Duncan Connor of Company.com

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What We Did 

Company.com is the online SMB lead generation and business social community that helps businesses save money, make money, and grow.

About Our Company 

It's a simple case of managing how much flows in or out of your business and when. Successful businesses managed their expenses, maximized margins, and built their customer base.

One of the first things that successful businesses did during the recession was to look at their borrowing and renegotiate the terms to something that, while it may be over more years and ultimately more expensive, has lower payments now. Yes, adding more debt is probably a bad idea for most businesses, but if refinancing existing debt allows you to stay in business, there's a definite upside to doing it.

Other businesses negotiated longer periods for making payments to suppliers, while at the same time requiring faster payments from customers.

Another way that recession-surviving businesses management cash flow was to manage how much inventory was being carried at any given time - inventory costs money, and inventory which sits on your stock-room floor for weeks has an opportunity cost which can bankrupt your business.

The least desirable expense control is always in human resources, but as orders reduced, many manufacturing businesses laid off staff, instituted freezes or cuts to pay and benefits, reduced investment in hiring and training.

On the other side of things, the making money flow inside, there were a few tricks, too.

Accounts receivable factoring has appeared on the radars of more small business operators in the last two years, but the highlights are that you sell your invoices for between three and ten percent less than the invoice amount. Now you're asking why any business would do that. The answer is that for most businesses, 90 percent of an invoice now is better than 100 percent of an invoice in ninety days. That's if the customer pays in full. Factoring allowed businesses to get almost all of their invoices paid by a third party and focus on doing business and generating leads rather than chasing payments. The third party chases the customer for payment.

Many sole proprietorships and partnerships cut the amount the owners were paid, and in many cases, the owners injected more of their own cash into the business to continue operating, while others moved their business into more diverse or profitable areas.

Tips and Tricks 

• Manage expenses.
• Maximize margins.
• Build customer base.
• Renegotiate terms with suppliers.
• Manage inventory.
• Manage human resources.
• Consider accounts receivables factoring.
• Cut owner draws or put more owner capital into the business.