When a business is under pressure, cash isn’t just king; it’s oxygen. And right now, you can’t breathe.
The pressure from the board, the bank, and your own leadership team is immense. Every instinct screams for a big, strategic move. A major pivot, a new product launch, a massive restructuring. But you don’t have the time or the stability for that. Grand plans are for tomorrow. Today is about survival.
The good news is that significant cash is often not missing, but trapped. It’s hidden in plain sight, locked away by inefficient processes, outdated habits, and a lack of focus.
This is where you can act and bring quick resulys. Not with a complex strategy, but with a focused, 30-day operational sprint. The goal is simple: to systematically review every process that touches cash and unlock it, fast. This is about taking back control.
Here is a pragmatic, step-by-step guide to leading that sprint. We will focus on three core levers: how money comes in, how money goes out, and how money sits still.
Lever 1: Accelerate your ‘Order-to-Cash’ cycle (The Money In)
This is the most critical lever. Every day you shorten this cycle is a day you get your own money back into your business sooner.
Action 1: Change your invoicing cadence. Immediately. If you invoice monthly, switch to weekly or bi-weekly. If you invoice at the end of a project, start invoicing at key milestones. There is no law that says you must wait 30 days. The goal is to get the invoice into the customer’s system as quickly as possible.
Action 2: Implement a collections triage. Your accounts receivable list is not a to-do list; it’s a battlefield map. Triage it into three groups:
Group A (The Friendlies): Recent invoices, good clients. A polite, personal follow-up is all that’s needed.
Group B (The Overdues): 30-60 days past due. These require a firmer, scheduled series of calls and emails with clear deadlines.
Group C (The Problems): 60+ days. These need an escalated plan. Who from leadership needs to get involved?
Action 3: Make it easy to get paid. Review your invoices. Are the payment terms crystal clear? Do you offer multiple ways to pay? Remove every ounce of friction that gives a customer an excuse to delay. Offering a small 1-2% discount for payment within 10 days can often be a hugely positive ROI move.
Lever 2: Scrutinize your ‘Procure-to-Pay’ cycle (The Money Out)
While you accelerate cash in, you must simultaneously slow the bleed of cash out. This requires discipline, not just cost-cutting.
Action 1: Mandate a “stop-spend” review. For the next 30 days, all non-essential spending must be personally approved by you or a designated crisis leader. This isn’t just about the big contracts; it’s about the dozens of small software subscriptions, travel expenses, and marketing campaigns that add up. Force a justification for every line item.
Action 2: Talk to your suppliers. Do not just ignore them or delay payments unilaterally. That destroys trust you might desperately need later. Be transparent. Call your top 10 suppliers, explain the situation, and ask for a temporary extension on payment terms (e.g., moving from Net 30 to Net 60). Proactive communication turns a creditor into a partner.
Action 3: Centralize all purchasing. End the culture of “rogue spend,” where different departments buy their own supplies or software. Funnel all purchase requests through a single point to gain visibility and control.
Lever 3: Optimize your Working Capital (The Money Sitting Still)
Cash isn’t just in your bank account; it’s sitting on shelves and in your assets.
Action 1: Liquidate slow-moving inventory. Your warehouse is not a museum. Segment your inventory into A, B, and C categories based on how fast it sells. For anything in the C category (slow-moving, aging stock), create an aggressive plan to turn it into cash. A steep discount is better than a write-off.
Action 2: Review all fixed assets. Do you have company vehicles, equipment, or even office space that is underutilized? Selling a single non-essential asset can provide a crucial liquidity buffer to get you through the next few weeks.
Your 30-Day Sprint Plan
Week 1: Triage and Assign. Pull the data. Build the reports for AR, AP, and inventory. Assign a clear owner for each of the three levers. Your job is to lead the daily or weekly stand-up meeting to review progress. Inform stakeholders about the plan. Enforce the stop-spend review.
Week 2: Execute the Quick Wins. Implement the invoicing changes. Start the “friendly” collection calls. Mobilize sales team for flash sale initiative.
Week 3: The Harder Conversations. This is the week for supplier negotiations and escalating the collection efforts on your more difficult accounts.
Week 4: Review and Systematize. What worked? Which changes should become permanent? The goal of the sprint is not just to survive the month, but to build the operational discipline that prevents you from ending up in this position again.
This sprint is intense and requires relentless focus. Depending on your scale you might not even be able to reach all your suppliers in one sprint. But it’s a process you can control. By methodically addressing these operational weak points, you can find the hidden cash you need to stabilize the business and earn the right to think about strategy again.
Need an objective partner to lead this sprint?
Driving this kind of change while managing a crisis is incredibly difficult. It requires asking tough questions and challenging long-held assumptions. If you need an experienced, objective partner to help you execute this plan and bring pragmatic order to the chaos, we’re here to help.
