Cash flow levers are pathways to improve your cash balance in a few weeks time. You can mark your success merely by checking bank accounts or by measuring the cash flow margin ratio. It compares monthly revenues to operating cash flow, i.e. how much cash can you generate out of 1 dollar (invoiced) revenue.

Cash Flow Margin Ratio = operating cash flow / revenues

Sales

Increase prices by +4-7% annually. Identify customers with low margins and increase price accordingly. Identify non-core services (implementation, add on features) that require extra resources and increase their pricesl or try to outsource it (to free up capacity for core activities).

Induce customers to prepayments (annual plans with a discount). Offer discounts to customers if they pay early payments.

Improve cash collection by pricing in extended credit terms and diligently chasing overdue invoices. With large accounts and very long payment terms (90+ days) use factoring. Also, use insurance against bad debt for ustomers with no credit record.

Procurement

Avoid prepayments and ask for extended payment terms.

Recalculate inventory levels and optimize buffer to accomodate for seasonal variances (daily, weekly, monthly). Also work on reducing lead times.

CAPEX

Do not buy assets outright. Try to lease them. If you already have an assets on your balance sheet, you can try a lease back.