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3 Easy Steps You Can Take Today to Reduce Your Business’s Overhead

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3 Easy Steps You Can Take Today to Reduce Your Business’s Overhead

Trying to keep your overhead costs under control is important, whether you’re a small business or a multinational corporation. But it is especially important for fledgling SMBs that have to compete with bigger players and can’t benefit from economies of scale yet. Just making a few adjustments here and there could add up and give you more room to breathe. Here are a few simple ways that any business can reduce their overhead.

Look at how Your Business is Structured

You have to make sure that everyone in your business serves a purpose and that you aren’t hiring people that you don’t need. A lot of people will have a tendency to go wild on new hires as they expand. Others will hire people just because they feel they have to.

For instance, does your business really need a social media manager on staff, or could you have it managed on a per gig basis through a virtual assistant? What about payroll? Do you really need to have someone on board full-time for your payroll or could you just outsource the whole thing to a payroll service? Some will advocate for outsourcing any non-core functions; that is, functions that are essential to the functioning or your business without giving it an edge over your competition. In other words, these are functions your customers aren’t paying for. Make sure to look at these in your organisation and see what can be done.

Reduce Your Utility Costs

If you haven’t taken concrete steps to reduce your utility costs yet, there are probably tons of ways that you could save on business utilities. If you’re a business and trying to save on your electricity or gas bill, it would be wise to shop around and look at the competition. Competitors will go the extra mile if they see that you’re with a rival company and will try to sweeten the deal for you, whichever way they can.

In addition to electricity and gas, you could also save on things like broadband, telecoms, and mobile phones among other things. For example, instead of getting a toll-free 0800 number, you could get a 0845 so you won’t have to cover all charges or a 0844 or 0875 number where you’ll actually get a commission on every call made to your business. Try to learn how to cut on all these different utilities and talk to your providers to see if they have any plans that could benefit your business.

Make Being Thrifty Part of Your Company’s Culture

Sometimes, your employees might not be aware of the effect waste can have on the business. Try to drive the point home by highlighting that the money spent on wasteful activities could have been spent on bonuses or raises.

It’s also important that you lead by example and introduce real change. Make sure that everyone shuts down computers when leaving or when they’re not at their station for lunch breaks. Keep phone calls and conversations to a minimum. You should also make the switch to a paperless office. This will not only allow you to save money on paper but on expensive supplies like printer ink and toner.

Conclusion

Reducing overhead costs is all possible as long as you take the time to monitor your expenses and dedicated to following through. If you follow the few steps in this article, these cuts will eventually add up and start making a difference.

I am the founder of Startup Today. I am the main writer and have put in many hours of work into creating this blog. If you want to find out more about me then lets get in contact.

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