Everybody wants to own a business that is as close to being ‘a lean mean business machine’ as possible and the initiatives that they take to achieve these objectives could backfire if it is not strategically implemented or executed. Here are 5 easy business cost saving ideas that could enhance your business bottom lines and give you a competitive advantage over competitors by saving on everything to anything such as stationeries, energy or even your paper receipt rolls (thermal paper rolls or bond paper) that your cashiers are conditioned to issue out religiously, when it could be totally unnecessary and a waste of money and resources as 7 out of 10 people chick the receipts into the first trash-can they come across!
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Step One: Monetise
Monetising whatever that can be monetised is a good starting point to optimise the business and even increase revenue. Look around your business and look for what items that are not being used, this includes space! Is there a space big enough on your premise or can this space be created and rented out to a another smaller business that would ‘add value’ to the offerings of your business as it is and on top of that generate a little bit of revenue? This smaller business could be a small café perhaps or even a handicraft stall! When these businesses promote their business online or otherwise, they would be promoting your own business indirectly because people who visit them, will also visit you!
Step Two: Improving Costs
Operational costs are the biggest ‘budget busters’ for a business and as such trying to lower operational costs is actually among the oldest trick in the book of business towards gaining competitive advantage. There are a lot of things that you would be able to save on. Your utility bills, phone bills, beverages in the pantry, stationeries, paper receipt rolls (if you are using bond paper receipt rolls which are more durable than thermal, ask yourself this question, doe your receipts require to be durable, if not, then switch to thermal paper rolls which are much cheaper and could save a lot in the long run. Apart from paper receipt rolls, it would also be great if you could change the concept of your operations, meaning if you are using a dot matrix printer which requires ink cartridges and expensive bond paper, just switch to thermal printers that allow you to use thermal receipt paper rolls. This small investment could be recovered within a year and the following year it would count for cost savings compared to the previous year. Look into every angle of cost savings as cumulatively over the period of a single financial year, these savings could improve your balance sheets or it could make your employees and your clients happier if these savings are transferred to them in the form gift vouchers for your employees or lower prices for your customers.
Step Three: Do not compromise customer and employee satisfaction
Although improving cost structures and monetising opportunities is a good optimisation initiative, be careful not to make the mistake so many business owners are prone to making! This mistake revolves around getting carried away with cost savings and monetisation to the point where customer and employee satisfaction levels are compromised. This situation causes more damage than good for your business despite the success of your optimisation plan!
