Many small-business owners feel they have control of their finances, and when questioned about whether they are interested in finding ways to save money, they don’t believe they need it, or are too proud to accept they do.
I was one of them, I thought we did a fairly good job of managing all areas but looking deep I realised unless you have someone working on this full time, there are bound to be areas you could find to save money.
Even the tightest-run businesses find savings when looking hard enough in the right places.
I have listed seven of the obvious areas you could start today.
1. Credit cards and bank statements
How often do you look over these, line by line, checking every single expense you have made?
Beware of auto-renewals, I have recently been caught with an auto renewal, signing up over a year ago for something I thought was a one-off expense, recently checking my credit card statement, noticing they auto renewed the payment one year later.
I got my money back, but not without a lot of effort to do this.
Shop around for your credit card providers, some offer great bonuses for you to join up, so could be worthwhile moving around for this reason.
2. Marketing
Even the best marketing companies cannot offer guaranteed results, be sure you do your research when selecting the right company.
Shop around, get proven results, check testimonials, and get it all in writing what they are offering to provide.
You can get some great results through organic marketing you don’t always have to pay for it.
3. Suppliers
How often have you approached your suppliers for a better deal? Do you shop around or go to the same person all the time? If you have been a good customer, they will look after you, remember though if they have been a good supplier, give them the opportunity to match the better offer you may have found before moving on.
4. Power, telephone and Eftpos providers
Have you sat down with your providers and looked at their deals and then researched other providers to see how they compare, there can be huge savings in these areas, they are changing their fees all the time, this is worth the time and effort?
5. Wastage
Do you have someone monitoring the wastage you have in your business, does someone check what gets thrown out everyday? Does your staff understand the cost waste has for your business?
6. Inventory
Are you controlling your ordering, ensuring you do not have excess inventory you are not using, costing you money, and taking up space?
7. Accounts
Are you avoiding late payment fees, paying accounts before their due, are you taking advantage of discounts for paying early or on time?
Have you asked if is there a discount for cash, many companies like to avoid extra costs eftpos providers charge?
I have just scraped the surface here of some of the easy ways you find extra cash in your business, put aside some time to look over these as I am yet to come across a business that hasn’t found some extra when they take the time to look for it.
