How Small Businesses Can Use Airbnb To Their Advantage

How Small Businesses Can Use Airbnb to Their Advantage

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Since it was founded in 2008, Airbnb has rapidly grown to host more than 5 million lodging listings in 81,000 cities and 191 countries. At the end of 2017, Airbnb has facilitated over 300 million check-ins, and in 2017, Airbnb made $93 million in profits on $2.6 billion in revenues.

In late 2016, Airbnb expanded its service offerings, allowing its users to go beyond just booking places to stay by giving them the option to also book “experiences” in the places that they visit. These “experiences” can range from tame activities such as cooking classes and art walks, to more avant-garde activities like graffiti workshops, or poetry classes in the home of Harlem Renaissance poet Mr. Langston Hughes in New York.

And small businesses should take note: If you haven’t thought about creating an Airbnb experience for your business, you are losing out on what could potentially be a great income stream.

Selma Studer, 34, who runs a company that offers “gong baths,” a type of meditation induced by the sound of a gong, added her company’s services to the Airbnb platform in June 2018. She has exerienced an uptick in business since she added the business due to bookings from the Airbnb platform. Why did Studer join the platform to begin with? She says, “I see it as a way to test and offer the five-star experience of my product.”

Studer notes that she tailors the gong baths a bit differently for the typically out-of-town guests who find her services through the Airbnb platform than for her regular customers. “It’s more personal than the group gong baths I go for in the regular business, so I add all the bells and whistles, like baking in time at the end to relax and chat and connect over tea and cookies,” she says.

Studer says of the Airbnb Experience platform, “It’s a really useful lead generation tool but also the booking and calendar system make it really easy to monetize the experience from the platform in a hassle free way.”

Adding your business to the Airbnb platform is easy: a few clicks, a few photos, a description, and you’re onboarded.

Because of its size and popularity, there may be competition on Airbnb from companies offering similar products and services to yours. In New York alone, there are dozens of photographers offering photo tours of the city, for example.

Some general ways to make your business standout from the crowd include:

  • Make sure you use high-quality photographs of your product or service.
  • Write strong copy to explain what experiences you are offering.
  • Respond to inquiries quickly through the Airbnb platform.
  • Read Airbnb’s advice on how make the most out of experiences for your business.

When it comes to bookings, Airbnb says there are 3 tips to make sure you get more through their site:

  1. Start with a lower introductory price. This might mean that even though you value your time at say $50 per person per hour, it might be necessary to reduce it to $30 per person per hour to get those initial customers and the positive reviews they’ll bring with them.
  2. Make sure you keep your calendar optimized. The site states that most bookings occur on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, so keep these days available if you want bookings.
  3. Don’t set your cut-off times too early. Airbnb notes that 40% of bookings occur within a week of the experience happening, and 20% occur within two days of the experience happening. Setting cut-off times too early may mean missing out on customers looking for last-minute experiences.

As a small business owner, you should encourage your users who come to your business through Airbnb to review your services. Airbnb says, “Setting expectations has helped many hosts find success. This can set you up for more 5-star reviews, and the higher your reviews, the more likely your guests will book.” Studer adds, “I’m not 100% sure how their algorithm works, but it’s really important to get some good reviews early on.”

“Airbnb are also great about creating communities within communities,” Studer says. “They’ve really fostered a sense of connection among fellow hosts for example by hosting a networking reception for us at their headquarters and they also maintain an active Facebook group.”

She concludes, “It’s a virtuous cycle that I hope will be fruitful for my business as well as for the businesses of my peers.”

increase-your-credit-score

5 Steps to Take Today to Increase Your Credit Score

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Your credit score — the number between 300 and 850 that represents your personal creditworthiness — has a larger impact on your business and your life than you might imagine. The higher your score, the better your odds may be of leasing a car, equipment, or space to house your company. A better score may also reduce your expenses, by helping you qualify for lower interest rates on purchases, too.

Taking steps to increase your credit score may also have a direct impact on your monthly budget and your ability to achieve larger goals like buying a building or expanding overseas.

So what can you do to improve your score quickly? Beverly Blair Harzog, credit card expert for US News & World Report and author of The Debt Escape Plan, has some advice.

First, she says, start by finding out what your current credit score is.  You can get a free credit report and score once a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Review the report to find any information that is incorrect and dispute it. Having negative items removed may increase your score right away.

Take these five steps to help boost your credit score:

1. Get your credit card debt to below 30% utilization.

Thirty percent of your FICO score (short for Fair Isaac Corporation), says Harzog, is based on how much of your available credit you’re currently tapping into.

To calculate your utilization, add up all of your credit card debt and divide it by the total amount of credit you were originally granted. You want that total number — across all your cards — to be under 30%. (But 10% is even better, she says.)

Meaning, if you have three credit cards with a $1,000 credit limit on each, your total available credit is $3,000. And if you’ve charged a total of $500 on each card, or $1,500, you’re at a 50% utilization rate. That’s too high.

One solution is to pay down the debt. The other is to increase your credit availability.

2. Ask for a credit limit increase.

Harzog recommends calling your credit card issuers and asking for a credit limit increase.  But you should do this only if you have a track record of paying your bills on time.

Do not make this call if you frequently pay late. If you’re a late payer and you ask for an increase, the credit department may look at your account and decide to reduce your credit limit, which would in turn lower your score.

3. Keep your credit cards active by charging a small amount each month on them. 

Cards that have no activity are at risk of being closed.  A closed card would reduce your available credit and negatively impact your score. So consider buying something small on it to keep it open.

Then try to pay off the card each month, to keep your utilization low.

4. Get into the habit of paying all your bills on time.

Since 35% of your FICO score is based on payment history, even one late payment can cause a score drop. This includes your credit cards, mortgage, car payment, as well as your utilities and phone bill, says Harzog.

If you have difficulty staying on top of your bills, create a budget and at least make the minimum payment each month, so that your creditors can report you paid on time.

5. Consider a credit builder loan.

Credit unions and community banks frequently offer these tools, which allow you to demonstrate a track record of timely repayment. These types of loans “Won’t give your score as big a boost” as the other steps, but they will have an impact, says Harzog.

While working on your score, do not close any credit accounts, she recommends. Every account closed reduces your available credit, which then increases your utilization, which you don’t want. So unless the annual fee is huge, leave it open.

The truth is, you don’t have to have high income to earn an excellent credit score to benefit your business, says Harzog, “You just have to pay on time.”

converting after hour leads

How to Capture After-hour Leads: If you Snooze you Lose

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Imagine you arrive at your automobile dealership at 9 a.m. on the dot and find an email inquiry from a customer who was prowling your website last night and wanted to schedule a test drive. Your enthusiasm may be short lived. The customer may already be behind the wheel at a competing dealership across town.

Such is commerce in an digital age where businesses and customers never sleep. Some 23% of leads come in after hours, and 50% of customers do business with the first company that contacts them, according to a survey by ReachLocal.

Customers are reaching out at all hours through email, phone, and web forms. These prospects want immediate attention, but rarely receive it. Another survey of 2,241 American companies found that those that responded to customer inquiries took 42 hours on average. Some 23% of companies never responded at all — the exact same percentage as the number of inquiries that come in after closing time.

Being Fast Closes Deals

Salespeople who follow up within an hour are more than 30 times more likely to speak to the decision-maker than those who wait a full day to respond. In the case of car dealerships, customers are three times more likely to come in for a visit when their online inquiries receive a response within 10 minutes; however, only 36% of dealers responded to requests submitted after hours.

“This potentially represents lost business as multiple manufacturers have stated that up to 40% of all consumer leads are submitted when dealerships are closed,” noted Digital Air Strike, the social media firm that conducted the study.

Respond With Technology

In a 24-7 world, the key is to automate your response after-hours. A variety of communications platforms provide options for how you can respond in a timely manner to a customer inquiry:

  • An automated email can tell the customer the name of the salesperson who will contact them in the morning.
  • Open-access calendars can allow customers to schedule their own appointments.
  • Text alerts can immediately tell a manager or business owner about an inquiry, allowing them to decide if it’s important enough to respond to, or forward to an employee.
  • Chat bots can simulate live support via artificial intelligence based on your team’s customer service chat logs.
  • Digital answering services can handle inquiries, using a script provided by the small business to book the appointment.

Janette Derbyshire, a property manager at Old Pasadena Collection Apartments who uses automated technology for after-hour leads, says such technology has had a significant impact on her business. “Marketing automation tools are allowing us to respond quickly to our leasing leads and has helped us to organize all the lead sources,” she says. “And that difference in response time continues to make leasing apartments even more successful.”

In an era where the Internet is the new storefront, an online inquiry should be treated with the same respect and swiftness as a customer who walks through the front door. Don’t keep them waiting.

handle accounts payable

Cash Crunch? 5 Ways to Handle Accounts Payable Woes

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Business owners the world over know that a smooth cash flow can be critical to a business’s success. But, achieving the optimal flow of money coming in and going out isn’t simple. Cash flow can be difficult to manage since you often don’t have control over the money flowing in. However, the way you handle accounts payable can help smooth out your cash flow.

Here are five ways to help you meet your accounts payable responsibilities with an eye to smoother cash flow.

Renegotiate Your Accounts Payable Terms

Has your business established itself as a good customer – paying suppliers in full and on time? If so, consider requesting more flexible payment terms when contract renewal time rolls around.

Maybe you could arrange extended payment terms during the slow season to accommodate sluggish accounts receivables. Or reduce the cash leaving your business by requesting discounts for early payments or bulk purchases during traditional busy seasons.

Remember to watch out for special offers from your suppliers’ competitors. Use these offers as opportunities to ask for a price match.

Apply for a Credit/Operating Line Before You Need It

If your business doesn’t have a credit line/operating line, apply for one now, even if you don’t currently expect to use it. Don’t wait until it’s a struggle to pay your business bills. If you wait, your business credit may have suffered due to late or partial payments to suppliers or other creditors. Not to mention the added stress of hoping for a credit line approval in addition to worrying about paying the bills! Instead, applying for a business credit line while your records show good cash flow could strengthen your credit application.

A credit line helps smooth out cash flow by giving businesses a financial source that they can tap to meet immediate accounts payable obligations. You’ll only pay interest on the money borrowed against the credit line. Depending on the terms of the credit line, your monthly payments could be interest only, or a set percentage of the total amount borrowed. You can pay the balance off at any time, such as when your accounts receivables are flowing in well. Like a credit card, a credit line is a form of “revolving credit,” so when you pay your balance off (or down), you can then borrow again up to your credit line limit as needed.

Delay Payments Due Until Last Possible Date

Although you may get anxious about making payments early, when you’re trying to deal with a cash crunch consider holding off making payments until the due date. Doing so gives your business more time to collect on outstanding accounts receivable – providing the cash to make your payments. And if you’re making payments from your credit line, which charges interest from the day you withdraw the funds, you’ll pay less in interest with a delayed payment.

Pay Suppliers with Credit Cards

It seems simple, yet paying suppliers by credit card is one of the best ways to smooth cash flow and deal with accounts payable woes. That’s because unlike credit lines or operating lines – which charge interest from day the money is borrowed – credit cards have what is known as a grace period for credit card purchases.

A grace period refers to a time frame during which interest accumulates but isn’t charged as long as the outstanding credit card balance is paid in full by the due date. So you’re essentially borrowing money interest-free during the grace period. If you use this strategy, pay close attention to both the credit card grace period as well as your supplier due date to make sure you won’t get charged additional interest for late payments to either.

For example, say you owe your supplier $1500 on the 15th of the month. They process your credit card payment for the 15th, which falls at the beginning of your credit card grace period. Depending on the credit card issuer, you may have a grace period of anywhere from 21 to 25 days. And take note – grace periods may not apply to credit card cash advances and balance transfers.

Liquidate Assets You Don’t Use/Need

If you need a fast solution to paying your business bills, consider liquidating assets for cash. Does your business own equipment, supplies, machinery, real estate, vehicles or other assets that you could sell? Although it may seem drastic, selling assets may prove a quick method of gaining cash to cover upcoming accounts payables while you work on a longer-term accounts payable strategy.

Keeping on top of your accounts payables can help improve your business’ financial health. It could have a positive impact on your business credit, and establish or improve the relationship with your suppliers.

too much inventory

How to Handle Orders without the Danger of Too Much Inventory

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You need inventory to fill orders, so having plenty of everything on hand might seem smart. There would never be a stockout and closing sales would be as easy as sending someone to the warehouse. But maintaining too much inventory may undermine your business.

Holding considerable inventory can force you to hold more product than is necessary. What you might consider, instead, is only stocking the amount of merchandise you need, and the inventory turns ratio (ITR) can help you find the inventory levels for your business.

Availability is good, but has a cost

High availability means buying, carrying, and storing a lot of product. Inventory costs money, so you end up using capital that could otherwise help grow and sustain the company. Too much money in inventory can also affect your need to finance and how much you might need.

And there are other problems: Inventory ages, not only on the books, but on the shelves. You may have products fall out of support, become discontinued, get damaged, or otherwise lose value. Then there’s the cost of storage space and increased headcount to manage the additional product.

This all adds up to money your business will have to spend on maintaining a constantly full inventory level.

Increasing inventory turns

Instead of more inventory, consider replenishing stock more frequently. So long as there are enough products on the shelf to satisfy orders that will come in until the next delivery, you can keep customers happy and reduce costs.

This is why you need to look at the ITR. ITR shows how frequently you replace stock over a given period – such as each month, each quarter or each year.

Calculate inventory turns by dividing the cost of goods for the sales you make in a period by the value of your average inventory over the same period.

The idea is to push inventory turns as high as you can to make better use of that inventory.

Setting the right turns level

Finding the right ITR can be a challenge. If you drive turns too high, you may miss filling orders in a timely basis because you don’t have the products you need. Too low, and it means cash is locked up.

Balance inventory turns with sales, vendor stock availability, supplier reliability, and minimum order sizes. Sales fluctuations like seasonality or outsized importance of certain products can also make it tougher to monitor and control ITR. Arrival of new stock in a timely manner becomes more critical.

There is no magic way to know what ITR will be right for your company, but understanding how ITRs work may help you test stock levels and optimize for your operations.

11 Ways You Can Start Boosting Your Small Business Revenue

11 Ways You Can Start Boost Business Revenue Today

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Every business can see times when sales are slow, but repeating the same sales techniques and hoping for different results can lead to even more frustration for business owners. Instead, try one (or more) of these 11 ideas today to help boost business revenue.

1. Upselling

For this you need good, better, and best product or service levels. Talk to the customers, understand their needs, and when a good fit, offer the more upscale version.

2. Cross-sell

Like you would with an upsell, base a cross-sell on the customers’ real needs, not an artificial sales quota, and offer complementary products and additions.

3. Increase prices

Many business owners are afraid to raise prices, but it’s often necessary. Offer lower-priced alternatives and give advanced notice of increases so customers aren’t taken by surprise; some will balk but most understand.

4. Lower prices

Dropping prices can mean more revenue at times, based on price elasticity. When customers are sensitive to price on a given product or service, a slight drop could mean a big sales increase. Look at which products you carry that have the greatest reaction to promotions and try a temporary price reduction. This is a technique used extensively by Walmart.

5. Remember that margin, not revenue, counts

Margin can be far more important than revenue. So long as your total margin dollars increase, slightly lower sales may still mean more money for your company.

6. Bundle sales

It’s the “Do you want fries with that?” approach to selling combined with cross-selling. Find natural add-ons to your products, and then come up with a bundle price that gives the customer a relative bargain while still delivering higher sales and more margin dollars.

7. Find more customers like yours

Profile the customers you have: demographics, what brings them to you, what they want and need, what they purchase most regularly, etc. Then research how to reach them via marketing, advertising, or even cross-promotion with businesses that are complementary to yours to find more people who are the same.

8. Sell online

If you’re not already selling online, start. It opens your business to many customers like yours in other geographies. You might use a platform like Amazon or eBay, or set up your own e-commerce site.

9. Focus on exclusivity

Exclusivity can give you room to charge more. Find hot products or services that aren’t available from your competitors and let your customers know you have them. This can become an ongoing process so that when your competition catches on and offers the same products, you’ve already moved to newer products.

10. Improve your closing techniques

Classic closing techniques — the tools your sales team uses to finalize deals — can help you get past surface objections and address the practical and emotional issues a customer has. There’s a reason these tactics are classic: they work.

11. Track the ideas you try

Whatever methods you choose to implement, different techniques won’t matter if you don’t pay close attention to results. Keep track of what initiative you’re using and the metrics (sales figures, order sizes, number of new leads). Only by tracking sales data can you get a clear picture of what is working and what isn’t.

While these tactics are not a one-size-fits-all, they can at least get you on the path to come up with the right mix of sales ideas to help you boost your business revenue

Are your employees only giving 80%? Great!

Are your employees only giving 80%? Great!

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Companies may be making a mistake when they launch projects and expect employees to follow the old cliché of “giving 100%.” Robert Handler, a Gartner analyst, found companies get the biggest payoff when they plan projects based on the notion employees will be able to devote only 70% to 80% of their time to the work. When “worker utilization” rises above 80%, a company loses money and time.

How can a company lose by making maximum use of its employees, which are the greatest asset of most organizations?

The problem stems from the nature of collaboration. As employees and teams have too many projects and tasks on their to-do lists, they can create bottlenecks and delays which in turn keep other employees from being able to do their work. The more that employees are expected to do – at a certain point – the less that actually gets done.

A jammed freeway

If a freeway is 80% utilized, cars move along quickly; if the freeway is filled to 100% capacity, it can become a parking lot. If you continue to open applications on your computer, the utilization of the device may reach 100% which means the performance will slow so much it barely functions. According to the Gartner research, the same less-is-more approach applies to people.

“When the team reaches 100% utilization, the individual processors (the brains of the people!) begin to slow as the ability to process information diminishes and anxiety increases,” says entrepreneur Dave Rooney. “This has the effect of slowing the team’s ability to communicate and operate effectively. When one or multiple people reach the point of shutting down, the network collapses.”

5 steps to productivity

Eileen O’Loughlin, a senior project management analyst for Capterra, a software provider, lays out a five step strategy to ensure workers operate at 80% utilization and achieve the highest amount of productivity:

  1. “Start tracking time and estimating level of effort.” This allows you to accurately benchmark how long tasks take.
  2. “Identify bottleneck resources.” This might be a data analyst who many different teams are counting on to assist with their individual projects.
  3. “Calculate availability for project work and 80% utilization.” Determine how many hours employees can reasonably dedicate to a project.
  4. “Institute thresholds for bottleneck resources and project teams.” Pinpoint when specific employees will reach the 80% point and their work will start to suffer.
  5. “Plan at 80% and manage at 80% to get 100% of (planned) work done.” Be realistic.

O’Loughlin points out that, “80% utilization does not mean that project teams should give 80% effort and then head out early at 3 p.m.” Achieving 80% worker utilization is about leaving slack in plans to accommodate miscalculations and not booking 100% of an employee’s time. With the 20% of time that employees have left over, you might give them free rein to work on side projects, a strategy that Google has employed to great success. By asking employees to do less, they may be happier, less stressed, and get more done.

4 Smart Tech Solutions for Cash Flow Management

4 Smart Tech Solutions for Cash Flow Management

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Small businesses are increasingly using technology across disciplines to grow, attract top talent, and sell products and services. So, applying a digital approach to cash flow management is a natural next step. Four types of tech, in particular, may prove invaluable for improving your business’s cash flow efficiency.

1. CRM Software

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is useful for maintaining customer records, but there are more applications to CRM for small businesses. CRM software can improve cash flow by improving your sales records, and by ensuring that your business focuses its energies on the most profitable activities consistently. For example, that may be attracting and converting a new customer base or taking proactive steps to retain existing customers.

2. Automation

Automating cash flow systems may yield multiple benefits. First and foremost, it’s a time-saver. Rectifying accounts becomes streamlined when your accounts payable and accounts receivable systems are automated.

Automation can also make it easier to monitor cash flow within your business accounts. If your cash flow system is centralized, you can easily see – at a glance – how much cash you have on hand and what payables or receivables are still outstanding.

Additionally, automating can make settling accounts easier for your customers and vendors. When payments to vendors are automated and customers are able to receive and pay invoices via auto payments, it’s possible to smooth out cash flow bumps and know when money is coming in or going out.

3. Virtual Accounts and Digital Payments

Virtual account management is a way to manage multiple business financial accounts under a single umbrella. Your virtual account can be tied to various physical bank accounts in order to act as a gatekeeper. Payments to vendors and payments received from customers move through the virtual account, making reconciliation less of a hassle and resulting in fewer banking fees.

Accepting digital payments through virtual accounts provides another tech-driven cash flow enhancement. Allowing customers to pay using PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and similar payment apps can make settling invoices more convenient and it may offer the added bonus of allowing you to avoid expensive credit card processing fees.

4. Data Analytics

Big data analysis isn’t just for large corporations; small and medium-sized enterprises can also leverage data analytics for improving cash flow.

By analyzing trends in your payables and receivables data, you can generate more accurate cash flow forecasts. Specifically, you can drill down and see how something such as developing a new product or implementing a price change might affect your cash flow. Data analysis can also help you identify and plan for seasonal dips in cash flow, or find out-of-the-ordinary activity that could impact cash flow negatively. Bottom line, data analytics can help you be more insightful when it comes to cash flow management.

How to Establish Business Credit History When You Can't Get a Business Credit Card

How to Establish Business Credit History When You Can’t Get a Business Credit Card

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Without an established and positive business credit history, it may be difficult to get approved for unsecured business credit cards. Somewhat ironically, it can be tough to build credit without owning those products.

Establishing business credit requires time, patience, and proactive planning, which is why it should be a priority in your business strategy — especially if you can’t get a business credit card. Here are some simple ways you can start to build a business credit history, no matter the size or age of your business, or the number of credit products you currently own.

Establish a business bank account

If you haven’t already, secure an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for your business from the Internal Revenue Service, and establish its proper legal structure (which may be an LLC, partnership, S-corp, or C-corp). These steps help to legally establish your business as an entity separate from you as an individual, and you’ll need this information to open a business bank account.

If possible, establish a deposit relationship with a bank that also offers business credit cards. Your relationship with the bank won’t guarantee approval for a business credit card right away, but could work to your advantage once your business credit history is established enough to justify applying for an unsecured business credit card.

Secure a dedicated business phone number

Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax and Experian are three major credit reporting bureaus that monitor business credit history. While each bureau has a unique formula for how it determines a businesses’ credit profile and corresponding credit score, Experian recommends business owners should establish a listed phone number that’s associated with the business name as a first step in establishing a business credit profile.

Apply for trade lines

Do you purchase office supplies from one specific vendor who offers a branded credit card, or consistently buy from a vendor that offers a line of credit? Ask if the credit activity is reported to business credit bureaus (often referred to as “business trade” activity, or trade lines). If it is reported, applying for and using these types of business credit lines can help you establish a business credit history.

Your business credit score can be based on a number of factors including the number of trade lines and business credit cards you have, any outstanding balances on them, your payment history and the amount of the credit you use. To ensure you don’t risk missing a payment, use too much of your available credit, or cost your business in the form of interest rate charges, limit your use of business credit only to business expenses you could theoretically pay for in cash. Until you’ve established your business credit history, pay your balances in full by the payment due date each month (to avoid interest rate charges), and try to use no more than 50% of your credit line, at any time.

Apply for a secured business credit card

Secured business credit cards may require that you pay an annual fee (which may range from $35 to $125+ based on the card you choose), and deposit money with the card issuer to secure the credit line, but can help you build the credit history required to be approved for an unsecured credit card. In the meantime, secured cards are a major credit card you can use to pay for some business expenses, like travel.

Once you’ve owned a secured card for several months and demonstrated that you consistently make timely payments and manage your account balance (not using more than 50% of your available credit line), the creditor may invite you to apply for an unsecured business credit card. (You’ll get the money you deposited with the secured credit card back when you decide to close the account).

Check your business credit reports

Unlike a personal credit report, a businesses’ credit history can be obtained by anyone willing to pay for it. (Unfortunately, that also means business owners may have to pay to access their own business credit report). However, Experian allows business owners to check if they have a credit profile for free. Dun & Bradstreet allows business owners to establish a D-U-N-S number free of charge, to begin the process of building a credit profile on its site. Equifax allows business owners to search for their credit report for free, and access the report (if they have one) for a small fee.

Don’t neglect your personal credit

An established business credit history can ensure you don’t have to rely on your personal finances to support your business, but your personal credit history may be one factor creditors consider to determine how robust your businesses’ financial and credit history must be in order to be approved for an unsecured credit card or similar type of product .

Your personal credit score is determined by a combination of factors including payment history, the amount of available credit you use, the length of your credit history and the types of credit accounts you own. Many banks and credit card companies now offer free access to your personal credit score (in addition to the free credit report you’re entitled to at AnnualCreditReport.com). Check your personal credit score on occasion to make sure it’s as positive as the business credit history you’re working to build.

5 Essential Financial Documents You Need to Apply for a Business Loan

5 Essential Financial Documents You Need to Apply for a Business Loan

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Planning to apply for a business loan? Having specific financial documents ready for your banker or a lender when you submit your loan application can make the loan process smoother and potentially increase your chances of securing financing.

1. A/R Aging Statement

An accounts receivable aging report — also known as an accounts receivable reconciliation — summarizes your outstanding receivables, based on the length of time they’ve gone unpaid. For example, your report might break out the timing of your unpaid invoices like this:

  • Less than 30 days old
  • 31- to 60-days old
  • 61- to 90-days old
  • 91+ days old

An A/R aging report gives lenders one insight into your cash flow and ability to repay a loan. The faster your receivables are paid, the better your cash flow may be.

2. Cash flow statement

Speaking of cash flow, you’ll need to draft a cash flow statement before applying for a loan. This document is a comparison of the cash you have coming in to the business from your receivables, and your payables (meaning what you have going out for expenses), including interest paid on business loans, and business investments.

So why does a lender need a cash flow statement? Similar to the A/R aging report, it’s a way to measure your business’s ability to repay a loan. A healthy cash flow may put your business at lower risk of default.

3. Profit and loss statement

The primary purpose of a profit and loss statement (P&L) is to examine your business’s net income or earnings. Your profit is the amount left over from your total revenue after operating expenses, taxes, interest paid on business debt and depreciation, and amortization of business assets is deducted.

A P&L statement can show you and your lender how your profits have trended over time. A business that’s consistently profitable, for example, may be more likely to be considered financially sound and equipped to repay a loan.

4. Balance sheet

Profit and loss statements and balance sheets sometimes overlap, but they serve different purposes. A P&L statement tracks your financial performance over a set time frame; your balance sheet offers a snapshot of your business’s financial standing at one specific point in time.

A balance sheet measures three things:

  1. Your business assets
  2. Your business liabilities
  3. Your ownership equity

When applying for a loan, lenders may review your balance sheet to gauge how easily you can meet your financial obligations in the short-term.

5. Tax returns

Last but not least, lenders will ask to see your business tax returns from the previous year. In some cases, they may ask for several years’ worth of returns.

Lenders use your tax returns to back up the information you’ve supplied through your other financial documents. They can see – at a glance – your business income and deductible expenses, then compare that to the numbers on your cash flow statement, balance sheet and profit and loss statement.

Together, these five documents give lenders a holistic picture of your business’s financial health, and being diligent about preparing them can pay off once you’re ready to apply for a loan.

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