Traffic > Conversion > Retention

3Come to Terms with Terms If your cash flow is not what it should be, check on the terms you are giving on your invoices. Are they in step with the terms you are being given by vendors? Are your customers meeting your terms? Are you being too generous in allowing late payments. Have you considered offering a discount for paying early? 4 Stretch Payables The opposite side of receivables is your payables. Just as you want to get your receivables in as soon as possible, to maintain positive cash flow, you want to try to stretch your payables out for as long as possible. Take full advantage of the terms your vendors give you. If they are generous enough to give 90 days, do not pay in 60, unless of course they offer a discount for early payment. If terms from vendors are short -- net 15, or 30 – you may wish to pay via Credit Card to extend the payments. 5 Evaluate Your Client Base Take a good look at your customers. Who are the good payers? Who are the deadbeats? You may be surprised to find that some customers who you, and your sales force consider your ‘biggest accounts’ are actually your slowest payers, and are negatively impacting your cash flow. Focus your sales efforts and customer services on your good payers. 6 Pricing for Profits

When was the last time you evaluated your prices? Have they kept pace with the marketplace and your current costs? How do the measure up to the competition? 7 Leasing Vs Buying

You may want to consider leasing, rather than buying high commodity items such as computers, cars, et cetera. In the long run it is true that leasing can be more expensive than purchasing but the positive cash flow gained by laying out little or no money up front, may be worth it. 8 Look at Expenses Take a look at your regular operational expenses, such as insurance payments, cable and phone service, any regular bill you pay monthly. Are you getting the best deal? Have your policies kept pace with changes in your business? Particularly in the case of insurance, you should take a look at your policies at least once a year, to see if you can renegotiate your rates with your current supplier, and get at least two other competitive quotes from other suppliers. 9 Manage Inventory Over buying ties up cash. Stock only what you need. Focus your inventory on high turnover items. Go through inventory regularly, clear out old items at discounted prices to produce liquidity. 10 Cash Flow Culture Is cash flow a priority for your business? Then make it part of your corporate culture. Make sure all of your employees, and not just those in the accounting department, are doing all they can to encourage positive cash flow, no matter where they interact with your customers.

Maintaining positive cash flow is a bit of a juggling act. You have several balls in the air, from collections on receivables, to properly managing credit and inventory. Think of any juggler you have seen. Do you think they got to that level overnight? No, it took drive and practice, and for sure, many balls were dropped along the way. Follow and practice these strategies, and soon you will be managing the money flowing in and out of your business like a real pro! f

by Lauren O’Connor

Many find online marketing a daunting task. You don’t know where you should start; should it be Pay Per Click advertising, social media, or perhaps search engine optimisation? The end goal for any agency is to help Australian businesses, pure and simple, and this can be achieved using a unique strategy formula: Traffic > Conversion > Retention.

Promoting your website to attract relevant traffic is the first vital step you need to take as a business owner. You need traffic because you require the right people to be visiting your website. Through utilising proper online advertising, with a strategic combination of techniques, you can encourage your target audience to click on your website.

Secondly, you need to convert the traffic you attract into credible leads so that you may convert them into sales. At the end of the day, if you want to continue in small business, you need to be making a profit. Owning a website that helps to convert your leads can make a huge difference between making a sale, or not.

Lastly, you need to ensure you re-engage and retain your customers. Customers expect a level of aftercare once they have committed their money to your business. This gives you an opportunity to remarket to an audience who have already converted with your business in the past, and there are multiple ways to do this.

Incorporating Traffic > Conversion > Retention into your business plan will help you to leverage the most of your budget.

TM

ADVANCED ONLINE MARKETING

Incorporating Traffic > Conversion > Retention into your business plan will help you to leverage the most of your budget. Visit the SponsoredLinX website at www.sponsoredlinx.com or email at marketing@sponsoredlinx.com or give them a call today on 1300 859 600 to learn more about how Traffic > Conversion > Retention can be applied to your business. ca