If you are a business owner or manager, one of the quickest ways to increase your business’s operating profit is to reduce the amount of expenses that the business pays for. It is easy for the businesses to add up quietly and secretly eat away at its profits. Don’t leave it until it is too late. Take action with these following cost-saving initiatives.
Install solar lighting
Turn your business into a lean, mean energy-saving machine by installing solar lighting solutions. Improving the abundance of natural light in your business will not only help your business save on its energy bills, but it will enhance visibility and productivity in your workplace. Solar lighting solutions that your business should consider installing include:
- Skylights
- Solar tubes
- Large windows
Installing energy efficient LED lights are an excellent solution for cutting your business’s energy consumption costs from lighting. Historically, they have been a more expensive option to install. However, the costs of LED light bulbs have come down considerably over the last decade. What makes this lighting solution interesting is that it can reduce the business’s energy consumption costs by up to 80%, while still providing the same light illumination for your business.
Switch to open source and cloud computing solutions
Every business uses some form of software to help with their business operations. Businesses that have custom made software could be forking out thousands of dollars in upgrade and maintenance every year. An easy alternative is to seek out an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution. Look out for SAAS (Software as a service) that is accessible on the cloud. Some solutions that you might consider include:
- Pipedrive – Which is a sales CRM management.
- Xero – Which is a bookkeeping and accounting software.
- Google drive – Which gives you access to storage, spreadsheets, presentation and document software on the Google Cloud. (Free)
Do you know if your employees are making the most effective use of their time? Meetings can easily make people become busy. However, not all meetings can be productive for the business. Meetings still require the business to pay for their employees’ time. Review how many meetings are being conducted for your business and find out how they positively impact the business. Force staff to reduce their meetings to save your business from wasting thousands of dollars on employees’ unproductive use of their time.
Negotiate lower prices from your suppliers
Speak to your current suppliers and see if they will reduce the cost of your supplies. Whether they knock off 5% or 20%, every little bit helps. If your business uses many suppliers, it could save your business thousands of pounds every year.
Revise how your marketing budget is being spent
There is a famous marketing quote from John Wanamaker that goes “I know that half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” It is easy for a business to spend majority of their advertising budget on ineffective marketing channels. It is important that any marketing activity that the business is conducting is measured accurately and that any marketing channels that are ineffective are quickly removed from the business’s marketing mix.
Monitor cash flow like a hawk
One of the major reasons most businesses fail is because they neglect the importance of their business’s cash flow. Clients that pay their invoices late, write-offs or late fees on bills all add up overtime at the business’s expense.
Minimise printing
Printing is a large expense for businesses. Worse, much of the prints that are done actually go to waste, but still costs the business money. Initiate paperless habits to minimise your business’s printing costs.
These cost-saving methods can easily save your business thousands of dollars every year. Review where the money in your business is being spent to avoid excessive costs that eat away at your business’s profits. Don't hesitate. Take action today.
By Tom Rutherford, marketing manager at LEDified Lighting Corporation.
