Money in the Bank: Quick Wins to Improve Profit and Cash Flow
Learn how better pricing, tighter cost control and stronger working-capital management can create immediate breathing room—without relying on a major increase in sales.
Improve the return from the business you already have
This session looks beneath revenue to find practical improvements in gross margin, overhead costs and cash flow. It shows why accurate bookkeeping matters, how apparently small pricing decisions affect profit and where cash may already be available inside the business.
How can a business improve profit and cash flow quickly?
Start by protecting gross margin, removing recurring costs that no longer deliver value and improving the timing of cash. Review discounting and prices, negotiate important supplier costs, cancel unused subscriptions, invoice promptly, collect debts sooner and avoid paying suppliers earlier than agreed. These changes can improve profit and release cash without requiring substantially more sales activity.
What you will learn
Start with accurate numbers
Consistent, up-to-date bookkeeping is business protection: pricing, margin and cost decisions are only as reliable as the data behind them.
Protect profit on every sale
Understand the disproportionate effect of discounts, price increases, upselling, bundles and supplier terms on contribution.
Remove invisible spend
Find unused subscriptions, duplicate systems, automatic renewals and costs that have crept upwards without a clear return.
Turn profit into cash
Manage debtor, creditor and stock days so cash does not remain unnecessarily with customers, suppliers or on the shelf.
Create more breathing room in the business
Profit and cash are related, but they are not the same. These four areas need to work together if an operational improvement is to strengthen the bank position.
Pricing and margin
Review discounts, communicate value confidently and understand the contribution produced by each product or service.
Suppliers and purchasing
Benchmark key suppliers, negotiate price and payment terms, and reduce single-supplier dependence where practical.
Overhead discipline
Challenge recurring payments, renewal terms and discretionary spend without damaging revenue or service.
Cash-flow control
Invoice promptly, collect earlier, manage stock and pay suppliers to agreed terms rather than before they are due.
Marketing return
Measure customer acquisition cost and revenue generated rather than continuing activity simply because it has always been done.
Productivity investment
Use systems, automation, documented processes and appropriate technology to improve output without adding avoidable cost.
A practical cost and cash review
Check the quality of the numbers
Confirm that revenue and costs are current, consistently coded and matched correctly so gross margin and overhead comparisons can be trusted.
Prioritise the largest opportunities
Focus on the top variable and fixed costs, the most important suppliers and the products or services that contribute most strongly to margin.
Take immediate action
Cancel unused services, adjust licences, challenge renewals, renegotiate terms and assign responsibility for each important cost line.
Set targets and monitor them
Track margin percentage, overheads as a share of revenue and working-capital days regularly so improvements do not quietly disappear.
A small price change can have a large profit effect
The session uses a simple product sold for £100 with a £70 delivery cost. Its £30 contribution shows why discounting and price increases need to be judged by their effect on profit—not revenue alone.
Starting position
At £100 per unit, the business earns £30 contribution. Ten sales therefore generate £300 towards fixed costs and profit.
10% discount
The selling price falls to £90 but the £70 cost remains. Contribution drops to £20, so sales volume must rise by 50% just to recover the original £300.
10% price increase
The price rises to £110 and contribution becomes £40—one third more. Roughly eight sales can produce the contribution previously generated by ten.
Go directly to the section you need
Money in the bank
Session overview, the six growth drivers and the current margin, overhead and cash position in Alex's business.
Accurate bookkeeping and reliable decisions
Why timely, consistently coded information is the essential foundation for margin and cash-flow management.
Fixed and variable costs
Understand the costs attached to sales, the contribution they generate and the overheads that remain even when activity stops.
The discounting trap
A worked example showing why a 10% discount can require 50% more volume to protect the same contribution.
The effect of a price increase
How a 10% increase can improve contribution substantially and reduce the volume required to maintain profit.
Upselling, bundles and better choices
Use add-ons, three-tier packages and price anchoring to increase transaction value and help customers choose.
Supplier terms and gross-margin tracking
Negotiate purchasing terms and use regular percentage and rolling-trend analysis to identify gains, losses and unreliable data.
Fixed-cost quick wins
Review major overheads, contract terms, renewal dates, approval limits and accountability for spending.
Find invisible and recurring spend
Audit subscriptions, licences, direct debits and automatic renewals, then renegotiate important suppliers.
Measure marketing return
Compare spend per customer, acquisition cost and revenue generated before deciding whether to continue, pause or redirect activity.
Productivity and longer-term value
Consider automation, systems, processes and potential innovation support that may strengthen efficiency and value.
The impact of a 4% overhead reduction
Alex's example shows how a planned cost improvement can increase profit and, potentially, future business value.
Convert profit into cash
Manage debtors, creditors and stock so cash is not unnecessarily trapped outside the bank account.
Business owners who need more breathing room
This session is for owners and management teams who want to strengthen profit and cash using practical changes within the existing business.
You will find it particularly useful if you:
- are increasing sales but not seeing enough additional profit or cash;
- regularly discount without calculating the volume needed to compensate;
- have recurring costs, subscriptions or renewals that are rarely reviewed;
- cannot easily identify which products, services or marketing activity make money; or
- have too much cash tied up in debtors, supplier timing or slow-moving stock.
Key questions from Session 2
Why does a 10% discount reduce profit by more than 10%?
The cost of delivering the product or service usually does not fall with the selling price. In the session example, contribution drops from £30 to £20 per unit—a one-third reduction—so substantially more volume is needed to recover the lost profit.
Which overhead costs should be reviewed first?
Begin with the largest fixed and variable costs, recurring bank payments, unused software licences, duplicate services and contracts approaching renewal. These areas often provide the fastest opportunities.
How often should costs be reviewed?
Cost control should be a regular management process rather than a one-off exercise. Review major costs and working-capital measures frequently enough to spot price creep, deteriorating terms and changes in return.
Why can profit improve while cash remains under pressure?
Profit does not reflect when money is received or paid. Slow customer payments, early supplier payments and excess stock can absorb cash even when the profit and loss account appears stronger.
Find the profit and cash already inside your business
Explore the FiMBO programme or use the self-assessment to identify where pricing, costs and cash-flow management could make the greatest difference.