As financial consultants, we assist clients with securing capital for their small businesses. Sometimes clients are seeking capital to start a new business. Other times clients are seeking working capital to grow their businesses. Yet, most clients come to me seeking a loan to consolidate their existing high interest debt. Unfortunately, in the current credit environment unless you have perfect credit, quality collateral, and money in the bank, the odds of you getting a consolidation loan are slim to none. So, what’s my advice to the cash strapped small business owner? How do you get out of your current situation? You have to sell your way out.

Set a Goal – Ask yourself, “Where would I like my business to be financially in 90 days, one year, and 3 years from now? How can I get there?” If you have a business plan, refer to it and see how your business performed in comparisons to your projections. If you planned to fail before you started your business and did not prepare a budget and/or cash flow projections then take some time out to understand where you currently are financially.

Assess your Inventory – Assess your current inventory? Is it full of items that you can hardly keep on the shelf or items that are obsolete? If it is full of items that are obsolete, last years fashions, are a fad that has simply faded out, either put them on clearance, put them on eBay or sell them to another vendor. The items that are left, plan to aggressively market and move them quickly.

Spread the Word – If you are currently in a situation where your cash flow is tight, you are probably thinking to yourself, “I don’t have a marketing budget.” If you don’t then, think of ways that you can make your product known by only spending time. Some ways include talking to your existing clients about what makes your product great and asking and/or encouraging them to share their experience of doing business with you with others, attending local events and giving your 30 second elevator pitch, and if you are technologically advance blogging online.

Get Your Sales Team Involved – Your employees should know what your goals are and be committed to helping the business reach them. One way to get employees motivated to succeed is by putting an incentive plan in place. Make sure that the rewards are tied to results and you have a sure system in place to measure the individuals and the teams result.

Measure your Results – After you have done steps one through four, measure the results. Have your sales increased? Have they declined? What can you do differently? If your efforts were successful and your sales increased, then duplicate your efforts again and again until you have successfully sold yourself out of debt.

If you are in the Houston Metropolitan area and you are interested in a free consultation, feel free to contact us for more information.