Business expenses add up fast for CEOs and company owners. They will start to have a huge impact on profits, which means owners are compelled to look into what can be trimmed to save money. When all standard ways to save money have been tried, there are a few other things businesses may want to do. It's time to get creative as a frugal business owner without cutting too many corners.
Sometimes you have to think outside the box or make tough decisions to save money in business. If you do what all of your competitors are already doing, how will you gain a financial edge? That's why you have to be unorthodox in the methods you use to save an SMB more money.
Need some specifics on how to save your business major money? Here are five ways to save that might not have been thought about while looking at how to cut costs for your SME company.
1. Save On Standard Expenses
Office supplies cost a lot of money for SMBs. What if some of that could be avoided? Save on scanning and printing documents by faxing them and saving them in the cloud instead. Try out a low-cost fax online to see how much money can be saved over traditional printing and scanning of documents to fax. Though the savings for one fax won't be a lot, over time, the savings will add up to a more significant amount than it might seem.
Luckily business services have been moving to the cloud lately, so you can ditch a lot of the office supplies, electronics, and hardware that were essential just a few years ago. While you still end up paying monthly subscription or storage fees, you skip the massive up-front costs that the previous generation of business owners had to make.
2. Negotiate With Landlord And Vendors
Don't let your small business just pay the amount requested by the landlord and vendors. Most of the time, the prices aren't set in stone and can be adjusted. It doesn't hurt to ask because if you don't ask, you don't get!
Negotiate with them to get a better deal because everything is negotiable in the end. The landlord may be willing to offer a lower rate for a longer lease. It may be possible to negotiate with vendors to get a discount rate on bulk orders. This doesn't cost anything but a little time to try and could lead to a big difference in expenses over the long run.
3. Reduce Some Traditional Advertising
Advertising traditionally is expensive and may not have the impact it used to have. Commercials on television and radio can be incredibly expensive for just a small return on the investment. Buying banners may bring in new customers as expected for particular businesses and fewer people are paying attention to billboards, so they might produce a good return.
Also expand digital marketing further and reduce the amount of costs by using organic branding strategies. Doing this can save a lot of money while increasing the return, which leads to more profits in the future. Social media marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing, and blogging all require little or no cost to your business and provide huge results.
4. Consider Telecommuting
With the pandemic, many businesses switched to telecommuting to reduce the drop in productivity while still protecting employees from getting sick. Many employers have now requested employees return to the office, but this might not be such a great idea.
It is expensive to run an office, but less so to have employees that telecommute at least part-time. Consider the benefits of telecommuting to see if this could be a way to save. Remote work and hybrid working have been proven to be successful in many industries.
5. Go Over The Little Expenses
When reviewing expenses to see what can be cut, business owners often review the major purchases and expenses they have. While this is great, it's important to consider the little expenses too that your SMB pays out.
A lot of little expenses will end up costing a significant amount of money over time. If it is possible to cut or eliminate some of them, it could help the business save a significant amount of money. Those little expenses might not seem like much, but they will add up over time. Don't let these miniscule bills eat away at your profit margins.
Save Smarter
Saving money is a necessity to help the business thrive and increase profits, but it is not always easy to see where to save money. Try out the ideas here to see what a difference they can make and to see how much money your business could save with just a few changes.
Don't throw money down the toilet with your business. It is time to trim the fat and improve your company's profit margins!
