No matter what you are selling whether a product or a service if you let you costs spiral out of control you can quickly find your small business in financial difficulty.
Here are top tips to make sure that doesn’t happen to you:
1. DON’T WASTE YOUR ENERGY
Across the country people are struggling with high energy costs at home. High energy costs are also hurting businesses too. In fact, the Carbon Trust estimates that for many businesses, a 20% saving in energy costs would have the same effect on the bottom line as a 5% increase in sales.
Here are some simple methods that you can use to start saving on energy costs:
Take out inefficient light bulbs and replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs which use up to 75% less energy than standard light bulbs!
Put your computer on standby when not being used. Over the course of a year a computer will cost about £50 a year if they are on 24 hours a day. By simply putting your computer on standby or switching it off at night could reduce the yearly cost to around £15
And of course, for cheaper diesel and petrol for your business, The Buying Power could save you as much as 10p per litre.
For more energy saving tips go here.
2. GOVERNMENT GRANTS
When the country went into recession the government realized one of the best ways to grow the economy was through small business. Because if this depending on where your business is you may be eligible for an interest free loan or an outright grant from the government called the regional growth fund which is a £3.2bn initiative which is running until 2017
The odds of getting a grant are good too. Almost 40% of applicants were selected to receive the funding during the latest round. If you’re in your first year of business you may also quality for certain tax breaks.
You can find more on the RGF and tax breaks here and here.
3. FLEX YOUR STAFF
Its estimated that the average cost to have a desk in an office is £5700 in the UK. Allowing your staff to hot desk and to work from home can save a considerable amount of money. A recent study into a firm from Stanford indicated that performance in the firm increased by 22% when a voluntary work from home programme was introduced .
4. OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE
Focus on your core elements as a business and what you’re good at and outsource the rest to another company that does that element as their core business. For example by contracting an external agency to deal with accounts payable could cut costs by between 20 & 40%
5. CLOSE IN ON THE COSTS
We know the list of tasks facing SME management can be daunting. This ranges from running the day-to-day business to client liaison, staffing decisions and new business development. However, while cost optimisation is a mundane process, it can save your business significant money.
The key to managing costs effectively is to be proactive, rather than reactive, and make periodic cost review part of your business cycle. Consider addressing cost items more frequently than at year end; a comparison of this month’s costs with the average of the previous six months will yield early warning of potential problems and allow you to nip the issue in the bud. (Post Credit: Martin, Small Biz Bee)
1. DON’T WASTE YOUR ENERGY
Across the country people are struggling with high energy costs at home. High energy costs are also hurting businesses too. In fact, the Carbon Trust estimates that for many businesses, a 20% saving in energy costs would have the same effect on the bottom line as a 5% increase in sales.
Here are some simple methods that you can use to start saving on energy costs:
Take out inefficient light bulbs and replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs which use up to 75% less energy than standard light bulbs!
Put your computer on standby when not being used. Over the course of a year a computer will cost about £50 a year if they are on 24 hours a day. By simply putting your computer on standby or switching it off at night could reduce the yearly cost to around £15
And of course, for cheaper diesel and petrol for your business, The Buying Power could save you as much as 10p per litre.
For more energy saving tips go here.
2. GOVERNMENT GRANTS
When the country went into recession the government realized one of the best ways to grow the economy was through small business. Because if this depending on where your business is you may be eligible for an interest free loan or an outright grant from the government called the regional growth fund which is a £3.2bn initiative which is running until 2017
The odds of getting a grant are good too. Almost 40% of applicants were selected to receive the funding during the latest round. If you’re in your first year of business you may also quality for certain tax breaks.
You can find more on the RGF and tax breaks here and here.
3. FLEX YOUR STAFF
Its estimated that the average cost to have a desk in an office is £5700 in the UK. Allowing your staff to hot desk and to work from home can save a considerable amount of money. A recent study into a firm from Stanford indicated that performance in the firm increased by 22% when a voluntary work from home programme was introduced .
4. OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE
Focus on your core elements as a business and what you’re good at and outsource the rest to another company that does that element as their core business. For example by contracting an external agency to deal with accounts payable could cut costs by between 20 & 40%
5. CLOSE IN ON THE COSTS
We know the list of tasks facing SME management can be daunting. This ranges from running the day-to-day business to client liaison, staffing decisions and new business development. However, while cost optimisation is a mundane process, it can save your business significant money.
The key to managing costs effectively is to be proactive, rather than reactive, and make periodic cost review part of your business cycle. Consider addressing cost items more frequently than at year end; a comparison of this month’s costs with the average of the previous six months will yield early warning of potential problems and allow you to nip the issue in the bud. (Post Credit: Martin, Small Biz Bee)
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