JobKeeper is done: 3 essential business elements to focus on.

The coming weeks could bring on a brutal economic shock with the end of the $90 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. This should encourage business owners to start thinking about the future as there will be millions of Australians affected. This article details 3 important actions business owners should be doing to stay ahead of the curve.

1. Review your pricing

Now is a great time to review your business's pricing for goods and services. It is going to be crucial in the coming months to ensure that you have priced accordingly to ensure that your pricing meets the shifting demand. You should be reviewing intrinsic and external factors that are affecting your cost and your ability to charge what you should.

This may lead to charging more than you would during the pandemic to cover your increased business expenses. Exercise caution with this approach as it may price you out of the market allowing other businesses to gain customers due to their lower prices.

2. Increase your marketing

With a lot of businesses being propped up by JobKeeper, you can use this as an opportunity to invest your spare cash into marketing. This may enable a competitive advantage to spend more money on things like AdWords and SEO as some of your competitors may not have the funds to be able to do so. With this, your increased marketing efforts may place you above the competition and create a higher reach to your target audience. If you are getting a positive ROI with marketing, you should assess which channels are providing the highest return and look to maximise your profit there.

3. Complete a budget and forecast

Completing a budget of all the expenses your business will incur in the next 12 months will allow you to rough out your cash flow requirements for the year. This combined with a basic forecast of your income will really help determine your current business position. You should ask yourself questions like “Where do I think my revenue is going to be realistically in the next 12 months?” and “What expenses are inevitable over the next 12 months?” These questions are crucial to ask as they will conceptualise how the near future looks. They will also help you determine your business’s ability to continue without the JobKeeper subsidy.

Completing a budget for the next 12 months will allow you to have an overview of all your expenses, leading to the opportunity to identify expenditures that can be reduced as it may no longer be essential in conducting your business.

It is difficult to determine what to do considering the end of Job Keeper and the suggestions listed above may or may not assist with your business’s recovery. In saying this, contact Link Advisors and we can guide you through the process of budgeting and forecasting. Link Pixel may be able to determine whether an increased marketing budget could prove to be beneficial as well.