Updated on November 20, 2023

In the current inflationary context, SMEs are facing many challenges. What are some strategies for coping?

Inflation is hurting SMEs. In addition to competition from web giants in online business, SMEs in all industries are facing labour shortages, resulting in higher wages, higher procurement costs and less flexibility from suppliers.

Are you an entrepreneur experiencing difficulties? Here are some tips to help you deal with these issues.

Analyze your data

Nothing is more important than analyzing your financial situation and your results based on the data collected. The more you know about your market and your situation, the better you can act and make the right decisions.

Here are the steps involved:

• Analyze your data over a three- to five-year period;
• Review changes in your contribution margin;
• For each product or service, calculate your costs, profit margin and breakeven point;
• Determine which products or services are profitable or unprofitable;
• Keep track of your fixed costs such as rent and insurance;
• Ask yourself what your competitors are doing: when do they increase their prices?

In short, take stock to understand what is working and what is not and react quickly.

Review your rates and offering

Some of your products or services are cash cows and others are black holes. Keep the ones that generate the most money. In addition, it is important to work in collaboration with:

• Your sales team: they are in the field and will undoubtedly have some interesting solutions to suggest.
• Your clients and suppliers: in retail, for example, you can implement discounting strategies or bigger batches.

Consider whether it would be appropriate to charge for additional services such as storage, delivery or return services, packaging or product customization.

Optimize operational performance

In-house work processes can consume time and energy and even cost you money. You need to optimize your processes to make them flow.

• If you’re in manufacturing, ask yourself how to reduce your factory downtime.
• Work on the quality of your service to limit rework and returns. This will help you maintain your margin.
• Invest in digitization. The initial cost may be high, but investing in new technologies will save you money in the long term and increase your business’s efficiency.
• Robotize your administrative processes

Manage human resources strategically

Salaries are not the only thing your organization can leverage. There are many variables that come into play and you have some power to implement or improve them.

• Limit inflationary wage increases. Other than salary, what other benefits can you offer your employees?
• Come up with creative ideas to keep your compensation competitive.
• Build a strong employer brand that will help retain your employees.
• Make sure you make employee onboarding a success.
• Integrate training programs into the company.
• Involve your employees in cost reduction improvement projects. They have ideas too.

Innovate

What you do today may not work in the future. It may be worthwhile to change your manufacturing formulas to reduce your input costs.

For example, create dedicated innovation teams to look at improving or changing services or products, formats, derivatives and replacement parts.

Think about ways to optimize the way you make products or deliver services. This can be done by incorporating technology, changing your work processes or outsourcing some costly activities to suppliers who have more expertise than you.

Improve procurement management

This is a part of your business that warrants close analysis and monitoring.

You can, for example, establish partnerships with your suppliers to see how you can do better business together.

Be careful to distinguish between sourcing and buying: sourcing means comparing suppliers’ offers and then requesting bids. Sometimes it’s best to choose not to sell certain items and keep only the most cost-effective ones. You need to build strong partnerships and look for alternative solutions.

Keep an eye on the market and learn about potential suppliers and partners.

Define a clear vision and strategy

What is your objective? Are you looking to cover cash flow? Fixed costs? Improve gross margin? By using data, you can adjust your strategies and generate revenue in a different way.

• Set clear goals and communicate them;
• Involve your employees in the solution;
• Measure improvement and celebrate success;
• Align compensation with gains;
• Have a contingency plan.

Prepare financial forecasts

If your company is experiencing difficulties or if you’re looking for shareholders or business partners, preparing a financial forecast for a 12 to 24 month period will allow you to demonstrate to them that the company is in fact viable, by implementing a very specific action plan.

The document must demonstrate that your plan is sound and reassure your current or future partners. The business outlook should be translated into a financial forecast. Don’t forget that financial partners often evaluate entrepreneurs their responsiveness.

• Reflect on the impact of the various measures;
• Determine short- and medium-term funding requirements;
• Analyze sensitive points and break-even points;
• Identify ratios;
• Identify internal and external risk factors;
• Establish the indicators to be followed in order to maximize the plan’s chances of success;
• Review the budget regularly.

To survive these inflation-driven changes, you need to adapt by reviewing your action plan. You need to update your forecasts to reflect current conditions, review your costing and look at your operational performance.

Inflation is not your fault, but you have the power to adapt. For some companies, this change can even become a competitive advantage. Don’t hesitate to consult an expert who can help you see things clearly.

Updated on November 20, 2023

How do you stay competitive on the salary front without going overboard? Here are a few factors to consider when determining your strategy.

Despite what some employers may think, compensation is a major reason for employees to leave an organization. How can you use it as a tool to retain as well as attract employees?

Implement a fair internal salary structure

Some companies, mainly SMEs, have a limited or no appropriate salary structure. It is important to determine the value of the jobs within your company, and not only the value of an individual’s CV or profile. This evaluation, based on objective criteria, will allow you to group jobs with a similar level of responsibility, and then build an appropriate salary scale.

The structure does not have to be complicated. It can simply be a competitive salary scale, tailored for each position. Employees will know their salary can progress over the short and medium term. Being able to see themselves in the future reinforces their loyalty.

Naturally, you need to consider the market. Several public studies and data are available to estimate the competitive salary that should be offered for each position. This applies to operational (labourers, clerks), tactical (supervisors, professionals) and strategic positions (managers, directors) alike. The salary needs to reflect the level of skills required.

Companies that offer profit sharing incentives should make them available equitably to all employees who meet performance objectives.

Enhance direct compensation

Employees want access to benefits that suit their situation, in addition to their salary. This is where employers can be creative without going overboard on salaries.

For example, the company could consider offering:

• “Workcations”, a mix of work and vacation that allows employees to work from anywhere in the world for a few months every year;
• Access to a cottage so employees can work in a different environment;
• A schedule tailored to the employees’ needs (taking equity and the specifics of the job into account);
• Unlimited vacation;
• Working remotely (fairly standard now in most businesses);
• Access to a fitness room, yoga courses, a corporate card to go to a spa;
• Telemedicine consultations and repayment of health and wellbeing expenses;
• Onsite daycare;
• Planned social events;
• Mass transit cards and free parking;
• Dry cleaning service to save time;
• Reimbursement of the cost of training.

Options also include medical and dental insurance, a pension plan (group RRSP, defined benefit or defined contribution plans, VRSP for SMEs) and a personal assistance plan (PAP).

Staying competitive

It is essential to make employees realize, through a total compensation statement, that these benefits are added to their salary and increase its value. For example, an employee earning $60,000 per year may find that they actually earn $72,000 when they add in their benefits.

Inflation should not be the only criterion for a salary increase. It’s a matter of balance. If your salaries are too high, it can put your company in a difficult position when it comes time to purchase equipment or go through a slow period. An excessive increase may have the opposite effect and result in layoffs rather than retaining employees.

Even though the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has varied from 5.1% to 8.1% in Québec in 2022, the Ordre des CRHA has noted that salary increases range from 3.7% to 4.5%. In order to control these increases, which are higher than in the past, some companies are offering two salary revisions per year to react to inflation in real time. Employees appreciate this practice.

Employers need to be aware of the salaries and benefits offered in their industry to make attractive and creative proposals. But opportunities for advancement, company values, employee recognition are also part of the total compensation package and are incentives that should not be underestimated.

To accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy and reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs), it is essential to address transportation. This is what Lion Electric is doing, one truck at a time.

Our firm is pleased to have supported this company through different stages of its development. To find out more about the company and the new economy it represents, we spoke with Patrick Gervais, Vice-President, Marketing and Communications at Lion Electric.

The heavy- and medium-duty truck and bus sector alone accounts for 43% of transportation-related GHG emissions. “Trucks are the most polluting vehicle where we can have an immediate impact. A single truck produces 75 to 100 tonnes of GHGs per year,” says Patrick Gervais.