Lean and Mean: 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Cut Costs
Although vaccination efforts are now underway across the world, many aspects of human society will never remain the same. The pandemic has affected almost every facet of your day-to-day life, and small business owners are among those who have been most affected.
Hundreds of thousands of businesses have had to shut down or drastically reduce their operations to stay open. And despite the promises of a post-pandemic world, almost all of them may never recover.
Expert analysis of data on business closures revealed that only approximately 3 percent of businesses that have closed will open their doors once more. Majority of these businesses are small enterprises who will have a hard time restructuring their finances and reorganizing their operations.
You have multiple strategies toemploy to ensure your company remains in business. One such strategy is to trim down your expenses, which will let you funnel resources to running your business.
Here are five ways to cut down your small business’s operational costs.
- Outsource Jobs
Many parts of your small business’s operations don’t actually require a full-time employee to accomplish. Go over your entire operational structure and determine which tasks can be outsourced. These tasks are often those that don’t need to be done every day and require complex training, training that your employees may not the time or bandwidth to receive.
For example, many companies rely onaccountants for small businesses to ensure their finances and paperwork are in order. Other businesses outsource their website management and design, freeing up valuable man-hoursfor work more relevant to their enterprise.
- Reconsider Your Office Space
One of the primary reasons many small businesses shuttered their doors was to avoid paying expensive rental feels on commercial property. If you want to trim down your business costs significantly, you should look for a way to decrease the amount you pay for office space. Renegotiate the terms of your lease with your landlord or find less expensive commercial space.
Maybe you can even forgo having an office space. For example, if you’re running a business that sells natural preservatives for cosmetics, you may not need a full office. Perhaps you can get by with some storage space and manage your enterprise from home instead.
- Reduce Non-Essential Perks
Employee perks help brighten up the mood, but collectively they can be a massive drain on your finances. All those fresh fruits, bottled water and similar perks can be making up a significant portion of your business’s expenses. Take a look at the various employee perks your small business is doling out and take note of how much they cost every week or month.
Next, discuss these reductions in perks with your employees. Which perks are they most willing to let go? Which ones can they live without? Bringing in your employees to gauge their reactions to such perk reduction is important because the purpose of these perks is to retain them. Their input and opinion in which ones they’re willing to lose is vital.
- Renegotiate Employee Benefits
Yet another sacrifice you may have to make is reduce or renegotiate employee benefits, such as health insurance, allowances and similar things. It’s even more vital that you bring in your employees to discuss such reductions because it will have long-term effects on their well-being. Rather than cut them out outright, find ways you can reduce your expenses on these benefits.
For example, talk to your health insurance provider and discuss if there is a less expensive plan you can put your employees on. Look over employee allowances and calculate what would be an acceptable reduction. Maybe just reducing such allowances by 15 percent would be enough to make a difference in your budget. But never forget to inform employees on such cuts and alterations, so you retain their trust.
- Go Digital
You can save substantially by embracing digitization. For example, increasing your use of electronic media and documents can mean you won’t have to buy as many office supplies like paper and printers. Streamlining your operations by incorporating more digital processes can be key in reducing associated costs. Sticking to virtual meetings and increasing your use of similar media will not only keep employees safe but decrease travel costs, like gasoline and parking.
Your small business requires sacrifices and now more than ever, you need to be smart about which sacrifices you’re going to make. These tips will help you keep your doors open and your business profitable through the uncertain times ahead.
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