Every company wants to keep profits as high as possible and losses to a minimum. As a business owner, the onus is on you to ensure that you and your employees are maximizing their daily work output while making certain that even the most unexpected problem does not become an issue that culminates in business failure. There are many ways to cut down on expenditure, but it’s important to remember that often, it is as much a matter of being aware of your work environment as it is about your end-of-month profit margins. No matter what size your business may be, here are the top tips for reducing the amount of loss that you can implement immediately.
Build on your business plan
Having a strong business plan is your first step towards ensuring that your company will survive while others fail. Although you no doubt built your business plan while in the early days of formulating your company idea, that shouldn’t be where it ends. A good business-owner will constantly assess their plans, updating strategy as the need arises. Sometimes a business plan needs alterations due to technology or legislative changes, and sometimes it needs updating simply because the current plan is no longer the intended idea of the business. By keeping your business plan current, you are able to remain focused on your goals and reduce the amount of time wasted in non-profitable directions.
Use modern technology
The digital age has transformed the business world forever. From mobile phones to cloud storage, companies can save large sums of money by embracing technology and incorporating it into their daily work routines. If you make the most of the modern tech available, you might even find that major changes to your business structure are possible. Look at your online sales as opposed to your in-store sales. If the former is significantly higher, is there any need to pay rent on premises or is it more profitable to concentrate purely on online sales? Using technology can amount to huge reductions in costs, and those savings translate into a better profit margin.
Go Green
It’s no surprise that more and more companies are opting to go green. Often, this is less to do with ethical concerns and more to do with saving money. Whether it’s installing low-energy light bulbs or transforming your office into a paperless environment, business owners are learning that there are profits and savings to be made in almost every section of their company. Reducing your carbon footprint when it comes to travel can also be a potentially huge saving, with business meetings now possible through face to face video calls rather than lengthy journeys. One of the largest expenditures can often revolve around paperwork, due to the costs of printing and the time wasted in making sure that the right person sees the right piece of paper. Cut down on those issues by using online document sharing tools, and watch your printer ink bill drop.
Health and Safety
In these days of litigation at the drop of a hat, it’s important that you give maximum consideration to the health and safety of your staff. Having a happy and safe team of employees will increase productivity, and, of course, any accidents caused in the workplace can have a serious impact on your ability to work at maximum efficiency. Between legal threats and ethical considerations, keeping your staff safe should be one of your top priorities. You’ll need to keep up to date with changing legislation, so consider hiring a dedicated Health and Safety officer in your team, and you should attend events such as the ASSE conference, as ASSE’s Safety 2018 exhibition can teach you and your staff the proper health and safety procedures your workplace may be lacking. Listen to the concerns of your staff and always have up to date training, as well as contingency plans in case of emergency, and you lessen the risk of costly legal bills and a discontented staff.
Outsource
It may have become something of a business trend, but there’s a reason why so many companies are opting to go the outsourcing route. Although there are advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing, there is little doubt that when utilized correctly it can save money and streamline your business. Every business is able to outsource some aspect of their operations, and depending on your sector and business type, you’ll need to ascertain just how much it can offer you. From handing over the product delivery side of your company, or hiring a website management company, outsourcing allows you refocus yourself and your staff so that you can concentrate on the money-making side of your company.
Staffing options
Obviously, we want the best staff, but all too often we become very set in our ways in terms of deciding who can bring the best skills to work. Looking at job advertisements, it is no longer rare to see unreasonable demands for experience and core skills. Too few companies are looking for new angles to take, and as a result, they end up employing experienced staff that are unfortunately set in their ways. An alternative option is to reduce your wage bill is by hiring interns, who are very often students and therefore are up to date on modern trends and technologies that your older staff may not be. This fresh outlook can provide a positive boost to your company, and whether you’re looking at interns, part-time staff for those quiet periods or even the talent that has recently graduated, bringing in a less wage-expectant team can have a significant impact on your profit.
Security
Protecting your business means covering every angle. Protecting against customer and staff theft can prevent repetitive losses, but what about protecting your customers? With cybercrimes increasing every year, it is up to every business owner to ensure that they are looking after their customers’ data as much as possible. Often this means staff training and a dedicated IT department, but a lot can be done by simply being aware of basic online and offline safety rules. Protecting your customers from data theft is a fundamental way to build trust in your company, which will, in turn, inspire repeat customers and more sales.
If you take the effort to keep up to date on the day to day management of your company, up to and including those areas that seem as if they should look after themselves, you will find that it becomes easier to spot waste areas. Once you identify an element of your business that is not cost effective, you can then start to plan money-saving ways to counter the potential issues.