Before digging into the meat of this concept, it is important to understand exactly why saving money is so important to any business, no matter the size or type. Obviously this is an elementary approach for anyone who has managed any sort of budget, so for the purposes of this article a brief analysis is adequate: One of the main purposes for most businesses is not only profitability, but long term sustainability. Both of these things are achieved through careful review of finances and expenditures, along with a detailed budget. These detailed analysis help outline a plan for funds allocation, which will assist in making informed decisions about business spending.
What follows here are some small ideas and concepts which, when used along with a well-thought out business plan, can move any business towards long term sustainability.
Staff. Salaries. Payroll. Ask most business owners and they will probably agree that PEOPLE are one of their biggest expenses. No matter what the position is or what the duties are, people are a core component of any business. A great strategy to manage those people (and their wages) is to outsource as much work as possible.
Depending on the business, the needs will differ, however there are most likely some tasks in your workplace or office which can be done by independent contractors. With the overhead of staff carrying such a premium, it is wise to hire outside help ‘as-needed’ for special projects. Not only are they specific and task-oriented, your business may actually benefit from the influx of fresh attitudes, ideas, and expertise.
While discussing personnel, it is also important to think about hiring practices. Forever we have looked for new hires with “industry experience”, but a different paradigm might be to look for smart, less experienced people who are willing to learn. As stated in the popular movie ‘Boiler Room’, “We don’t hire (stock) brokers here, we train new ones.” Taken out of the context of the dramatic New Line Cinema film, there is a subtle wisdom to this practice: People who are ‘experienced’ may also be a bit jaded and/or set in their ways. Fresh minds may benefit your business by providing new mindsets, an eagerness to work and learn, up-to-date technology skills, and an ambition to prove themselves.
Once you have the right personnel structure with the right people in the right places for the right periods of time, it is important to keep them productive and goal oriented. A recent study has shown that 65% of office workers surveyed find corporate meetings to be wastes of time. They are either perceived as too long, too boring, unproductive, or not constantly being derailed. Sadly, this truth can be quite costly for any business. In fact, by holding two one hour staff meetings each week, a mid-sized office can easily burn over 2,000 unnecessary man hours!
Here are some tips to improve your meetings and keep your staff focused on the tasks which should matter most, whether that is selling, client communication, organization, etc…
First and foremost, lower the headcount of meetings. Why tie up your entire staff when a few key people can be involved, then have those people disseminate the necessary bits to the rest? Next, use email when applicable. If it can be simply stated in an office-wide memo, do so. Also noteworthy, email the key points of the meeting beforehand to the attendees so everyone can start on the same page. Not having to brief everyone in person can free up significant time. Finally, consider banning cell phone use during meetings. (This goes for the person running the meeting as well.) Although it may be a cringe-worthy concept for some of us, not having access to those attention grabbers helps to keep everyone focused and stops “multitasking” distractions.
The last money saving idea for your business is to simply find a cheaper way. For most of us, the routine of how we operate in our day-by-day business is so set, we don’t see opportunities sitting right in front of us. Consider the office water cooler: Perhaps instead of this $900 a year expense, could your business instead utilize a filtered water pitcher? When looking at your overall business through this sort of money-saving lens, it is surprising what sort of small changes can lead to large overall savings.
Have you ever thought about your office’s shredded paper bin? If your office utilizes an inter-office shredding system, it most likely is subscribed to a service which handles the material through pre-scheduled pickups. Instead of maintaining the service out of habit, consider whether an as-needed shredded paper pickup service would be right for your office. Shredbin’s™ new Alice™ system is a perfect fit for saving money on any sort of office’s shredded paper pickups. By utilizing sensory data and bleeding edge computer technology, Shredbin’s™ professional staff only picks up your shredded material according to your business needs. Why pay for a pickup when you don’t need one?
Also while on site their Shredbin™ Information Protection Officer will inquire as to any other needs your business may require: above and beyond shredded material monitoring and pickup service, they also offer document scanning, digital organization of files, USB and Cloud backup services, and soon on-site shredding as well!
To summarize, in order for a business to be successful financially it is important to save money and reduce costs wherever possible. Intelligent strategic utilization of your business resources will help save your business money AND help lead to long term sustainability.
For more information or a quote on how Shredbin™ can help save your business money please call 1-800-633–3650 or visit us at www.shredbin.com for more information!
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