There are other ways in which you can start to reduce your overhead costs, however. The following points are also beneficial.
If you rent equipment or pay service retainer fees, then you might be able to find some cost savings by reevaluating your contracts to see if all your needs are still being met. This is especially important if the contracts are older and have not been reviewed in a while. There’s a good chance that with the changes your business has gone through since you first signed, there's room for improvement.
Do you have a storage room or spare office that has become a void of outdated or broken stuff? Clean it out, sell what you can, and utilize that space for something more profitable!
Asking your team or business partners might be a good idea to find expenses that aren't really useful anymore. Sometimes being the one at the administrative end of things blinds you to expenses that aren’t really being used by your employees—these are the expenses that you can cut!
You should already know it’s less expensive to keep current customers than attract new ones—but have you ever used your current customers to attract new ones? Offering a referral incentive or asking for reviews is a great way to have your current customers do some leg work for you.
While you might not be able to go 100% paperless, there must be some areas where you can reduce your paper usage. This will save money on paper, printer supplies, and storage space.
In today’s world, depending on your business, there's not as big a need for physical storefront locations. You can save a pretty penny by only keeping essentials at a brick and mortar location. If your employees can work remotely, that's another way to save on space and utilities.
Unfortunately, as a last resort in the event you're really strapped, you might have to assess your staff and review their individual productivity and value for you and your business.
While it’s almost impossible to run a business without any overhead costs, cutting those costs requires serious consideration and well thought out decisions. Operating costs that can be cut down or eliminated will leave you with more revenue each month, making your business more profitable. A business with streamlined operating expenses will have the best possible chance at growth and long term success.
Chandler & Knowles offers professional business consulting services nationwide. If your company is looking for financial guidance from a team of experts—contact us today.