4 Tips to Negotiate Your Business Bills during Challenging Times

The covid-19 outbreak has drastically affected many small businesses around the world and it continues to have a profound impact on the nation’s economy.

If you’ve been experiencing financial stress due to a reduction in sales or higher than usual expense related to coronavirus, you might be wondering how to negotiate your business bills on time and full.

If you’ve never done this before, we’re sharing the top options available to you so you can pay your business bills and keep your cash flow positive during challenging times.

Negotiate with Your Customers, Suppliers, and Vendors:

Your suppliers and vendors certainly know how the pandemic has affected your small business. So, they may be able to understand your financial needs and willing to help you till the tough and weird time ends.

On the one hand, you can ask your customers to pay sooner who are not experiencing major trouble with their businesses. While on the other hand, you can negotiate with your suppliers and vendors for deferring payments or accepting reduced payments, and increasing repayment terms.

Talk to Your Lenders to Get Short-Term Financing:

If you’re struggling to make your business’ debt payments or other bills, it may be time to reach out to your lenders and ask for help. Your lenders don’t want you to default on payments and may help you secure a short-term loan to get through the immediate cash crunch.

Here are some of the small business financing products you can access to pay your bills and keep your business afloat during challenging times.

• SBA loans including the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan
• Lines of credit and term loans
• SBA Loans such as SBA 7 (A), SBA 504, SBA microloans, and SBA disaster loans.

Besides, you can also consider applying for invoice financing or factoring to get paid faster.

Reduce All Unnecessary Business Expenses:

To survive your business and keep it running during challenging times, it becomes important that you eliminate or reduce all unnecessary business expenses. Here are a few ways to cut costs and maintenance presence:

• Reduce payroll expenses
• Work remotely to cut on travel
• Reduce energy and refuse costs
• Seek cheaper options
• Invest in affordable marketing
• Lay off some of your employees
• Suspend any service you’re not using these days
• Expand online services and engage on social media

Bill Deferment:

Many banks, lenders, and financial institutions are currently offering bill deferment for small businesses impacted by the pandemic. You should reach to them to see if your business can qualify for forbearance.

You can contact your current lenders to see if they can suspend your loan payments. Many lenders might suspend small business loan payments for a temporary period in a crisis so don’t shy to ask them for the same. You can also ask your landlords about payment deferment for office, storage, manufacturing, and other needs. Moreover, you can approach your credit card issuers to suspend payments or eliminate interest to help you stay on your feet.

Above mentioned tips can help you save money and negotiate your business bills during challenging times. You can also create cash flow forecasting to determine how much money your business is expecting to generate in the future so you can make better financial decisions. Besides, if you are planning to secure funds to pay your debts and bills, it’s recommended to apply through an online funding marketplace. With a marketplace, you can find and compare a variety of short-term loan offers from multiple lenders and choose one that best fits your current financial needs and budget.