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April 5, 2023
Our country has seen tremendous increases in inflation across all industries, and though we may be nearing the peak, the end may still take some time.
The increases have forced business owners to raise prices, change vendors or close their doors for good.
Here are six tips that may help businesses minimize costs in 2023.
Create a budget, strategic plan
Developing a strong budget can be an essential tool for minimizing your business expenses.
Once you have a gauge of your annual revenue, cash flow, profits and losses and general expenses with suppliers/distributors, you can make informed financial decisions.
To create a well-built budget for your business, consider implementing a strong strategic plan, with specific financial goals to help your business thrive.
A strategic plan showcases what your businesses’ short-term and long-term objectives are, as well as concrete ways to achieve success in those defined goals.
Objectives of a strategic plan should outline your business plans and budget goals.
Use right equipment/technology
Investing in efficient office equipment could save hundreds of dollars in future replacements.
One way to save on technology is to invest in a cloud-based service – which is generally more affordable than a physical server and can save additional costs on maintenance.
Another often overlooked element of minimizing business costs is cybersecurity to protect your software and data.
Businesses lose millions of dollars every year to cyber-attacks, so having the proper protection in place could save you the headache of catastrophic data and financial losses.
Focus on marketing
One of the lowest-cost marketing tactics you can employ is to invest time and resources into your social media presence.
Choose which platforms work best for your business and develop a solid marketing plan for those platforms.
Another way to apply modern marketing trends is to network.
Attending events, attaching a face to your business and meeting others in your community can help grow your word-of-mouth following.
Customers are more likely to work with you if they recognize you or your business’s name.
Go paperless
If not already implemented in your business plan, now is a great time to begin transitioning your business to paperless operations.
Research different online invoice and bill-pay systems and look into how digital can significantly reduce your operation costs.
Online filing systems give you unlimited access to downloads and files, which can provide safety from rare, yet devastating, natural disasters that easily destroy hard copies of crucial documents.
Additionally, many paperless systems provide a digital portal to things like forms, checklists, pay stubs, tax documents and anything else you would need all in one convenient location.
Consider outsourcing human resources
A strong human resources (HR) function plays a critical role in your business’s success, and it’s important to determine which HR strategies best suit your needs.
Your business can either leverage an in-house HR team or outsource its mission-critical needs to an external organization.
Outsourcing to external HR resources could provide your business with access to industry best practices, effective time management, expertise on efficiency and productivity, coaching and leadership development resources and extensive recruitment power.
An HR expert could help your business minimize costs by fulfilling the key HR functions of employing the right people for the right positions, development in succession planning and recruiting top candidates for tenure roles.
Evaluate your office space
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, people have changed the way they work – whether they are 100% remote working from home or in a hybrid environment, people are less likely to be in the office full-time.
If your business needs a physical location to perform work duties, find ways to reduce the costs associated with the space.
In terms of utility bills, consider switching to energy-saving smart outlets that turn off the energy flow once the outlet is not in use.
Or, set annual budgets for each department to spend on their necessary equipment.
Jeff Lasee is the director of recruiting at KerberRose Human Resources. He can be reached at jeff.lasee@kerberrose.com.
