Maintaining a healthy cash flow is something every business needs to prioritize. It’s not just something we should be looking at come tax time or end of the year either—reviewing smarter ways to save money is encouraged on a regular basis.
Because technology is constantly progressing, the economic advantages are evolving and changing at incredible rates. And unless your finger is on the pulse, you may be missing out on improved processes that can save you valuable time and money. Free up extra funds and trim your firm’s budget with these top tips:
1. Eliminate Finance Charges
Especially a priority for small business owners, eliminating finance charges is a smart way to get your cash flow in check. Small businesses can easily get caught up in unnecessary expenses like late payments and processing fees—especially when they don’t make the time to cross-check everything that’s coming out of the account. Keeping up with business bills can be complicated and thus, many business owners will give the job to an accountant.
If you are managing this yourself though, you can utilize smart phone apps and schedule alerts to notify you when bills are due. To avoid additional fees, review your credit cards and what you’re paying for them at least once a year. This way you can take a close look at membership and processing fees and shop around if something is fitting your business needs anymore.
2. Consider Flexible Work Arrangements
Corporate overhead costs can be reduced by trying flexible work arrangements with staff. Not to mention, it’ll give your employees better job satisfaction being able to juggle a healthier work-play lifestyle. Some staff members may prefer being on a lower salary and working from home, rather than needing to be in the office daily too. Employees can benefit from the customized work arrangements and you’ll be able to reduce salary expenses.
3. Invest in Novated Leasing
Novated leasing, most common in Australia, is a form of salary sacrificing that is a cost-effective solution employers and employees can both benefit from. The process involves the business leasing a vehicle from a finance company on behalf of a staff member, which can be an enticing and much needed addition to an employee’s salary package. The employee will be making the car payment but because it comes out of their pre-tax income as a form of salary sacrifice, it’s a leveraged advantage for everyone involved.
Salary sacrificing a car comes at no cost to the business and is a useful way to help staff out for firms that provide company vehicles. Offering employees added benefits when it comes to the workplace is a great tactic to encourage better job satisfaction.
Keeping staff on board and happy in their jobs saves businesses time and money of having to replace and train new employees down the track. It’s an all-in-one package that’s convenient and easy for both parties to manage and if the employee decides to leave the company, all obligations (including the residual) falls on them, ensuring you have nothing to worry about.
4. Embrace Social Media and Content Marketing
In this digital age we live, companies that aren’t embracing social media and content marketing are missing out. Your best marketing tool these days isn’t an expensive advertisement or excessive sales campaign—it’s the internet, and utilizing it properly can save you some serious cash! Social media advertising is a cost-effective way to reach a wider audience and helps to boost traffic to your website. Most of these platforms are free to use too, but it’s wise to spend time determining which channels are best for your business.
Developing a content plan to reach your online audience through selected platforms is a cost-savvy solution to gain genuine engagement and customer reach. Steering away from traditional marketing mediums like print can reduce your advertising budget. Utilize social media activity tools to maximize your return on investment too.
5. Utilize New Technologies
Get on board with the latest technologies to save on valuable time and money, and help run your business at ease. Not every company needs to fork out money for expensive services and office software. Instead you can utilize technologies like the cloud to host processing methods, book keeping and any other tools you and your staff may need access too.
Use free or online business apps where possible like Google marketplace. If there’s a cost to any software you’re interested in, find ones that offer a free trial so you can determine whether it’s right for you before making the investment.
6. Go Green
Consumers are becoming more concerned about whether the business they’re dealing with is environmentally friendly or not. Going green isn’t just encouraged to reduce your carbon footprint and promote a healthier environment, it’s fast-becoming a huge part of brand identity. Along with the peace of mind that comes knowing you’re doing your bit for a healthier planet, the financial benefits to a business can be significant too.
Smart green practices you can start implementing on a day-to-day basis to reduce costs include reducing energy consumption by encouraging staff to shut down computers at the end of the day, moving over to paperless services like Google docs and e-signing, making the workspace more energy efficient and using a printer that prints to both sides to reduce paper waste.
Replacing lightbulbs with energy-efficient ones, getting on board with toner cartridge recycling and looking for energy star certification when you buy new workplace equipment will all make a positive difference.
Eliminating unnecessary costs doesn’t need to be hard. With a few minor tweaks, it’s more than possible to gain more profit for you and your business and rediscover what it means to have a healthy cash flow.
Author: Jayde Ferguson writes for Easifleet – Australia’s car leasing and finance company dedicated to making business solutions easier. You can catch her on Facebook @TowardMusic and Google+.
Self-Employed? 8 Ways to Lower Your Expenses
Why an Average Startup Burns Through So Much Cash
Avoid These 6 Money Wasters in Your Tech Business