Webinar Breakdown: From Silicon Valley to Your Staffing Firm
Funding payroll expenses while waiting to get paid is a universal headache in staffing. Many firms turn to payroll financing or traditional invoice factoring to offset the impact, only to discover that these options introduce their own set of challenges. To help you discover a new, alternative solution, we’ve partnered with BlueVine, a fintech company that is reinventing financial services for staffing firms through faster, more flexible, and easy to use financing options. If you missed our webinar, From Silicon Valley to Your Staffing Firm: How BlueVine is reinventing Invoice Factoring for Staffing Firms, no need to worry! We’ve recapped the webinar for you below.
The Importance of the Right Working Capital Solution
1:04: Economic Expansion
Lindsay Hoffman, Senior Business Development & Strategic Partnerships Manager, tells us the good news: demands for talent remain strong due to economic growth over the past eight years. But with more demands for talent, staffing firms need to quickly source and place candidates, handle the increased operational burdens of growth, and keep up with increasing payroll expenses in order to succeed.
2:00: Cloud-Based Technology
Thankfully for growing staffing firms, there is a dearth of cloud-based staffing technologies available to assist your business. Between running your firm through Bullhorn, managing your books through accounting platforms, and sourcing candidates through job boards, your firms are working smarter, faster, and better. The one technology missing from this list: working capital finance solutions.
3:08: Working Capital Solutions
There are four traditional financing options for working capital needs. Finding what’s right for you is a matter of finding that “Goldilocks” solution. Lindsay takes you through the pros and cons of various solutions:
- Deploy your own cash: Using cash sitting in the company’s bank account.
- Pros: No “fee” to pay for using your own cash.
- Cons: You only have what’s sitting in your bank account, which means you can’t grow quickly.
- Bank loan: Use a loan from a bank to fund payroll expenses.
- Pros: Cheapest option if available.
- Cons: Less than 50% of staffing firms are rejected by banks.
- Takes 2-3 months to get approved.
- Funding amount doesn’t frow with placements.
- Payroll financing: Give responsibility for payroll to a 3rd party.
- Pros: Handles 100% of payroll, from payments to claims and taxes.
- Cons: It’s expensive. Fees are 3-5% of gross billings.
- Requires 100% of placements to be financed.
- A contract is required, including minimums and penalties.
- It takes 1-3 months to get approved and set up.
- Traditional invoice factoring: Send your invoices to a factoring company to get cash advanced against your unpaid AR.
- Pros: Turn unpaid AR into available funds.
- Cons: Requires 100% of invoices to be financed.
- A contract is required with minimums and fees.
- Takes 1-3 months to get approved and set up.
Lindsay talks you through which finance offering supports what you want to accomplish. Are you chasing growth? Or looking to optimize your results, such as margins, funding costs, and cash flow? Or both? Depending on what you’re looking for, BlueVine may be right for you.
The Challenges of Traditional Working Capital Financing
9:33: Why BlueVine Payroll Factoring
Curious what existing customers think of using BlueVine for flexible finance options? Lindsay shares a testimonial from early adopter Mike Smith, CEO of Cleverterra and joint customer of both BlueVine Bullhorn, who discovered BlueVine as a way to finance payroll and expenses.
10:57: Five Key Questions When Evaluating Financing Options
There are 5 key questions you should ask yourself when you’re looking for a financing option:
- Amount: Can I get what I need, and will the amount available increase as I grow?
- Rate: What am I paying, is it worth it, and are there any hidden fees?
- Structure: How flexible is financing? How easy is it to turn the funding on and off?
- Speed: How quickly can I get approved and funded?
- Overhead: What is involved in maintaining funding availability?
BlueVine solves these pain points with a 100% online application, fast approval process, and quickly and easily accessible funds through the user dashboard.
13:20: BlueVine’s Products
How are BlueVine’s products different from traditional payroll factoring products?
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- Invoice Factoring:
Fast, simple, online “spot” factoring with up to $5M funding available. Learn more about how BlueVine factoring is easier to use and faster than traditional factoring at 13:26.
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- Fast Flexible Lines of Credit:
Draw funds on demand, with line amounts from $5000 – $250,000. Learn more at 15:01, where Lindsay talks through how the flexible line of credit approval and utilization works.
How A Staffing Firm Uses BlueVine
16:20: Applying for BlueVine
What type of information do you need to fill out on BlueVine? Lindsay walks us through all the relevant information the BlueVine application requires, including how much financing you need, what type of financing, the types of customers you serve, banking information, and information about you and your business! After you fill out that information, your application will immediately move to review with BlueVine.
18:12: The BlueVine Dashboard
What does BlueVine actually look like? Charles Amadon, VP, Business Development & Partnerships at BlueVine walks us through the BlueVine dashboard.
19:00: Adding and Managing Invoices
You can add an invoice in several ways. Charles shows you how to do this manually, but you can connect your account software in order to manually import invoices. You can also view your queue of invoices and determine which have been factored, which can be closed out, and which you need to take action on.
22:37: Line of Credit
At any given time, you can see how much credit you have available with your line of credit in your dashboard. You can also view your amortization schedule, including timing, amounts, how much is principal vs. interest and fees, and the total balance on each draw. Charles also shows you how to pay early.
25:00: Additional Features
The customers tab allows you to see all customers that you’re factoring invoices against and the value of those invoices. There is also a reporting capability, which you can pull on advances, draws, transactions, reconciliation, and more. Your profile is prepopulated with all the information you entered during the application process, and it allows you to change and update your payment preferences. Finally, the support center under Help & Contact is a fantastic resource for any additional help you may need during the payroll factoring process.
26:19: Filling out an Application
Interested in BlueVine’s flexible financing offering and want to see if they’re a fit? Ask your Bullhorn Relationship Manager about BlueVine or fill out an application here.
Question & Answer
Something we missed? Check out the audience Q&A section for a final wrap-up of the BlueVine solution.
27:13: What are the typical amounts you see staffing firms utilizing?
28:12: How does BlueVine determine if I qualify for financing?
29:00: Can I use BlueVine if I already have financing from another source?
29:45: How much does BlueVine typically charge Staffing firms?
30:39: Is BlueVine’s financing secured or unsecured?
30:54: Are you going to notify my clients if I begin using BlueVine for invoice factoring?
31:35: How does BlueVine’s integration with Quickbooks and other accounting software work?
