Are there any businesses that don’t want to save money?
Money saving ideas for companies are in high demand, and whether you scrape off a little here and there, or a lot in one go, anything that cuts costs can help you either invest in other areas or take one stressor off your plate.
Here are 9 excellent money saving tips that could work for your business.
Offer a trade.
Let’s say you operate a gym, and you need a new logo. Would your graphic designer accept a free six-month membership instead of a cash payment? You may be able to offer your products and services instead of cash.
Automate whatever you can.
Automation is coming online at an incredible rate, so if there’s a step in your processes that can be automated, make it happen. This can cut down on expensive human labour, and free up you and your staff for more lucrative ventures elsewhere. Pocket Office is a great way to automate your bookings and customer comms. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous check out our article on how robots are helping small business save time and money.
Encourage telecommuting.
Do you need a large office racking up hefty rental bills or could you downsize to a co-working space, or is it possible for some of your employees to work from home? Working from home could be a desk sharing situation where each employees chooses a different day or days of the week to work from home. Telecommuting offers a huge cost saving strategy, as it cuts the need for a large space, as well as on utilities.
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Focus on your money makers.
Every company has cash cows, products or services that consistently bring in cashflow. But can you pinpoint any products or services that are taking up time and money to continue, but not bringing in the return you’d like? If you’ve already tried to improve that product/service for a better return, or if doing so is too expensive right now, consider removing it to free up your time and cashflow for other projects.
Put your expenses under a microscope.
As soon as business starts to pick up, closely monitoring your expenses can fall by the wayside. Set aside time to see exactly where your cash is going, and you may find simple ways to create business cost savings in the process.
Invest in staff.
It’s not uncommon for small business owners to try to do all the work themselves. Whether it’s a part-time assistant, a freelancer, or a full-time employee, an extra set of hands can take care of the time-consuming simple jobs, and allow you to make more money doing highly skilled tasks.
Or, on the flip side, consider outsourcing areas of the business to experts. Any process you may find difficult, such as book keeping or digital marketing, will probably be taking up more time than it should or being put on the back burner. By outsourcing to an expert, the job is done properly (which could result in money coming back into your business) and once again, you’re also leaving time to focus on what you do best.
RELATED: How to get your employees to promote your business.
Bulk up your orders.
Often, cost cutting strategies for business are the same as those we use in our personal lives. See if you can bulk buy to cut costs later down the road. This can work for anything from office supplies to the raw materials you use to make your products.
Train smart staff.
Instead of hiring experienced, skilled staff with years of work behind them (the most expensive kind of employees), aim to employ smart staff with less experience that you can eventually train up. Even though this will take more of a time investment, it will take less of a cash investment and you can teach them skills specific to your company.
Always check for free software.
Thanks to the internet, it can be surprising just how many tools and services are available online for free. Especially if you’ve been paying for something similar, such as project management systems, invoicing software or cloud storage, it pays to look into their free alternatives.
