motivators, you can tailor your product to their requirements.

4. Analyse your customer data

Research can also begin at home. With today’s cloud-based sales tools and customer research management (CRM) software, you have a huge goldmine of customer-related data you can analyze. Dive into the data to look for trends and patterns, areas for improvement and information on which product lines are selling (and which are tanking and failing to thrill your customers).

5. Get forensic with your targeting

Access to customer data makes it easier than ever to target highly specific customer groups. Online advertising helps you to zero in on specific age, location, income bracket and interest demographics. This helps you run highly tailored and focused marketing campaigns, increasing your chances of building relationships with the best customer groups.

Talk to us about ways to engage with your customers

If your aim is to optimize, grow and build a better business, having a solid customer base will be integral to this goal. Evolving your approach to customer relationships really is a must.

We’ll help you assess the sales, revenue and CRM data in your systems, so you get to know your customers like the back of your hand. Our team will also help you sketch out a strategic approach for nurturing your customer relationships and creating loyal advocates for your brand.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Keeping on top of your finances is a critical part of keeping your business on track. 

But are you doing everything you can to optimize your financial management?

In this series, we’ll look at some key ways to optimize your business, exploring different avenues to evolve your enterprise and create a legacy you can be proud of.

Let’s see how you can better control over your financial numbers.

1.  Having the right numbers at your fingertips

One of the biggest causes of business failure with new startups is poor cashflow and a lack of capital. Having enough money to cover your expenses, pay your workforce and invest in growth is what separates the successful businesses and those that fall by the wayside.

But what can you do to improve your cash position and keep yourself in the driving seat when it comes to managing the financial side of the business?

Here are five simple things you can to get more proactive with your finances:

2.  Embrace financial technology and cloud accounting

Make sure you’re using cloud-accounting solutions like Xero or QuickBooks, with integrated bank feeds, expense tracking, simple invoicing and a real-time view of your numbers. You can also use the advanced reporting features to get deep insights into financial performance. Use financial metrics and KPIs to monitor performance

Develop a framework of financial key performance indicators (KPIs) including gross profit margins, operating expenses, customer acquisition costs and revenue growth rates. By tracking these metrics, you can gauge your performance, spot any financial threats and make well-informed decisions about your financial management.

3.  Forecast your cashflow position and potential challenges

Use the latest cashflow forecasting tool to track your expected cash inflows and outflows. These projections give you an overview of your cash position for the months ahead, allowing you to top up your cash as required. It’s also sensible to build up some meaningful cash reserves, so you have capital behind you when cashflow gets tight.

4.  Work on your aged debt and debtor management

It’s important that customers pay on time and that your payment terms are clear. Use your accounting software to send out automated reminders and have structured follow-up procedures in place for overdue payments. It’s also a good idea to offer early payment incentives and to nurture strong customer relationships to minimize your aged debt and improve cashflow.

5.  Get strategic with your working capital and access to finance

Having a viable level of working capital in the business is a must. Explore the various financing options for boosting your capital. This can include business lines of credit, invoice financing or term loans to, all of which help to increase funding and raise the company’s capital.

Talk to us about ways to improve your digital transformation

There have never been more tools to help you manage your finances. By embracing the best in financial and accounting tools, you give yourself (and your finance team) the superpowers to become cashflow positive, with capital behind you to drive your business to new heights.

If you’re looking to upgrade your financial management, come and talk to us. Our team will suggest the ideal accounting tech stack and the best ways to control your numbers.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Producing regular management information is one way to help improve your business decision-making. But looking at historical numbers can only tell you so much.

In business, you want to know what the future holds. And to make truly informed decisions about your future strategy, it’s important to use forecasting tools to project your data forwards in time. By running projections, based on these historical numbers, and producing detailed forecasts, you can get the best possible view of the road ahead – that’s invaluable.

Run regular cashflow forecasts

Positive cashflow is vital to the short, medium and long-term success of your business. Without cash, you simply can’t operate the business efficiently. Running regular cashflow forecasts helps you overcome this challenge.

With detailed projections of your future cashflow, you can spot the cash gaps that lie further down the road, and take action to fill these cashflow holes.

Income can often be unpredictable, especially in challenging economic times. If customers fail to pay an invoice, or suppliers increase their prices, this can all start to eat into your available cash. Using forecasting, you can extrapolate your numbers forward to which weeks, months or quarters are looking financially tight.

And with enough prior warning, there’s plenty of time to look for short-term funding facilities, or to get proactive with reducing your spending.

Run sales and revenue forecasts

Keeping the business profitable is one of the key foundations of making a success of your enterprise. You want your sales to be stable and your revenues predictable if you’re going to generate enough capital to fund your growth plans. And you need to know how those revenues will pan out over the course of the coming financial period.

Revenue forecasts work much like a cashflow forecast. Instead of looking at your future cash position, a revenue forecast gives a projection of your sales and how much revenue is likely to be brought into the business in future weeks and months.

With better revenue information, you’ll be more on top of your profit targets. You can manage your working capital in a more practical way. And you can improve your ability to invest in new projects, additional staff or funding of the long-term expansion of your business.

Run different scenario plans

What’s going to happen to your business in the future? None of us have a crystal ball to predict this future path exactly. But by looking at different possible scenarios, you can run projections to see what the potential outcomes and impacts may be.

These ‘What-if scenarios’ can be exceptionally useful tools when thinking about big business decisions. What if there’s an economic recession? What if our sales increased by 25%? What if we raised our prices by 10% next quarter?

What if we lost a quarter of our customers? By plugging the relevant data into your forecasting engine, you can run these scenarios and see how each option pans out. That’s massively useful when the worst (or the best) does happen.

Update your strategy, based on your forecasts

By making the most of your forecasting tools, you give your board, your finance team and your advisers the most insightful data and projections to work with.

A good business plan is designed to flex and evolve to meet the needs of the changing market – and the changing needs of your own business strategy. By making use of your cashflow forecasts, revenue projections and what-if scenario planning, you give yourself the insights needed to update your strategy and your business plan.

You can make solid, well-informed decisions and keep yourself one step ahead of your competitors. In the dog-eat-dog world of business, that’s a competitive edge that can make a huge difference.

If you want to delve deeper into the positive benefits of forecasting, please do get in touch. We can showcase the latest forecasting software and apps, and show you the value that’s delivered through well-executed forecasting and longer-term projections.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Excess stock is predicted to be one of the big challenges of 2023 for retailers around the world.

It’s been a stock rollercoaster for the past few years: supply chain problems made it hard to get deliveries, then as stock started rolling in, customers started tightening their purse strings.

If you have surplus inventory from 2022, here are 6 smart ways to maximize its use in your business:

1. Run sales and specials – A strategic sale on excess stock could be a way to win new customers. A lower price cuts into your profits, so make sure you deliver a superb shopper experience so you have the best chance of converting one-off bargain hunters into repeat customers. A flash sales event can be another way to boost interest in your brand.
2. Refresh, reposition and remarket – Repositioning a product can give it a second chance to catch a customer’s eye. Can you move the product’s position in your store and freshen up the display? If it’s online, could new photography or SEO copy help give it a second chance?
3. Bundle it up – Bundles can be a great deal for customers, and an excellent way to shift excess inventory. Match up overstocked products with in-demand items and sell them together at a lower price – you maintain a reasonable profit and shoppers appreciate the value. You can also offer multi-buy discounts on items, such as 10% off if you buy two, 20% off if you buy three or more.
4. Try a promotional giveaway – Use surplus stock to create promotional giveaways on social media and in-store. You can use a giveaway to attract new shoppers, grow your promotional database, and raise your profile. For instance, it could be ‘go in the draw to win this prize pack’, or ‘get this free gift when you spend X’.
5. Make a donation – Depending on the type of stock you have in oversupply, it might be possible to donate it to a charity – your free products support those in need and your business can get a PR boost.
6. Liquidate – If you really can’t shift your excess stock to shoppers, you may be able to find a corporate buyer. Local surplus stores, liquidators and auction houses may be willing to buy your overstocked inventory. Buyers will expect a hefty discount off the retail price, but it can be a fast way for you to shift excess product and free up space for new merchandise.

We can help you manage your inventory more effectively

We can talk to you about stock management, surplus inventory and any tax advantages that come with donating or writing off stock.

Do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.