Training Top 100 Best Practice: CCA Global Partners’ “Cash Crunch” Program

“Cash Crunch” included a series of Webinars, short videos, and news flashes that showed business owners how to preserve cash for maintaining solvency through the COVID-19 rebound.

CCA Global Partners supports entrepreneurs and independent family business owners by providing the scale, resources, and innovation that create sustainability, growth, and effective competition in today’s evolving marketplace. Across North America, more than 2,800 retail locations; 20,000 childcare centers; and 1 million small businesses benefit from CCA’s leadership through its 14 different businesses representing five categories: flooring and home furnishings, business services, sporting goods, nonprofit and childcare, and management and contracting.

CCA Global Partners launched its “Cash Crunch” program within one week of the first state lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This project trained more than 1,000 business leaders across four business units. It aimed to create a repeated process to hold onto 150 percent of cash each month during lockdown.

Program Details

Cash Crunch included a series of Webinars, short videos, and news flashes that showed business owners how to preserve cash for maintaining solvency through the COVID-19 rebound. It featured real-life examples, tools such as Excel spreadsheets, and online learning.

Cash Crunch also had one-on-one meetings with business owners by appointment (via Webex/phone) to demonstarte cash flow and financial sustainability techniques related to the COVID-19 demand shock. Together with business owners, CCA Global Partners crunched the numbers during this period of crisis so business owners were ready to hit the ground running when business as usual resumed.

Topics addressed in the training included:

  • Cash Forecasting
  • Cash Management
  • Sources of Liquidity
  • Planning for the Rebound

Senior management called and sent e-mails to business owners to encourage them to participate in Cash Crunch immediately. Senior management also supported Cash Crunch with marketing development and facilitation. The president of Carpet One reviewed and commented on the development tools. The president of Flooring America marketed the program to business owners. And the COO of CCA Global Partners co-facilitated Cash Crunch Webinars with business owners.

Results

Cash Crunch demonstrated the following Kirkpatrick Level 4 results:

  • 95 percent of business owners applied for and received PPP money.
  • 78 businesses reported a significant improvement (50 percent-plus) in cash reserves.
  • 98 percent of businesses were retained during the COVID shock.
Edited by Lorri Freifeld
Lorri Freifeld is the editor/publisher of Training magazine. She writes on a number of topics, including talent management, training technology, and leadership development. She spearheads two awards programs: the Training APEX Awards and Emerging Training Leaders. A writer/editor for the last 30 years, she has held editing positions at a variety of publications and holds a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University.