1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:03,760 Sales are coming in, but bills are going out faster. 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,680 If you've ever woken up at 3am and wondered how are you going to cover 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:11,520 the next bill or felt like you're constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul, 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:13,840 then this episode is for you. 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,960 Welcome to the Resilient retail game Plan. I'm Catherine Edley and in the 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,640 next few minutes you're about to get powerful real world retail strategies 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,730 from insights shared both from my guests and myself, backed up 8 00:00:26,730 --> 00:00:30,570 by my 25 years in the retail industry. Keep listening to learn 9 00:00:30,570 --> 00:00:34,210 how to grow a thriving, profitable product business. Let's 10 00:00:34,210 --> 00:00:35,810 jump in with this latest episode. 11 00:00:38,210 --> 00:00:41,770 One of the things I'm most passionate about is helping product 12 00:00:41,770 --> 00:00:45,290 businesses improve their cash flow. And that is 13 00:00:45,290 --> 00:00:48,570 because cash flow is make or break for 14 00:00:48,570 --> 00:00:52,130 businesses. If you look at any statistics as to why businesses fail, 15 00:00:52,450 --> 00:00:56,050 then you will see that the number one reason is always cash flow. 16 00:00:56,050 --> 00:00:59,390 Because ultimately you get into a situation 17 00:00:59,630 --> 00:01:03,110 where you just, if you can't pay your bills, you can't have a business. It's 18 00:01:03,110 --> 00:01:06,750 as simple as that. And I do love the phrase turnover 19 00:01:06,830 --> 00:01:10,510 is vanity, profit is sanity. But then there's a third element which is 20 00:01:10,510 --> 00:01:14,070 cash is reality. So what we're going to be talking about 21 00:01:14,070 --> 00:01:17,750 today is how to take back control of your 22 00:01:17,750 --> 00:01:21,310 cash flow and also understand more about where your 23 00:01:21,310 --> 00:01:25,070 money's going out and how to get more of it to stay into your account. 24 00:01:25,750 --> 00:01:29,390 When I talk to people who are feeling stressed in their business, it's because 25 00:01:29,390 --> 00:01:32,990 they've got a particular need, they've identified an issue and they're looking for a 26 00:01:32,990 --> 00:01:36,710 solution. So whether I'm talking to them about my stock doctor service 27 00:01:36,710 --> 00:01:40,350 or my retail by design one to one work, then 28 00:01:40,350 --> 00:01:43,510 usually they've come to me because there's something going on in the business 29 00:01:44,310 --> 00:01:47,830 what links them all together, whether or not they are actually 30 00:01:47,830 --> 00:01:51,590 doing really, really well and super profitable and in 31 00:01:51,590 --> 00:01:55,310 fast growth mode, or whether they've hit a plateau or, and everything 32 00:01:55,310 --> 00:01:59,130 in between is they feel out of control and 33 00:01:59,130 --> 00:02:02,890 they feel like they don't have visibility. One of the things that makes 34 00:02:02,890 --> 00:02:06,570 cash flow so difficult for so many people is that it is really 35 00:02:06,730 --> 00:02:10,250 multifaceted. There are sales coming in 36 00:02:10,490 --> 00:02:14,330 and there may be sales coming in from four or five, six different sources. 37 00:02:14,890 --> 00:02:18,730 There are bills going out and those bills cover everything 38 00:02:19,130 --> 00:02:22,970 from bills you pay once a year to bills that you're paying 39 00:02:22,970 --> 00:02:26,610 every month to bills that you're paying every week and also 40 00:02:26,610 --> 00:02:30,430 then those kind of big outlays of cash. Especially if you're somebody who 41 00:02:30,430 --> 00:02:34,110 manufactures. That's particularly difficult because Paying for a production 42 00:02:34,110 --> 00:02:37,830 run up front is really, really tricky. And what happens is this. 43 00:02:37,910 --> 00:02:41,750 All of this money effectively flying around is coming in, it's going out, 44 00:02:42,150 --> 00:02:45,590 and it can feel just like a bit of a whirlwind, 45 00:02:45,830 --> 00:02:49,550 even when it's doing well. Sometimes I see people who've got money in the 46 00:02:49,550 --> 00:02:52,950 bank, but they're scared to spend it because they don't know if they can have 47 00:02:52,950 --> 00:02:56,410 enough to cover everything else. And then there's people who are 48 00:02:56,730 --> 00:03:00,570 at the bottom of their overdraft or juggling multiple loan 49 00:03:00,570 --> 00:03:03,610 repayments. So there are a whole host of different 50 00:03:04,010 --> 00:03:07,650 situations with cash flow. But in a way, regardless of whether your 51 00:03:07,650 --> 00:03:11,410 cash flow is good or whether it's bad, not being able 52 00:03:11,410 --> 00:03:14,370 to have it mapped out and really clear and in front of you is an 53 00:03:14,370 --> 00:03:18,050 extremely stressful situation. I absolutely love nothing better 54 00:03:18,050 --> 00:03:21,690 than helping people unpick what's going on with their cash flow and getting 55 00:03:21,690 --> 00:03:25,490 it sorted out for them so they have a clear spreadsheet that 56 00:03:25,490 --> 00:03:29,010 they have got it all mapped out and they can see it in front of 57 00:03:29,010 --> 00:03:32,330 them. And what I wanted to do in today's episode is talk about 58 00:03:32,730 --> 00:03:36,330 how you can improve your cash flow if it's something that 59 00:03:36,330 --> 00:03:39,730 you're struggling with. And also the importance of having a plan, 60 00:03:39,730 --> 00:03:43,050 effectively being able to see it. The other thing I would say as well 61 00:03:43,450 --> 00:03:46,810 is that another reason I think this, people find this really difficult is 62 00:03:46,970 --> 00:03:50,480 that cash flow and taxes and business 63 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,080 finances, the kind of things that your accountant might help you 64 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,840 with, they're often very different things. So what works 65 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,360 for you as a business owner and what works for your bank account and 66 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,200 what hmrc, the information HMRC want to see that different things. 67 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,160 And what we're talking about is really grounded in the reality of what it's 68 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,480 like day to day as a business owner, to go from 69 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,840 running your whole business on whether or not you think you can cover something based 70 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:20,330 on what's in your bank account, to actually feeling like you're in control and you 71 00:04:20,330 --> 00:04:24,170 can see a year ahead of you what your bank balance is likely to 72 00:04:24,170 --> 00:04:25,490 be on any given date. 73 00:04:30,130 --> 00:04:33,730 So let's talk through the cash flow framework, 74 00:04:33,730 --> 00:04:37,450 because I think the first step towards having a better cash flow 75 00:04:37,450 --> 00:04:41,130 is understanding all of the different things that impact it and how they all 76 00:04:41,130 --> 00:04:44,370 relate to one another. The acronym I like to use for this is 77 00:04:44,450 --> 00:04:47,810 shops. Very appropriate for the retail industry. 78 00:04:48,450 --> 00:04:51,830 And what SHOPS covers is the different 79 00:04:51,830 --> 00:04:55,550 elements that impact your cash flow. And we're going to talk through them. So 80 00:04:55,550 --> 00:04:59,190 just top line, the SHOPS stands for S for Sales, 81 00:04:59,190 --> 00:05:02,870 H for Having it all mapped out. O for overheads, P for profit and 82 00:05:02,870 --> 00:05:06,630 S for stock. So all of the different elements that go into impacting 83 00:05:06,630 --> 00:05:09,150 your cash flow and all of the different things that you need to look at 84 00:05:09,150 --> 00:05:11,470 if you're finding cash flow really difficult. 85 00:05:12,830 --> 00:05:16,670 So let's start with the S, the first S. Sales. Now 86 00:05:16,670 --> 00:05:20,510 this is interesting because I can tell you that most people, if you 87 00:05:20,510 --> 00:05:24,090 ask them what they need to grow their cash flow, they're going to tell you 88 00:05:24,090 --> 00:05:27,930 that they need more sales. And I'm here to tell you 89 00:05:27,930 --> 00:05:31,690 that more sales are great. That is very helpful for 90 00:05:32,250 --> 00:05:35,970 people, especially when they're very first starting out and they are making very, very 91 00:05:35,970 --> 00:05:39,570 few sales. But you can also have a business with lots of 92 00:05:39,570 --> 00:05:43,290 sales and a really difficult cash flow. So don't fall into 93 00:05:43,290 --> 00:05:46,770 the trap of thinking that all you need to do to resolve your cash flow 94 00:05:46,770 --> 00:05:49,870 issues is have more sales. So they are important. 95 00:05:50,350 --> 00:05:53,990 As I said, if you're only making one sale a week and you've got 96 00:05:53,990 --> 00:05:57,350 overheads, then clearly the only way to improve your cash flow is going to be 97 00:05:57,350 --> 00:06:01,150 to grow your sales. But there's also lots of people who scale and they hit 98 00:06:01,150 --> 00:06:04,990 six figures and they get beyond six figures and they're just more stressed and the 99 00:06:04,990 --> 00:06:08,510 business is more unmanageable because they don't have it all mapped out. 100 00:06:09,710 --> 00:06:13,390 So the key thing here to say is that yes, sales are important. 101 00:06:13,470 --> 00:06:17,050 They aren't the only thing. There's lots of other things that you can do to 102 00:06:17,050 --> 00:06:20,890 help make your cash flow feel more manageable without only relying on 103 00:06:20,890 --> 00:06:24,370 more sales. The other thing I want to just highlight as well 104 00:06:24,690 --> 00:06:28,450 is that you need to make sure that they are profitable sales. I talk a 105 00:06:28,450 --> 00:06:32,210 lot about pricing, I talk a lot about profitability. You may have heard 106 00:06:32,210 --> 00:06:35,730 me say this before, but ultimately 107 00:06:35,810 --> 00:06:39,610 it's not about the top line sales, it's about how much profit 108 00:06:39,610 --> 00:06:43,250 they're bringing into you. Because another issue that I've seen with people with cash 109 00:06:43,250 --> 00:06:47,090 flow, for example, is they're plowing a lot of money into advertising. 110 00:06:47,950 --> 00:06:50,990 And if you're not careful and you're not keeping a really close eye on your 111 00:06:50,990 --> 00:06:54,710 roas, your return on ad spend, then you can get yourself into a situation 112 00:06:54,710 --> 00:06:58,190 where you've got sales coming in, but ultimately your cash flow is really difficult 113 00:06:58,350 --> 00:07:01,910 because there just really isn't much profit or your pricing isn't set up 114 00:07:01,910 --> 00:07:05,630 correctly and therefore you need to review 115 00:07:05,630 --> 00:07:09,390 that and improve your profit margins to grow your 116 00:07:09,390 --> 00:07:13,230 sales more profitably. If you want any more information about that, then episode 259 117 00:07:13,230 --> 00:07:16,590 is all about profit margins. Episode 260 is all about 118 00:07:16,670 --> 00:07:20,270 pricing. So you can go back and check those out if you want more detail 119 00:07:20,270 --> 00:07:23,990 on that subject. But just to say that yes, sales are important for your cash 120 00:07:23,990 --> 00:07:27,710 flow, but don't fall into the trap of thinking, oh, 121 00:07:27,870 --> 00:07:31,390 once my sales improve, my cash flow will be sorted. That's not true. 122 00:07:31,630 --> 00:07:35,230 And it can lead you to put off really delving into your cash flow 123 00:07:35,390 --> 00:07:38,710 for quite some time because you think it doesn't apply to you yet. And then 124 00:07:38,710 --> 00:07:42,230 before you know it, the numbers have got bigger, the stress has got bigger and 125 00:07:42,230 --> 00:07:44,140 you find yourself in a tricky step situation. 126 00:07:51,820 --> 00:07:55,380 So that's where H, the H for shops having it all mapped out 127 00:07:55,380 --> 00:07:58,940 comes in. So having it all mapped out is 128 00:07:58,940 --> 00:08:02,580 about being able to actually see what's going on with your 129 00:08:02,580 --> 00:08:06,060 cash flow. So this is a cash flow forecast. 130 00:08:06,140 --> 00:08:08,940 Now if you go To Resilient retail club.com 131 00:08:09,420 --> 00:08:12,870 cashflow, you can download my form free Cash flow 132 00:08:12,950 --> 00:08:16,710 forecast template which will help you with this enormously. 133 00:08:16,790 --> 00:08:20,390 So if you have ever struggled to find cash flow 134 00:08:20,390 --> 00:08:24,150 planner that works for you because it's not set up for product businesses, then 135 00:08:24,150 --> 00:08:27,829 go check this one out. I've been so frustrated over the years 136 00:08:27,830 --> 00:08:31,510 with trying to find a good tool to recommend to clients 137 00:08:31,750 --> 00:08:35,470 to help them with their cash flow that I basically ended up 138 00:08:35,470 --> 00:08:39,230 creating my own. The biggest issue I have is a lot of the software out 139 00:08:39,230 --> 00:08:42,890 there. For example, for cash flow for small businesses businesses, it's really 140 00:08:42,890 --> 00:08:46,250 set up for service businesses. So it talks a lot about things like 141 00:08:46,650 --> 00:08:50,250 how many proposals do you have out right now, how many potential clients, 142 00:08:50,250 --> 00:08:53,930 what's your potential future income? Whereas actually for product 143 00:08:53,930 --> 00:08:57,530 businesses, that's completely irrelevant. You need to be able to capture 144 00:08:57,530 --> 00:09:01,050 all of the different elements that you've got going on. What your sales forecast 145 00:09:01,130 --> 00:09:04,730 is by channel. You need to be looking at things like your 146 00:09:04,730 --> 00:09:08,330 bills, your stock purchasing, your salaries, so on and so 147 00:09:08,330 --> 00:09:12,170 forth. So having it all mapped out is an absolute game 148 00:09:12,170 --> 00:09:15,950 changer. And in my Retail by Design one to one program, I work 149 00:09:15,950 --> 00:09:19,030 with a lot of people on this one to one. So I walk through it 150 00:09:19,030 --> 00:09:22,630 together and I get them up and running and using it on a weekly basis. 151 00:09:22,950 --> 00:09:26,190 And I can't tell you the number of people who tell me I really hated 152 00:09:26,190 --> 00:09:29,510 spreadsheets, but I love this one. And the reason that it's so 153 00:09:29,510 --> 00:09:33,150 transformative is that it shows you the 154 00:09:33,150 --> 00:09:36,870 timing of everything. It's a week by week spreadsheet that you update once a week 155 00:09:37,030 --> 00:09:40,810 and it allows you the power to understand the how 156 00:09:40,810 --> 00:09:44,050 much money you're going to have in your account at any one time 157 00:09:44,450 --> 00:09:47,650 the power that that gives you. It means that if you have to make a 158 00:09:47,650 --> 00:09:51,250 big purchase, you can see the timing of it. You could also 159 00:09:51,330 --> 00:09:55,090 negotiate from a much stronger position with people that you maybe 160 00:09:55,090 --> 00:09:58,850 owe money to. So, for example, let's say you've got an invoice that's outstanding. 161 00:09:59,410 --> 00:10:03,050 Rather than thinking, oh my goodness, how am I going to do this? Potentially, you 162 00:10:03,050 --> 00:10:05,970 could have a conversation with them which would say, 163 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:10,400 I've done my cash flow planner. If I could split this into two or three 164 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,600 installments, that would really help me. Is there any way that we could do this? 165 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,920 And of course, they may just say no, but it's a much stronger 166 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,600 position, a much more credible position to come from when you've got it all 167 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,440 mapped out and you can have those kind of conversations with people then instead 168 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,320 just feeling like you have to, maybe you can't 169 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,640 make the payment that they're expecting and that that creates all kinds of other 170 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,340 difficulties. It's also about it being really visible. And 171 00:10:36,340 --> 00:10:39,980 I've worked with people where we've done this cash flow planner and it's been really 172 00:10:39,980 --> 00:10:43,740 difficult to see. And I've worked with people where it's given 173 00:10:43,740 --> 00:10:47,180 them a lot of confidence because they've been able to see 174 00:10:47,820 --> 00:10:51,420 how much they've actually got. But even for the people where it was really tricky 175 00:10:51,420 --> 00:10:55,220 and really difficult, it really highlighted where the issues were in their 176 00:10:55,220 --> 00:10:58,260 business and it helped them map them out. So I'm excited to share it with 177 00:10:58,260 --> 00:11:02,100 you. As I said, go to resilientretailclub.com cashflow and you will 178 00:11:02,100 --> 00:11:05,180 be able to download your free planner with an explainer video. 179 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,520 This is a game changer if you can get it all mapped out. It's the 180 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,200 difference between feeling like you're doing okay and knowing that you've 181 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,840 got what you need. And I really highly 182 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,600 recommend it. It doesn't have to take forever to set up, but it can be 183 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,160 really, really powerful. And as I said, I actually don't 184 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,800 know how people make decisions in their business without being able to see the 185 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:31,600 cash flow. Because also once you've got it all set up, you are able 186 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,450 to really create something that if you 187 00:11:35,450 --> 00:11:38,370 want to bring in a new person or you want to spend money on something, 188 00:11:38,690 --> 00:11:42,130 you put that payment in the time at which it's going to come out 189 00:11:42,290 --> 00:11:46,130 and then you are able to decide, is this something that I want to 190 00:11:46,130 --> 00:11:49,490 do? So you can actually make those decisions before you do them in your business. 191 00:11:55,410 --> 00:11:58,210 Okay, so now let's move on to the O the overhead. 192 00:11:59,090 --> 00:12:02,550 So this is about understanding, understanding your regular fixed costs like your 193 00:12:02,550 --> 00:12:05,230 rent, your staffing, your software. 194 00:12:06,190 --> 00:12:09,950 And this is a really good exercise to just 195 00:12:09,950 --> 00:12:13,630 double check. So if you are struggling with your cash flow, I would 196 00:12:13,630 --> 00:12:17,110 say most of the time when people are struggling with their cash flow, it's usually 197 00:12:17,110 --> 00:12:20,470 to do with the profitability or to do with the amount of stock that they're 198 00:12:20,470 --> 00:12:23,870 buying. But sometimes it's because their overheads are really heavy, are really 199 00:12:23,870 --> 00:12:27,630 onerous. But it's really good to know that and it's very good to double 200 00:12:27,630 --> 00:12:30,910 check all of your overheads. And the key thing to remember about your 201 00:12:30,910 --> 00:12:34,590 overheads is the amount of money that you have to generate through sales to 202 00:12:34,590 --> 00:12:38,390 cover any expense in your business is quite considerably more than that expense. 203 00:12:38,390 --> 00:12:42,230 So if you have something that costs you £100amonth, then the sales that 204 00:12:42,230 --> 00:12:45,309 you have to generate, depending on your profit margins, is probably more like 205 00:12:45,309 --> 00:12:49,110 £250. So anything that you can do in terms 206 00:12:49,110 --> 00:12:52,870 of your overheads or your fixed costs and bringing those down will help 207 00:12:52,870 --> 00:12:56,110 your cash flow enormously. So it's well worth doing a bit of 208 00:12:56,110 --> 00:12:59,190 housekeeping to make sure you're keeping on top of that. 209 00:13:05,350 --> 00:13:09,110 And then the P is for profit. And again, if you want 210 00:13:09,110 --> 00:13:12,030 to know more about profit margins, then check out episode 211 00:13:12,030 --> 00:13:15,790 259. Margin absolutely matters, and it's 212 00:13:15,790 --> 00:13:19,550 where many businesses fall down. And ultimately, if you haven't 213 00:13:19,550 --> 00:13:23,390 got good enough profit margins, what you'll see is that you really feel 214 00:13:23,390 --> 00:13:27,050 like you're on a treadmill. So as you're generating sales, the money that's coming 215 00:13:27,050 --> 00:13:30,850 in from those is coming in slower than the money is going out 216 00:13:30,850 --> 00:13:34,490 to cover the cost of those goods or those supplies. So again, 217 00:13:34,490 --> 00:13:38,290 if you feel like your cash flow is really tight, then checking 218 00:13:38,290 --> 00:13:42,129 your profit margins is absolutely crucial because anything that you 219 00:13:42,129 --> 00:13:45,850 can do on your profit margins will have a really big impact 220 00:13:46,250 --> 00:13:50,010 on the overall profitability of the business. And one of the ways that 221 00:13:50,010 --> 00:13:53,690 I really like to illustrate this is by doing a break even analysis. 222 00:13:54,010 --> 00:13:57,050 If you've read my book Tame youe Tiger, which you can get from all good 223 00:13:57,050 --> 00:14:00,770 bookshops, then you may be familiar with this exercise. 224 00:14:00,770 --> 00:14:04,450 Or if you're in the resilient retail club, we also have a course that goes 225 00:14:04,450 --> 00:14:08,130 through this. But the break even analysis is about saying this is what your 226 00:14:08,130 --> 00:14:11,770 average sales are, these are what your overheads are, and this is what 227 00:14:11,770 --> 00:14:15,610 your profit margin is, your out margin. And what's really amazing 228 00:14:15,610 --> 00:14:19,210 about this exercise is when you do it like this. You can see 229 00:14:19,210 --> 00:14:22,950 that a few percentage points shift in your out margin can make 230 00:14:22,950 --> 00:14:26,630 the difference between a business that's profitable month on month and a business 231 00:14:26,630 --> 00:14:30,270 that is running at a loss. So your profit margin is 232 00:14:30,270 --> 00:14:33,990 absolutely crucial. And I would say again, if you're somebody who's struggling 233 00:14:33,990 --> 00:14:37,710 with cash flow, feel like you're never getting on top of things, then 234 00:14:37,710 --> 00:14:41,550 going back and checking your profit margins is a really great place to start. 235 00:14:46,590 --> 00:14:49,860 The final S for stock. Stock is 236 00:14:50,580 --> 00:14:54,100 what I would say is the silent killer of your cash flow. 237 00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:57,900 And it's a really difficult thing for a lot of people to get a 238 00:14:57,900 --> 00:15:01,140 handle on because this is something 239 00:15:01,620 --> 00:15:05,380 that an accountant, for example, would see that your stock is an 240 00:15:05,380 --> 00:15:09,220 asset. So it's entirely possible for you to be showing as having 241 00:15:09,220 --> 00:15:13,060 a profit in your product business and have absolutely no money 242 00:15:13,060 --> 00:15:16,860 in your bank. And for me, cash flow and stock 243 00:15:16,940 --> 00:15:20,060 really go hand in hand. The more stock that you have, 244 00:15:20,540 --> 00:15:23,740 then the more likely you are to be struggling with your cash flow. 245 00:15:24,060 --> 00:15:27,740 Because cash really should flow. It should go out 246 00:15:27,740 --> 00:15:31,460 with you spending money to buy your stock, and then it should come into 247 00:15:31,460 --> 00:15:35,300 you quickly from selling that stock. And the longer it 248 00:15:35,300 --> 00:15:38,820 stays out of your bank account in your stock, the 249 00:15:38,820 --> 00:15:42,630 less you actually get a flow of cash, the more that it slows 250 00:15:42,630 --> 00:15:46,310 to a trickle. So if you are feeling stuck with 251 00:15:46,310 --> 00:15:49,750 your cash flow, if you're feeling like you really 252 00:15:49,990 --> 00:15:53,190 should have more money in your bank than you actually do, 253 00:15:53,510 --> 00:15:57,110 then getting a handle on your stock is an absolutely critical 254 00:15:57,110 --> 00:16:00,950 part of that. I would say after low profitability, stock is 255 00:16:00,950 --> 00:16:04,110 one of the major culprits when it comes to people's cash flow. And they're just 256 00:16:04,110 --> 00:16:07,540 basically spending too much money on their stock, which means that 257 00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:11,540 they don't have enough money in the business to do everything else that they need 258 00:16:11,540 --> 00:16:15,060 to do. You want to make sure that you are 259 00:16:15,460 --> 00:16:19,260 not stockpiling. In other words, your stock number is going up and 260 00:16:19,260 --> 00:16:22,620 up and up. You want to be making sure that you're keeping a really good 261 00:16:22,620 --> 00:16:26,180 handle on that. And if you look back through the catalog of the 262 00:16:26,180 --> 00:16:29,820 podcast, I've got lots of episodes all about stock management. And 263 00:16:29,820 --> 00:16:33,350 again, my book Tame youe Tiger has a lot of information, information about stock. 264 00:16:33,430 --> 00:16:36,750 And if you know that stock is a problem in your business and you just 265 00:16:36,750 --> 00:16:40,030 don't have the time to fix it, go check out our Done for you stock 266 00:16:40,030 --> 00:16:42,990 management service Stock Doctor, which you can find at 267 00:16:42,990 --> 00:16:46,830 resilientretailclub.com stockdoctor where we will put 268 00:16:46,830 --> 00:16:50,310 a trained professional into your business who will help you manage your stock. 269 00:16:50,390 --> 00:16:53,750 We've seen some incredible impact from this service. For 270 00:16:53,750 --> 00:16:57,190 example, we've seen on average over six months 271 00:16:57,270 --> 00:17:00,850 customers seeing a 10% growth in sales on 10% less 272 00:17:00,850 --> 00:17:04,690 stock, which is adding a real chunk to their cash 273 00:17:04,690 --> 00:17:08,450 flow to their bottom line and really helping this whole cash flow conundrum 274 00:17:08,450 --> 00:17:12,170 feel much better. So stock is like trapped 275 00:17:12,170 --> 00:17:15,970 cash. If your business is feeling stuck, if it's feeling like there isn't enough 276 00:17:16,130 --> 00:17:19,570 cash flowing through it, then your stock could well be a 277 00:17:19,570 --> 00:17:20,290 culprit. 278 00:17:26,620 --> 00:17:30,300 So there you have it. Shops, sales, having it all mapped out, overheads, 279 00:17:30,300 --> 00:17:33,300 profit and stock. And if you want to have it all mapped out, head over 280 00:17:33,300 --> 00:17:37,060 to resilientretailclub.com cashflow and get your hands on 281 00:17:37,060 --> 00:17:40,300 our free cash flow planner with an explainer video. 282 00:17:41,340 --> 00:17:44,940 So what's next? Well, I would say if you just want a quick 283 00:17:44,940 --> 00:17:48,580 2 minutes on how to improve your cash flow, start with a margin check, 284 00:17:48,580 --> 00:17:52,140 pick your five best sellers and calculate your in margin again. 285 00:17:52,490 --> 00:17:56,210 If you want to know more, go listen to episode 259 where we talk 286 00:17:56,210 --> 00:17:59,970 more depth about margins and how to calculate them and then take 287 00:17:59,970 --> 00:18:03,450 a look at your stock levels. How much stock are you sitting on? If you 288 00:18:03,450 --> 00:18:06,970 look at your average weekly sales over the last 12 weeks, how many 289 00:18:06,970 --> 00:18:10,570 weeks worth of stock do you have in your business as well worth 290 00:18:10,570 --> 00:18:14,290 calculating and it can be quite eye opening. So use this shop's 291 00:18:14,290 --> 00:18:17,010 framework to do a mini self audit and as I said, head over to 292 00:18:17,010 --> 00:18:20,750 resilientretailclub.com/cashflow to get yourself a free cash 293 00:18:20,750 --> 00:18:24,550 flow planner. So shops helps us focus what actually moves the needle in 294 00:18:24,550 --> 00:18:28,070 your business and make sure that you grab your free 295 00:18:28,070 --> 00:18:31,750 template. And why not head over to Instagram as well. Say hi at Resilient Retail 296 00:18:31,750 --> 00:18:35,030 Club. Let me know what you thought about today's episode and ask me any questions 297 00:18:35,030 --> 00:18:37,510 you've got about your cash flow. See you next week.