In today’s financial climate, it’s more important than ever to cut-spending and focus on helping your company save money and boost its profitability. Here are five tips to cutting costs in your business:
- Review your day-to-day operating expenses
How much does your company spend on coffee, tea, supplies, stationery and maintenance? Money that’s spent on simple things quickly adds up and the actual amount can be astonishing. Have your purchasing department look around and gather quotes before placing orders to ensure they are getting the best deal on even the most mundane of office supplies. Although branded products are sought-after, generic or own-brand products are often just as good, particularly when it comes to pens or stationary.
- Go green
One of the best ways to help your business save money is by going green. Businesses have many opportunities available to them to become more environmentally friendly and realise the cost savings that come with it. Several jewellery retailers for instance are now implementing sustainable business practices by using personlized custom jewelry boxes. This allows them to reduce the amount of packaging materials they use while still providing their customers with a stylish product presentation. Additionally, using certified recyclable packaging materials and working with sustainable suppliers can further reduce expenses while making an active effort towards protecting the environment.
Save money by ensuring your business is as energy efficient as possible. Swap your office light bulbs for fluorescent bulbs to save money and conserve energy. Make sure that any recyclable office waste is recycled; some recycling centers will offer money in exchange for some items, particularly if you have a lot to give and pledging to recycle may benefit your company’s tax expenditure. Reducing the amount of paper used in the office will not only save you money when it comes to buying paper, ink and forking out for printer repairs, it will also save employee’s time; encouraging employees to fill-in information on the computer, laptop or tablet rather than by hand will save time, and advising staff to email information rather than print and send it will save time spent printing, organising and mailing. It’s also good for the environment and green companies are often respected more,
3. Instead of buying your company cars, consider leasing them. Investing in vehicle contract hire (otherwise known as vehicle leasing) is potentially more lucrative for your business than finance purchasing. As a leasee, you will pay a set monthly payment to cover the depreciation of the vehicles during their time in your company’s use; at the end of your agreement, you will simply hand the vehicles back to the lease company. If, on the other hand, you choose to buy your company cars, you will pay the full cost of the vehicles and be expected to sell the vehicle at the end of the payment term. As a business owner, you will also be able to claim some or all of your rental against tax(depending on the cars’ emissions) as tax, and up to 50% of the VAT you spend will be recoverable. Finally, leased cars are not counted as business assets. There are plenty of cars, like all car leasing’s audis that are business ready yet affordable.
- Move your business online
Investing in a website and putting your business online could be a great way to attract and retain new customers. Being online allows your business to function 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and gives customers the opportunity to view your business outside of regular working hours. Attract attention to your website by embossing your URL on your letterheads, employee email signatures, and business cards. Be sure to put it on any promotional items that you give away, and feature it alongside your head office number on company vehicles.
- Cut down on meetings
Give your employee’s time to carry out their day-to-day tasks by cutting down on the number of meetings your company holds. Check your employee’s schedules to get an understanding of how many meetings, on average, take place every week and think of ways to avoid meetings and free up valuable work time.
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