Other Cost Saving Opportunities
The other cost lines will be unique to your business, it is vital to forensically examine every cost line to extract possible savings.
Some ideas below:
Cost Line |
Ideas for reduction |
|
Office Costs |
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Printing/and Stationery |
Purchase cheaper office supplies Seek out reduced price items |
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Postage
|
Look for cheapest options if having to post Printer ink/printing in colour is expensive – default your printers to Black and white |
|
Telephone costs |
Landlines – are you using them? Mobile phone – who’s bills are you paying? Do you need to? Can you negotiate a group discount rate? |
|
Computer/internet expenses |
Have you negotiated the best deal? Are you using it? Are you using out of date equipment which needs replacing – if you have depreciated hardware you can replace, and it may be more efficient and save costs as hardware is newer – e,g,, printers |
|
Marketing costs |
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Advertising |
Are you getting the return for daily/weekly/monthly adverts? |
|
Digital ads |
Are you targeting your social media effectively? |
|
Promotion costs |
Are you discounting too much? At the right time? Is it effective? |
|
Banking/Finance |
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Bank charges |
Have you changed your contactless supplier? Legacy suppliers are vastly more expensive than new operators |
|
Loans/Interest |
Is it time to re-evaluate your agreements? Renegotiate? |
|
Depreciation |
Make sure you are depreciating the right things at the right rates – I you are not on top of this, this can bite you longer term. |
|
Insurances |
If your turnover has reduced, your indemnity insurances may reduce too – other insurances may be able to be renegotiated dependent on terms & business practices which may have changed – fire/public liability etc. |
|
Legal Costs |
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Licences/permits Dues/Subscriptions
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Are your licences up to date? Has your business changed post-pandemic? What are you paying for and do you NEED to be paying for this?
|
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Professional services |
Ensure all your services paid for are actually required and understand the detail |
|
Travel |
|
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Motoring costs/ Subsistence costs/ Fuel/oil/servicing |
Be careful and monitor all costs under these lines to ensure you are correctly paying at the correct rates. Ensure your staff expenses policy and process is clear, up to date and being administrated properly to avoid the risk of being over charged |
|
Maintenance |
|
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Equipment repairs/ Preventative maintenance Contracts/ subcontractors |
Monitoring every expense needs to be done stringently to ensure that all contractors and subcontractors are charging you as agreed. Cleaning costs and consumables can be subject to shrinkage, and without close monitoring and management, costs may spiral. |
|
Equipment rental Tools/ small equipment/ Cleaning costs/ Consumables |
Close monitoring and marginal reductions can add up to savings if leakage is spotted and processes corrected. |
|
Staff costs |
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Recruitment costs Workwear/uniforms |
Ensure that every expense is monitored and the cost:benefit weighed up prior to committing to these types of costs. |
|
Training costs Staff meals Reward/Recognition Charitable donations |
Investment in high quality recru8itment support may yield longer term benefits, such as reduced turnover. Higher staff engagement and lower turnover can also be achieved by clever investment in to reward/recognition schemes and staff welfare. |
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Petty Cash/Miscellaneous |
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Avoid petty cash payments if at all possible – this is the most effective way of reducing unbudgeted cost expense. Try to procure all your items in advance and for negotiated rates. Avoid having a ‘Miscellaneous Cost’ line – you will overspend if you use it! Plan ahead. |