When running a business, even small savings can significantly affect your company’s financial health. Unfortunately, many companies try to save money by cutting corners which means low-quality results. While you may enjoy some gains at the beginning, this unethical practice may hurt you in the long-run because it can lead to unsatisfied clients and loss of credibility.
What most businesses are not aware of is that choosing the cheaper product or scrimping on quality control processes is not the only option. There are many techniques on how companies can rein in their spending without sacrificing excellence. Here are some practical ways that can loosen up your budgets.
Lease expensive IT equipment
There is no doubt that investing in cutting-edge tech products will make your work much faster and easier. However, in order to acquire the fastest, latest and most feature-packed machines, you would also need to shell out major cash up front or to borrow funds from other sources.
As an alternative, you could choose to lease your office equipment instead of buying it which will not require you to drain your bank account while still enjoying the benefits of having state-of-the-art equipment. You can keep up with competitors with sophisticated tech and only pay for the monthly payments. At the end of the lease period, you have the choice to exchange the machine for a newer model or even negotiate to buy the machine at a fair market price.
While a longer lease period may work out to be more expensive in the long run, a monthly lease contract can be healthier for your cash flow and you won’t run the risk of being stuck with an expensive and outdated machine in case your business changes or evolves.
Take advantage of new technology and services
There are now several tech tools that can help businesses save time, resources and money. Using business automation tools that can generate reports, analyse data and respond instantly to customer queries are just examples of how you can save on employee resource time.
Another great example is how online sellers can avail of logistics and fulfilment services provided by popular online selling platforms at a very reasonable price point. This means that even if you are a seller who runs a home-based business, you can provide your customers with fast and efficient delivery services similar to what multinational companies offer.
You won’t need to put up your own logistics department, hire employees, rent out a huge storage facility or deal with a separate delivery company to keep up with the competition. All you need is to educate yourself on how to meet the guidelines and requirements in order to be eligible for the service.
Outsource specialised tasks
Starting a business with no money often means trying to do everything yourself. While this may be acceptable in the very early stages, continuing to do this when clients and projects start coming in can be problematic.
It is counter-productive to try completing a wide variety of tasks simultaneously because instead of being able to focus on more important matters, dabbling in other things can decrease your overall productivity.
Some managers try to foist these tasks on existing employees who are as clueless on these matters. This can equally be disastrous because the time they spend on training or trying to learn how to do the project can be used more efficiently on things they actually know how to do. Plus, if you or your employees are not really well-versed in that task, you are only delaying the project further.
As a solution, find a specialist who can deliver the job exceptionally well. Outsourcing these tasks to an expert means you’re less likely to have half-baked results and the project can be delivered on time.
Finding reliable, highly qualified yet fairly-priced suppliers is also becoming easier with the internet because companies now have access to a global and remote talent pool through online job platforms. Outsourcing also saves you the cost of hiring full-time employees when you are unsure if you’ll need that resource on a long-term basis.
Maximise online marketing tactics
Traditional marketing like advertising on TV, print and radio is expensive but the good news is, digital marketing is not. At a reasonable cost, you can advertise your business using different web and social media websites with a few clicks of a button. Other online tools which you can also utilise to promote your business are blogs, microblogs, newsletters, and videos.
You don’t even need to be marketing whiz to start. Tech giants like Google and Facebook even offer online marketing training programs free of cost that can keep you abreast on how to use their marketing services.
The advantage of these digital marketing tools is that most services come with attached analytics that allow you to see if your campaign is effective and resonating with your target audience in real time. Unlike a TV or a radio campaign, you don’t need to wait for weeks or rely on phone surveys to find out If your efforts were effective. You can clearly see how many engaged with your post and know the audiences’ demographics. This means you can easily adjust or adapt your campaign depending on how it is performing.
Go green to save on your energy bills
While this may sound obvious and basic, you may be surprised to learn that consciously making a few changes in your workplace can have a significant impact on your utility bills. Here are some tips on how you can attain some savings.
- Replace your office lighting with LED lights because they significantly consume less energy than incandescent light bulbs, resulting to a much lower electricity bill. While an LED bulb may cost more, it has a longer lifespan. An LED bulb can last 25,000 hours while an incandescent bulb only has a lifespan of 1,200 hours.
- Make it a habit of turning off the lights, cooling/heating, and other office electronics when not in use.
- Computer servers consume a lot of energy as they require 24/7 power. Consider transferring your data from your local servers to the Cloud to reduce energy consumption.
- Another energy saving tactic is allowing employees to work from home or remotely at least a couple of days a week. Not only are you conserving energy in the office, you’re also saving your employees travel time and gas money.
Money Matters
Saving money is not something a business should do only when the economy is tough. This practice should be inherent in how a business operates on a day-today basis. Before parting with your hard-earned cash, always evaluate and look for alternative ideas that may be more cost-efficient for your business.
