3 Ways To Reduce Your Operating Costs

If you’re running a business, you already know that you’re always working with a delicate balancing act of how much you spend versus how much you earn. Your profit is directly tied to the sales you make, but you can actually “increase” your profits by spending less on your operating costs. But how do you that? There are three easy tips you can follow to see an immediate reduction in your operating costs.

Review Utility Usage

It’s a given that every single month, you’re going to pay for the use of electricity, maybe natural gas for heating, and quite likely Internet and/or telephone access for your computer/transaction needs. But how much of this do you actually need to spend?

Take the time to review your energy usage. You might find you can cut down on your electrical bill every month simply by switching over to LED light bulbs instead of the older, incandescent ones currently in your building. Or you may find that by investing in some insulation, your HVAC bills go down!

Evaluate Your Marketing

Where is your marketing budget going? Are you getting the returns you want on increased sales? If you cut back on traditional marketing like print or radio, and concentrate on Internet marketing, does this have a positive or negative impact on your sale results? Marketing can be a significant source of spending, so always review your budget and see if adjustments can’t be made.

Use A Cash Discount Program

If you’re paying the processing fees on debit and credit card transactions, do you want to keep doing this? By switching to a cash discount program, you can move the expense over to customers instead. Then you can re-ward the customers that choose to use cash with a discount. Over a long enough period of time this can save you quite a bit!