In this highly competitive world, you should always look to lessen your expenses to have better revenue margins. Therefore, every manager is always on a fact-finding mission, to find out ways in which to minimize the operating costs of running a business. Here are five ways to try:
- Change The Way You Do Your Marketing
There is no need to advertise on prime time television where you will not get feedback and will pay an astounding amount of money when you advertise online where customers will find a channel to give you a feedback about your products. Start by creating a website supported by a blog or several blogs where you can tell people about your products and services. You will be surprised at the amount of money that you can save. So, rethink your advertising strategies and reduce advertising costs if possible.
- Use The Already Existing Employees Before Hiring New Ones
When you need a certain skill, you should first look for the skills with the employees of your business instead of hiring new ones. You may easily find an existing employee with just about the same skill that you are looking for. Now, if you go ahead and hire an extra employee, you will need more space, more money and other resources to bring them aboard.
- Save Energy In The Office
Do you know how much money you lose by virtue of lost energy? It is a lot of money every month. Many employees do not worry about switching off the appliances that they are not using and they leave them plugged in most of the time. This means lost energy. It also means that you pay more for your energy bills than you should. For corner offices, use as much of natural lighting as possible. For every device or appliance that is not being used, it should be switched off. There is no need to leave the printer on when you are not printing. Install windows with reversible insulation – one to keep in the heat during winter and the other to keep out the heat during summer.
- Use All The Space Available
If you de-clutter the offices, you will find that there is so much space lying idle that could be used to fit in another workstation. You could also create extra space for that printer or other office appliance that you want to buy. Should you manage to get a full office that is not being used, you can even hire it out to another company and make money.
- Employ Technology For As Many Tasks As Possible
Automate as many services as you can and invest in management tools like CRM. You will be surprised just how fast work will flow and how much money you will save in the long run. With so many vendors online, you should be able to find an appropriate solution for your business. Say for example, going online can save you cost of printing. Online advertisements will not require you to print handouts, leaflets and similar marketing materials. Still if you need a small portion of materials printed, you can hire a professional printing service provider. For businesses in Austin, there are some affordable yet highly professional printing service providers. You can look for similar services around you.
This is a helpful article, and covers a range of topics. There are many ways to drive down costs, and without impacting employee wellbeing. I have found a good approach to generating cost saving ideas is through an employee suggestion scheme.. This way staff are actively encouraged to brainstorm ideas, and are rewarded when tangible savings are delivered. For example, the supermarket Sainsbury’s saved £60k through one idea, which was to change the packaging configuration on packets on mangoes!
Another approach is to tackle quick wins. For example LED lighting is 90% more energy efficient than traditional halogen lights. Staff recruitment costs can be cut through advertising vacancies on social media. Travel and expenses costs can be reduced by implementing an up to date policy.
I recently collated a wide range of business cost saving ideas on my new website: http://www.costsavingsweb.com
I hope this is helpful.