Today’s blog post comes to us from Mark Engle, one of our expert business advisors here at BusinessAdvising.org, and a Managing Member of Four Corners Consulting Group. We’re honored to have Mark share his expert insight on the blog; read on to discover 15 ways you can start saving your business money today!

1. Improve Your Accounting – You can control your expenses better simply by improving your accounting. If you are getting information back from your bookkeeper (even 15 days after the end of the month) it’s harder to control next month’s bills. By using online bookkeeping (in real-time view) you can do a better job of watching how you spend.
2. Stick To Your Budget Like Glue — Having a budget (at least monthly) for expenses tends to force you (and your employees) to stick to the allocation. In addition to sticking to your budget, be sure to trim un-used budgets regularly too!
3. Implement Policies & Procedures for Expenses – In general, policies for procurement for supplies, capital expenditures, and other spending will help your team think before they spend. Take travel for example, if you have policies in place then you are less likely to overspend on hotels, mileage, etc.
4. Prioritize Expenses — Knowing what needs to be done in order to have the most impact on your business can be helpful with cash flow. Putting off expenses that are not a priority (and therefore, being able to spend on things that will make the business more efficient) can be helpful.
5. Take Advantage Of Terms — Whenever a discount is up for grabs, pay within terms, but don’t be afraid to ask for longer when needed. Paying bills as soon as they arrive is rarely astute from a cash flow perspective.
6. Cut Poor Performers First — If you have to make staff reductions, look at reductions to poor performers, rather than cutting everyone equally. Often the weaker performers are dragging down other team members and supervisors, and distributing cuts over the entire organization is a real morale killer!
7. Think About Your ROI — Use a return on investment approach to determine the best investment of funds for spending on capital projects. A quicker payback is usually a higher priority.
8. Evaluate Your Product Lines — Take a look at production costs, retail sales, and customer satisfaction – which activities are not fitting the bill? Reduce unprofitable activities when they are dragging you down.
9. Be Willing To Work – Every small business goes through ebbs and flows. When things are especially tough, consider another job that you can take on to help alleviate financial issues.
10. Buy Smarter — Develop buying smarts, such as cooperative buying groups, bidding processes, and unconventional sources for conventional products.
11. Don’t Become Static – Be willing to routinely shop around for better rates. When’s the last time you checked on your insurance costs? Are competitors offering something better?
12. Barter – When possible, trade out services and goods. Your cost is normally lower than retail, and that point goes both ways!
13. Save On Space — Consolidate facilities wherever possible. Space costs offer opportunities, such as sharing rental space or renting out any extra space you have to others.
14. Sell More To Spread Fixed Costs — When you sell more you often spread your fixed costs, thus, more goes to your bottom line.
15. Stop Separating Your Strategic Planning From Your Financial Planning — This final bit of advice comes directly from Lauren Messmer, of MeetGeraldine, who was matched with Mark through org. It’s easy to produce a list of your services and historic gross margins, but be sure to take things one step further by matching that hard data with your financial projections. Things must match up! An effort such as this this will allow you to look at your services in a new light, and will help you see what areas of your business deserve added attention in terms of staffing and selling. (Thanks for sharing your learned lesson, Lauren!)

What ways do you save your small business money? Share your tips with us!