In our efforts to provide best practices and content that brings value to the Dealer Network, the Dealer Development Team takes best practices during the 360 Reviews and those that come up during our Dealer Visits, and shares them across the Dealer Network.
Outside of articles in the Dealer Newsletter and Best Practices shared during our 360 Reviews, we have found it helpful to present these best practices and ideas in the form of webinars.
Over the past year and a half, Gene Marks, who writes weekly for The Guardian, The Hill, The Washington Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Forbes, has submitted ideas and helpful hints in both newsletter and webinar format.
In April, Gene presented a webinar on Cash Flow 2024: The Latest in Cash Management Trends. If you missed this webinar, click to view the webinar here.
Here are a few highlights from the webinar:
6 Ways to Be Smarter About Your Financials:
- Have a flash report
(Examples: Cash, Open AR. Overdue AR, Open Payables, YTD OT Hours. YTD Revenues, Aged Orders, Aged Quotes) - Have a 6 month available cash target
- Read your general ledger
- Focus on vendor/customer activity reports
- Start a rolling forecast
- Get your financial statements from a CPA
7 Ways to be Smarter about Your Receivables:
- Enforce strict credit
- Take a deposit upfront
- Accept credit cards and mobile payments
- Bill and collect online
- Focus on slow payers
- Schedule reminders in your CRM System
- Outsource your collection
7 Ways to be Smarter about Your Payables:
- Pay 2x per month
- Pay on time or early
- Use accounts payable management software (Bill.com, AvidExchange)
- Pay more by credit card
- Outsource
- Get audited – utilities, insurance, shipping
6 Ways to be Smarter about Your Financing:
- Leverage the SBA
- Investigate the State Small Business Credit Initiative
- Look for government grants – grants.gov
- Consider factoring – Bluevine.com
- Ladder CDs, Buy Treasuries, Invest in multi-year annuities
- Sell shares to your employees – employeeownershipequals.org
7 Ways to be Smarter about Your Taxes:
- Use the work opportunity tax credit
- Invest in equipment
- Max out your retirement savings
- Take credits for education, dependent care, and family leave
- Buy EVs
- Consider a sale/leaseback
- Employ your kids
If you have any questions on this or any other of Gene’s articles or newsletters, you can reach out to Greg Bowman at Greg.Bowman@toyotatmh.com or contact Gene Marks at Gene@Marksgroup.net.