Getting Unstuck

Wall’s Ice Cream is a very popular ice cream brand in The United Kingdom.  The Wall’s logo is prominently displayed at convenience stores, groceries and restaurants and cafes all throughout England. Wall’s is apparently also famous for their “Stop me and Buy One” tricycles roaming the streets filled with ice cream treats.

I haven’t personally seen the logo there by visiting England.  No, I’ve seen the logo often when I watch my favorite British Detective mysteries.  But enough about me and my Brit-Binge.

Wall’s has been making ice cream for over 100 years, but Wall’s didn’t start out as an ice cream business.  No, Wall’s was a butcher shop!  T. Wall & Sons Ltd. was a sausage maker since 1786.  But in 1913, the owner, Thomas Wall, realized that his sausages weren’t very appealing to his customers during the warm Summer months.  He hit on the unique idea of selling ice cream during the Summer to increase sales and to save the jobs of his employees.

It didn’t hurt the bottom line, either. Now Wall’s survives over 100 years later, branded and thriving.  As an ice cream provider.

Would you make a similar choice in your business, a choice where you change your entire business model so that your employees are taken care of?

Do you have to make such a radical choice?

Maybe there is another way to demonstrate your sincere interest in the financial well-being of your employees.  In this economy of nearly full-employment, it is certainly in the best interest of businesses to hang on to valuable employees.  Time and again, successful companies have proven their success comes thanks to the people working for them, the people showing up every day eager to do their jobs and to see their employers achieve long-term success.  Surely it’s in the best interest of the employer to invest in those employees, whether that’s in small ways or in a radical way.

Like Wall’s, a company in business literally for centuries, but thriving in incredible ways for the past 100 years thanks to a small but ingenious investment on the part of its owner at the time.

Where will your business be in 100 years?

 
Visit our FINANCING FODDER YouTube Playlist for more info on how you can prepare a financing request that will knock the Lender’s socks off.

Two Most Important Documents

There are two documents that are the most important documents that you should include and have ready for immediate access whenever applying for financing.

First and foremost, your current Year-To-Date (YTD) Income Statement. At Aurora Business Consulting, we believe you should be updating your YTD Income Statement every quarter, but it couldn’t hurt to update it every month. With automated bookkeeping software, creating a quick YTD Income Statement should be easy to accomplish.

The second important document to have at the ready is a comprehensive marketing plan. We don’t mean a one or two page marketing statement.  A comprehensive marketing plan with a full assessment of your marketing action plan, including specific strategies, Situational Analysis, demographics, SWOT analysis and cost analysis and expected outcomes is the recommended document to have at the ready.

Realistically your marketing plan should already be in place as a foundational element of your business operations.  In the event you need to apply for financing, and if there are changes to your marketing plan, you need only update the plan accordingly.  Especially if the financing request involves working capital for marketing expenses, or equipment purchases for the potential increased business revenues generated by your new marketing vision.

Why a marketing plan when you’re applying for financing? You know your objectives on maintaining and growing your business; the lender wants to know your objectives also.

With these two important documents, when you present the marketing plan and the income statement promptly and efficiently, it says something about your way of conducting business. You’re sending a clear signal to the Lender about the high quality methods you use to run your business; you’re giving the Lender a sense of “comfort” about the risk assessment on your financing request.

What if your financials are weak in certain areas for the last couple of years? The Marketing Plan also could potentially overcome some objections the lender has to something that’s weak in your financials.

The marketing plan shows the way you’re going to increase revenue either by something you’re doing already or something you plan to do which is why you’re applying for working capital or equipment capital.