The cost of business services can add up quickly, and just about every company looks around to cut corners now and again. If you’re wondering how to lower some of your company’s cost, keep reading for five ways that will work.
1. Go green
Rethinking the way your business runs during the day is important. Once your company stops wasting materials, using less energy and cutting costs around the office, you might start seeing a difference very soon.
Instead of printing out papers, view information electronically. If you must print a document, use recycled paper. Use compact-fluorescent or LED lights in the office. They last longer and use less energy. Not every room in your office must look like a showroom. You don’t have to purchase the best furniture money can buy. Get a deal on barely-used office furniture online that’s practically new.
2. Rethink your marketing strategies
Have you taken a look at your marketing efforts? Marketing is vital to spreading the word about your business. However, not every company takes a good hard look at the marketing efforts regularly. Throwing money at the budget isn’t always going to give you the results you want.
Are you speaking directly to your customer? Has your ideal customer changed since last year, or the year before that? Make sure that the marketing message you’re sending resonates with your target audience. Use phrases that create a sense of urgency to visit your business and buy your products or services.
3. Take your company into the cloud
It’s not cheap having in-house servers. They tend to be costly and take energy to maintain. Of course, you want your information to be protected so you have to find some way to harbor your company files well.
When your company has cloud software, there’s no need to worry about software updates. You can forget having several employees coming in the office and handling these types of issues because the cloud software keeps everything you need in one place.
4. Consider hiring freelancers
You may not need to hire a full-time employee, or even a part-time employee for a specific job. Instead of wasting the money in your business allocated to a project, simply hire freelancers to complete a particular job.
If you want to hire a consultant, copywriter, web designer or software developer, you can get your job completed. You get to skip hiring someone who won’t have a great amount of work to do later on during the year and the freelancer’s work will be done in a specific timeframe for you. You may have to pay more for a contractor than you thought you would, but it should be better for you financially in the end.
5. Consider better insurance policies
Every business needs an insurance policy. Chances are you have one that protects you, but could you be paying too much?
Shop around for general liability insurance from at least three places. Take the time to submit identical information to them all and see what rates they give you. This way, you’ll have a true comparison. If you’re a member of a trade or professional association, you may have access to insurance discounts.
When you lower your business costs, think about what changes are worth making in your company. Make sure all of them are positive and only make the business even more successful.
Photo Credit: Jenna
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