Home How can I get my freight company the cash it needs?
Local News

How can I get my freight company the cash it needs?

Contributors
moving transport truck
(© alphaspirit – stock.adobe.com)

Many companies have to deal with cash flow problems at various points in their history of operations. The truth is that it was quite tricky to manage cash flow in the past. Companies could not find the suitable cashflow options and could not take advantage of the different kinds of systems available.

They could not take advantage of these financing offerings or opportunities because they were unaware of or did not have simple access to those who could help them. Further, they could lack institutional knowledge that would help them preserve the funds that they did have.

But the world is quite different today. One could access the right information, have a variety of funding opportunities, and can ensure to maximize for a better outcome.

Of course, it is necessary to state the current world poses its respective challenges with the competition, stringent requirements, and other aspects that businesses must overcome. But if freight company leaders can pay attention, focus, plan, and prepare with a bit of due diligence, they can certainly survive and thrive.

Freight company leaders must comprehend the basic principles of cash flow and operations and realize that trucking firms generate revenues by fulfilling freight delivery. Of course, the firm will charge a premium over costs to earn a profit. The larger the gap between revenues and costs, the better the profits.

Freight company leaders must continue to push productivity with regular paid deliveries, building a pipeline of customers, and ensuring that the resources are in place for overall trucking success.

But recall that one must always pay attention to the aspect of funds within the operation. Indeed, funds help to keep the business going ensuring that shareholders and stakeholders are happy with every aspect of the business. Perpetually funding the business and keeping it with the right portion of cash helps it meet present obligations while maximizing for the best future results. Indeed, finding ways to acquire and utilize working capital to the best of your ability is easier said than done.

But as noted earlier, if business owners can obtain the right knowledge, and plan in advance, working capital will not be as large of an issue as it was in the past. Various options such as freight bill factoring and other ways of working with partners to optimize your cash flows can help you become a better business owner today. Here is what you must know about ways to obtain the cash your freight company needs to survive today.

The issue arises with the promise to pay

Most freight companies would be better off if customers were able to pay everything upfront. But the problem here is that customers must ensure that they can obtain the goods or let it go to the right destination. As such, they opt for a promise to pay later. This results in freight companies having negative cash flow at many times.

Those who are in the freight broker industry realize that they must account for this in several ways. Those seeking to enter the industry must prepare for this challenge to survive and thrive over time. The experts in the industry will always ask who will provide the funds, when will they do so, and how the carrier will obtain their payment. From the carrier to the broker, each part of the process must ensure to have the proper payment for overall success. If people do not get paid, the whole supply chain can fall apart.

Protect yourself with freight bill factoring to maximize success

You might have heard about freight factoring before but might have moved onto other pressing matters. Freight factoring is an essential financial tool and aid to truckers all over the globe. This method of enhancing cash flow is there to enable you to obtain cash today so you can manage your operations.

Indeed, you can get paid for work that you are doing right now to have the working capital to continue to meet present obligations. At the same time, it allows you to think about how you can grow your operations and refine your business to be extra competitive. Instead of stressing out over capital and paying your employees, contractors, and general bills, you can have more peace of mind and thrive.

Freight factoring is a boon and a compelling financial option that enables you to build your pipeline of payloads while helping you think about more ways to innovate. With the correct freight bill factoring company, you can fuel your business and have more flexibility in running your operations.

What is the form of financing?

The first point is that factoring is not direct lending. It is a form of asset-based lending. This financing tool will take invoices that will be paid later, provide you with the capital now, and take a portion of the earnings as a fee. As you can see, the asset here is the invoice.

The funding you receive will factor in the number of invoices and their overall value. This type of method works for all parties involved in the transaction. The factoring company is pleased with the level of risk they take on. The trucking or freight company can manage operations efficiently, and the stakeholders and employees or contractors are pleased.

Remember that you cannot classify this as a business loan because it is not. You are merely taking your assets, the invoices, and selling them at a lower price to the factoring company, which then provides you with most of your cash upfront. The factoring company will follow up on invoices while you focus on your business.

Several types of factoring are present for you to choose from in the factoring sector. The first form is non-recourse factoring, and the second one is recourse factoring.

Non-recourse factoring

Look at non-recourse as factoring as the factoring company taking the risk of the invoices on their shoulders. You might wonder, what risk do they face? The answer here is relatively straightforward.

They face the risk of default. For instance, one of your customers may not pay the invoice, and the factoring company will face an incremental loss. If more customers default, they face a larger risk.

These clients may not pay the invoices because of their respective credit and cash flow issues. So the invoice factoring company will have to take that full loss in this non-recourse situation.

Indeed, this is not an uncommon problem as brokers and shippers can leave the industry regularly due to a lack of intense operations. They go without paying their bills and leave their clients or their clients factoring companies with the risk. These companies may be more stringent on credit scores, company histories, and being more hands-on with you and your clients.

Recourse factoring

Recourse factoring is all about you taking on the risk of your clients not paying the invoice factoring company. If you have minimal issues taking on the risk of potential defaults, where your customers may not pay the invoice company, and will be liable for the funds, you can keep more of your funds. For instance, if your customers owe $30,000 on various loads and work with an invoice factoring company with the recourse option, you will obtain more of that $30,000 upfront.

Your invoice factoring company will not have to deal with as much risk and do not need to take more fees to cover that risk.

Remember that this option is great if you trust your customers or partners and know that they have a strong history of paying. If you take measures such as looking at credit profiles, noting your schedule of accounts, and other due diligence procedures, you can minimize volatility and increase stability in your business.

Take out a loan

Individuals can also ensure to take out a long-term loan. In this option, an individual will think about the potential revenues that one can expect over the next two years or so. One would do so to ensure that they can pay the loan each month, contributing to principal and interest payments.

The next step when taking out a loan is that you must understand your expenses and check if the loan will be able to cover that as well. Further, you must account for the loan expense each month to ensure that it is feasible.

As you can see, the problem is that you are projecting out into the future and can take on more risk than usual. The future is not certain, so you must account for those risks when taking out a loan.

The other issue with a loan is that banks may not be as eager to loosen their funds and provide it to you as they take a closer look at your operations and require everything to be just right.

That is why people optimize for other options and seek to build up their operations before pursuing this option.

Optimize present funds

Businesses also seek to optimize their present funds in various ways to minimize reliance on outside parties. Here are a few points to consider to optimize funds within your operation.

Charge the right amount

Many businesses will underbid projects because they incorrectly calculate their expenses. This issue leads them to continuously run short of funds.

Work with right industry

You may not fit well with the present industry you are working with at the moment. If that is the case, then you should slowly transition to other industries that make sense for your operation. Learn more about their costs, their credit profiles, policies and procedures and see if they are more in line with your operational capacity and objectives.

Establish relationships with shippers

It can be easy to work with those who find work and then provide that to you. But the problem is that you may not earn the right margins. It would be better to start establishing relationships with direct shippers for the best results.

These are a few ways to ensure funds and establish success within your organization.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.