7 benefits of reviewing your business’s funding facility

10/10/2020

Everyone knows that cash is king. Yet, when it comes to business finance, many business owners find a solution and then stick with it – even if it’s not providing adequate support.

Whether it’s through lack of time to search for alternative options or the fear of being turned down, businesses could be missing out on significant benefits by failing to ensure they have the most suitable solution in place to support their needs.

Reviewing your funding facility to find a solution that better serves your requirements could bring your business countless benefits. Here are just seven:

1. Improved service

The service you receive from your funder can be just as important as the level of funding you can access, if not more so. But not all funders offer the same service levels.

By reviewing your existing funding facilities against the wider market, you could find a funding partner that is better aligned to your expectations and requirements, whether that’s a more hands-on service or a funder who has specialist knowledge of the intricacies of your sector.

Meanwhile, different funders use different systems and technologies to provide online access, depending on your needs.

A new funding provider could therefore allow you to utilise more advanced systems, which could speed up processes and give you back valuable time to concentrate on your business.

2. Better cash flow

Having an external funding facility in place doesn’t guarantee a healthy cash flow. And even if cash does flow freely throughout your business as a result of the arrangement you have in place, it could be even better.

By optimising your funding facility, you could find a facility that generates more working capital to ensure that your day-to-day commitments can always be met, take advantage of new opportunities as and when they arise and even take advantage of incentives like early settlement discounts, which can in turn lead to an increase in sales and profit.

3. Increased flexibility

Some funding facilities, like loans and overdrafts, are naturally rigid. For growing businesses or those with seasonal trading patterns, this can be restrictive and hugely frustrating. By reviewing your funding, you could find that a more flexible option is available which will allow you to easily adapt to changes in your business and fluctuating demand.

Quite often this can be achieved by finding a facility that specifically helps overcome common cash flow challenges. For example, asset finance will allow you to keep cash flowing whilst buying new equipment or machinery, while invoice finance solutions release funding against unpaid invoices and grow in line with your sales ledger. This provides greater flexibility for those who may need to scale funding up or down to meet changes in demand that might not be possible with other funding solutions.

4. Additional services

While some funding facilities simply boost cash flow, others come with additional services which can be beneficial.

For example, some facilities incorporate additional services and benefits such as credit management or bad debt protection.

Having these services as part of your funding facility can significantly reduce in-house overheads and improve your credit control performance.

This means you will be able to focus your time and effort on other aspects of managing and improving your business rather than chasing payments from customers.

5. Save money

It can be frustrating when you feel the cost of your funding facility outweighs the level of service provided.

By benchmarking your funding facility, you could potentially find alternative solutions which are more valuable to your business in terms of cost versus benefits – particularly as prices and pricing structures often change.

However, it’s important to remember the cheapest funding option isn’t necessarily the best for your business. So, it’s vital that cost isn’t the sole deciding factor.

Instead, it’s more important to consider if the cost of the facility is proportionate to the service provided and the opportunities it enables your business to access.

6. Stay ahead of competition

Every business should be looking for ways to gain an advantage over their competitors.

Whether that’s by launching a new product, developing software or adjusting prices, there are plenty of ways to make your business the market leaders in your industry. But have you considered how your funding can also play its part?

By reviewing your funding facility you will be putting yourself in a better position to invest in your business’s growth. This will help keep you ahead of the competition and ensure your long-term success. 

7. Keep up with the times

The funding market is constantly evolving. With new funders starting up, existing ones diversifying into new products and even well-established products evolving to cater for new requirements, it may be that the funding which was once best for your business may no longer be so.

By benchmarking your funding against the current market, you ensure that you continue to have the best solution for your requirements. 

Do you want to review your funding?

The services of a specialist and independent commercial finance broker can be invaluable to any business in securing the most appropriate funding facility or range of facilities to support its evolving cash flow requirements.

We will:

💡 Take the time to fully understand your business and its funding needs in order to identify the most suitable facilities

💡 Use our knowledge of the lenders on the market, their lending criteria and their ethos to introduce you to the best suited funders

💡 Save you valuable time with access to key decision makers

💡 Keep in touch to ensure the facility is running smoothly and as expected

So, if your business could benefit from accessing funding that is optimal for your business, or you would simply like to explore or benchmark your existing facilities, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact our team on 0800 9774833, or request a call back.
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