Monday, 21st March 2022 | Small business financing Canada,Accounting

Best strategies to pay off your small business loan

Paying off a small business loan can be intimidating which is why we bring you some of the best strategies to easily pay off your loans.

Best Strategies To Pay Off Your Small Business Loans

Knowing that your company's debt is mounting can be a powerful drive to take action, but it can also feel intimidating and overwhelming. Developing a debt reduction strategy can assist business owners in regaining control of the situation and paying off debt as quickly as possible.
The following company debt management techniques can teach you how to pay off debt quickly.

Pay in Installments

You may utilize extra money to pay off your debt faster than paying your small business loan equated to a monthly installment (EMI) once a month. Of course, the lender will charge you a fee for this, but it will undoubtedly speed up your debt repayment.

Please keep in mind that this is typically only an option for secured loans. If you have an unsecured company loan, talk to your lender about the terms for making partial payments.

At Regular Intervals, Increase Your EMI Percentage

If you think you'll be able to manage your debt by reducing your spending or raising your income, talk to your lender about increasing your EMI payment by a particular percentage. The viability of this option will, once again, be determined by your lender's policies and the sort of company loan you have obtained. By increasing your EMI percentage, you’ll be able to repay the company loan faster. 

Create a Positive Working Relationship with the Lender

It is the most underrated aspect of the banking sector: borrowers frequently overlook the importance of developing a positive working relationship with the lender.

To build a positive working relationship with your lender, you must pay all EMIs on time and communicate with them regularly. It increases your trustworthiness and improves your chances of acquiring favorable loan conditions. In addition, the lender can assist you in taking advantage of various discounts that may be available from time to time.

Borrowing with Caution

Don't overborrow since it can affect your repayment schedule. If your loan is not properly handled or you fail on your payments, it can have long-term consequences.

As a result, it's critical to borrow an amount that you can readily return without jeopardizing your company's cash flow. Also, avoid unnecessarily increasing running costs during repayments since this might negatively influence your payback ability. Make the most of your resources and attempt to repay your company loan as soon as possible.

Decrease Company Spending

You can put more money toward your debt repayments by reducing any company expenditures that you can do without. Make a list of your monthly spending to see what costs might be reduced or eliminated.

Reduce inventory to increase cash flow or halt charity giving until the company's debt is paid off. The money you save in unnecessary costs can be put toward debt payments to guarantee that the money owed is paid quickly. It may surprise you how reducing small monthly expenses can add up to significant savings.

Find Ways To Increase Revenue And Income

Maximizing cash flow is a significant aspect of paying down corporate debt. Finding new ways to create money and reduce your debt will help you get out of debt faster. It’s a good idea to identify the accounts with the most significant debt. You'll require cash inflow to pay them down. 

Consider the various ways you and your firm could improve cash flow. For example, can you diversify your company's services or goods to capitalize on a market gap? Raising or reducing pricing, holding a flash sale, upselling to customers, focusing on your store's most popular goods, or renewing your marketing approach are all actions that could potentially increase company sales.

‍Get Small Business Loans with iCapital!

iCapital is one of Canada’s leading loan providers to small businesses in various industries. We offer flexible payment options and hassle-free procedures to ensure you get your money as soon as possible. Get more information about iCapital's small business loans. Contact us today and apply for a small business loan for your company with a 98% approval rate and 24/7 access to your accounts.

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Customer retention best practices for your small business

In 2023, the business landscape will be more dynamic, with constantly evolving trends and changing customer demands. You can keep your customers engaged and returning for more with the right strategies. Here are some invaluable customer retention best practices to help you stand out from the crowd and keep your customers coming back for more:

Embrace Omnichannel Sales

The pandemic accelerated the shift to online shopping, and customers are now more comfortable than ever buying online. This means providing a seamless experience across all channels, from your website to social media platforms, mobile apps, and online marketplaces. Investing in innovative technologies such as AI and automation can deliver personalized and efficient products that set you apart from the competition. 

Use Social Media to Build Relationships


Social media is a powerful tool for building relationships with your customers. You must use social media to build a community around your brand, engage with your customers, and create meaningful relationships. By actively listening to your customers and responding to their queries, feedback, and concerns, you can show that you care and establish trust. Furthermore, social media allows you to showcase your brand's unique personality and values, which can help you stand out from the competition. Sharing customer stories, testimonials, and reviews can also be an effective way to humanize your brand and build social proof.

Leverage Data Analytics


Data analytics can help you understand your customers better and identify opportunities to improve customer retention. You can identify opportunities to improve customer retention and create personalized experiences by tracking customer behaviour, preferences, and feedback. Investing in data analytics tools can help you make data-driven decisions and optimize your marketing and sales strategies to meet your needs.

Be Transparent and Authentic


Customers are increasingly demanding transparency and authenticity from the brands they do business with. Customers are looking for open and honest businesses about their practices, policies, and values. This requires being transparent about pricing, shipping, and returns policies and using authentic and inclusive marketing messages. Doing so can build trust with your customers, which is essential for long-term loyalty. Customers are also more likely to recommend businesses they perceive as transparent and authentic.

Focus on Customer Experience


Customer experience will be a major differentiator for small businesses. As a small business owner, providing exceptional customer experience across all touchpoints should be a top priority. This means investing in customer service training for your staff, optimizing your website for usability, and gathering customer feedback to improve your products and services continuously. 

 

These customer retention best practices can help your small business to stand out from the competition, improve customer loyalty, and grow your business. By embracing omnichannel sales, using social media to build relationships, leveraging data analytics, being transparent and authentic, and focusing on customer experience, you can create a loyal customer base that will continue to do business with you and recommend your brand to others. 

Sales ,Marketing ,Management

7 ways how AI empowers small businesses to achieve more in less time

What is artificial intelligence (AI)?

AI is a revolutionary technology that enables SMBs to automate tasks, predict trends, forecast demand, improve decision-making, streamline operations, and scale up. With advanced AI models like Stable Diffusion, DALL-E 2, and GPT-3, and the emergence of AI-powered products like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, we can now utilize technology that was once considered exclusively human.

In this blog, we will explore the benefits of AI for SMBs and how you can gain a competitive advantage in your respective markets by optimizing operations and maximizing output with minimal resources.

1. Automating Repetitive Tasks

AI-powered tools can automate time-consuming tasks such as data entry, invoicing, and email management. This frees up valuable resources that can be redirected toward high-value activities, such as strategic planning, customer engagement, and product development.  

2. Improving Customer Experience

Chatbots and virtual assistants can provide customers with quick and accurate responses to their inquiries, improving their overall experience with your business. Additionally, it can analyze customer behaviour and preferences to personalize marketing efforts and provide targeted recommendations, further enhancing the customer experience. 

3. Improving Decision-Making

SMBs are frequently required to make critical decisions that impact the trajectory of their business. AI-powered tools can enhance your decision-making by providing real-time insights and analytics. For example, an AI tool can analyze sales data and identify trends, empowering owners to make data-driven pricing, promotions, and product development decisions.

4. Predicting Trends and Forecasting Demand

AI-powered tools can help you predict trends and forecast demand. By analyzing data from various sources, including social media, sales history, and online reviews, AI has allowed you to identify emerging trends and help your SMB adjust strategies accordingly. 

5. Enhancing Marketing Efforts

AI can also help enhance marketing efforts. Analyzing customer data that will identify the target audience, create personalized marketing campaigns, and predict which marketing strategies will most likely be effective.

6. Enhancing Cybersecurity

With the rise of cyber threats, SMBs can use AI to strengthen their cybersecurity measures. AI-powered tools can detect and prevent cyber attacks, identify vulnerabilities in systems and networks, and provide real-time alerts to potential threats. This helps SMBs protect their sensitive information and prevent costly data breaches.

7. Improving Decision Making

Lastly, AI can help improve decision-making by providing data-driven insights. AI-powered tools can assist you, and your managers in making well-informed decisions regarding crucial aspects such as hiring, resource allocation, product development, and pricing.

 

Marketing ,Management

5 Strategies for Growing your Business

What can I do to start developing a plan for growth?

Deciding to grow your business is a big step, so take a moment to congratulate yourself. Now, let’s get to work. The first thing to do is to develop a plan, and these five strategies can help.

1. Take care of your cash flow

Just for everyday operations, businesses need to have a steady flow of capital coming in and going out, but the importance of your cash flow intensifies when you’re planning to expand. 

Survey your income and expense reports to determine your current cash flow, and identify trends so you can estimate how much you’ll have in the future. Don’t stop there. Make sure that you return to this information regularly to ensure you remain on the right path. 

Should you find yourself in a cash flow crunch, you can consider a business line of credit so you can continue to take care of your responsibilities. Alternatively, you can take out a small business loan. 

2. Invest in marketing and sales

It’s common for sales and marketing costs to fall to the bottom of a small business’ priority list, but they’re an absolutely crucial investment, especially if you’re expanding. Bear in mind that marketing and sales strategies and tactics can be tailored to your business’ unique needs, so you’ve got a variety of options to choose from–all with different budgets. Consider your audience, sales goals, and business forecast to build regular (think monthly) marketing efforts into your long-term plan. Marketing your business is an investment in its success. 

3. Attend to your core audience while attracting new customers 

Expansion often involves courting new customers, weather from different market segments or simply additional regions. It’s important that during the growth process resources and attention aren’t stolen from your core customers. They’re the ones who got you here, after all. 

One way to give everyone the attention they deserve is to break your audience (and marketing dollars) into distinct segments and sell each according to their wants. Be open to different configurations. For example, depending on the situation you might want to serve everyone under a single brand, or develop distinct brands for different segments. 

4. Confirm your supply

Few things can turn customers away faster than hearing you don’t have the products or services they need. Supply chain issues and slow delivery since the pandemic have put an increasing number of businesses in a precarious position when it comes to meeting customer demands, so your expansion plans should include the establishment of relationships with multiple reliable suppliers. Your efforts in advance demonstrate good business practices and respect for your customers. Plus, positive relationships with multiple suppliers can help you with your expansion goals. 

5. Ensure quality and consistency 

It should go without saying, but the last thing you want to happen when you expand is to have your quality or customer experience decline. Plan against this by establishing production, operations, and customer service standards. .

You have a better chance of expanding successfully if you plan carefully in advance. Attend to your finances, marketing, suppliers, and customers in advance to make sure you’re growing on a solid foundation. 

 

Speak to an iCapital advisor about small business loans or lines of credit to ensure steady cash flow during your expansion process. 

Marketing ,Accounting ,Management

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