It is a tough period for businesses in the US, with a new financial crisis potentially waiting in the wings of the stock market. In response to the poor performance of the market in January 2022, many businesses are starting to batten down the hatches with their own expenditure. As a small business leader or owner, you too may be looking at ways to cut down costs in your company. The following are just three of the many ways you can do just that:
Examine Expenses
The first port of call for any small business looking to save some pennies is the expense account. The vast majority of expenses are important and unavoidable, but with a refinement of your expensing processes and some serious scrutiny of company spending habits, you might surprise yourself with what you find. Maybe the per diem you give employees on business trips is too generous, and the expense account shows large increases in spending on the last day of each trip on average? Maybe a rolling contract with a stationery supplier hasn’t been amended in some time, and you are receiving surplus stock you have no need for? Little things like this can seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of your business, but can represent incremental savings of up to thousands a year.
Go DIY
One of the many financial traps for the small business lies in the form of the pre-packaged business solution. You might outsource your visual design work to an independent design agency, or use a customer service portal to handle your customer base. While some of these are irreplaceably useful for your business, some can represent a strain on your finances, depending on your level of need. Maybe you have three niche social media channels that could be run by your sales team instead of an expensive agency? Bringing things in-house, and adopting a DIY approach, can save you in the long run.
As an example, some of the more significant costs attributed to the small business come in the form of IT infrastructure: everything from the servers that house your internal data and site-hosting to the PCs and software your staff use in their line of work. Some of these costs cannot be circumvented, but others can. Having a staff member from your IT department build staff PCs instead of purchasing pre-built models can save thousands of dollars and open you up to cheaper future upgrades. In terms of your back-end and electrical supply – or if your small business is plant-based – you can create and save space, as well as save money on cables, with the judicious use of DIN rails to house your electrical units and industrial panels.
Switch Up Your Hiring Habits
The employment situation in the US is an interesting one at the moment, with a perceived labor shortage across the service industry owing to mass resignations. For many, it is a job-seeker’s market, and a new industry represents new opportunity – as such, your business could be the perfect first step in a new career. Rather than hiring for experience, hire for enthusiasm and transferrable skills. What you may initially spend on in-house training will be made back in the form of lower wage costs and loyalty from your new team members.
Of course, these are not the only ways in which you as a small business can save money. There are myriad processes you can introduce, and other ways to squeeze the purse a little tighter – but the above ways represent some simple examples of what you as a leader should be looking for to help your business.
