In this blog, we’ll look at some of the common areas where businesses typically overspend, and offer advice on how you can cut these costs.
Bringing Employees On Board
It’s not cheap to hire an employee. You have to pay to advertise the position, and then the money it costs to train them. There’s also the matter of lost productivity, which also hurts your company’s finances, just in an indirect way. Sometimes, you won’t have a choice other than to hire a new member of staff, because someone is leaving. If you find that your employees are leaving more frequently than they should, then you’ve probably got an employee retention problem — and that’ll cost you. Moving forward, look at making your space a more pleasant place to work. Keep your staff happy, and they won’t want to go anywhere.
Their Marketing
Every company should be investing money into their marketing. But it’s not enough to just throw money at your marketing. You have to invest in the right spaces. All too often, companies spend money on marketing tactics that don’t bring as big a return as they think it will. It’s fine to spend a lot of money on your marketing, providing it comes back to you in business. If it doesn’t, then it’s just dead money.
Office and Infrastructure
You’ll need a space, hardware, and software if you’re going to work at full capacity. But as with most things, how much these things cost you can vary wildly. Sometimes, you’ve just got a bad deal, at others, the fault is yours. Many businesses overspend on office space, for instance, since they think they need more space than they really do. Telephone calls and the internet deal typically cost more than they should, too. If you’re still using traditional phone lines, visit SIP.us and look at SIP trunking. It’ll reduce the costs of communication instantly. For your internet, look at how fast you really need it to be — if you’re paying for the top-tier service but you only need medium-tier speeds, then you’re overspending.
Old Contracts
You may have suppliers that you’ve been working with for years. This can be good when it comes to establishing professional relationships, but not always so good for your finances. There may be new companies that offer the same service (or more) at a much cheaper price. From time to time, take a look at your contracts and see if they’re still right for you.