Small business budgets are almost always tight, but now more than ever before. Many small businesses shut down for a time this spring, many have changed their service lines, furloughed or laid off staff, and generally tightened their belts. How can small businesses evolve their budgets to improve cash on hand? What are the solutions for small businesses on a tight budget? 

Biggest Budgetary Pain Points for Small Businesses 

Managing cash flow (What cash flow?) has always been the most significant pain point for any small business. Resources are limited, and margins are slim for most startups and small businesses. One late payment from a customer can create real problems if you have low cash on hand.  

Hiring and retaining staff is always a struggle for small businesses. It’s a full-time job that many small business owners don’t have time to handle. Then, when the employee is hired, who has time to focus on actually keeping the worker engaged in the success of your business? 

Keeping the customer satisfied while still making sure they pay you is an interesting tight rope to walk, especially if it’s a big customer with a big late payment.  

Finally, marketing is the activity that most of us love to hate. There are so many options for marketing the business these days that it’s growing increasingly complicated. Many small business owners find themselves marketing; then, when several clients come on, they slack off. But marketing must be a consistent thread that runs throughout the organization, or you run the risk of your sales funnels coming up dry.  

4 Tips to Stop the Pain 

  1. Keeping accurate and up-to-date accounting of all money in and out of your business seems like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised at how many small companies fail in this regard. 
  2. Leverage recruiting software with intelligent automation that does the work of finding qualified candidates for you. These tools can help you also avoid regulatory compliance issues for hiring and firing employees. 
  3. Offering excellent customer service should be the cornerstone of any business, but especially the small owner-operator resting their entire business on their ability to find new customers and keep them. While every customer is essential that doesn’t mean your clients should be late on their payments. Small businesses must learn to provide the best customer care without compromising business operations. 
  4. If you hire anyone, make sure you have a marketer on the team. Even if it’s a freelancer, someone should be continually working free channels such as social media and producing good quality content for your website—and this is a bare minimum for marketing best practices today. 

Exelare understands the challenges and priorities of the small business owner. We work with entrepreneurs to supplement their hiring processes with recruiting software to streamline the search for new talent. Talk to our team about how we can help alleviate your small business pain points today.