In the current economic climate it’s really important that, as a company, you are not losing any unnecessary expenditure. Ensuring that you are keeping tabs on all outgoings is vital, and then once you have monitored what you are spending, finding ways to cut these figures down can have a drastic impact on the amount of turnover you make.
There are a number of ways you can help to save your business some money. Here are four popular choices:
1) Plan your travel in advance
Travel expenses can really add up and can be some of the highest costs that a business can incur. Whether it’s getting around to client meetings, or transporting goods via a lorry, travel doesn’t come cheap and not doing it economically can really impact how much profit you are making.
With this in mind it’s important to plan your travel well ahead of schedule. If you are using the train you can find some great deals in you book in advance, whilst those driving should plan out the most economical routes using sat-navs and maps.
2) Business accounts cards
Your business will inevitably need to buy things to maintain it, such as desks, chairs, lights, carpets and all sorts of furnishings and other items. The cost of these can really mount up.
While you will need to consider the quality of such items and whether you really need luxurious office chairs, you may also be able to secure discounts by opening a business account with a certain retailer. For example, using Argos for business account transactions with one of their credit cards can give you lots of special rates and deals online and instore when compared to the RRP prices.
3) Working from home
In this day and age it’s not always necessary to work from a set location. If you need to chip in with employee travel costs, why not get them to work from home a day or two a week, saving money and increasing productivity.
If your business has offices across the country but you need to have regular meetings you should consider using something like Skype to have video conferences, rather than get everyone to one set location, as it will do the same job yet save lots of time and more importantly, money.
4) Systems and PC software
IT software, web hosting and server space all cost a lot of money so consider what you need and what you don’t. Do you really need licenses for Microsoft Professional or would Gmail and Google Docs suffice? Do you need to have the massive server space or would everyone be able to use cloud storage to save their documents?
If you are unsure about this, it is best to speak to a specialist IT advisor who will be able to point you in the right direction about your business needs.
About the author
Karen Reid is a successful business entrepreneur. Her shrewd and tactical financial nose has seen her make some excellent profits for all of the companies she has set up. She highly recommends using Argos for business account purchases and taking advantage of all of the great deals that they offer.