Cut costs and get in shape to win

If you are an owner manager, it's understandable if you have been focusing so hard on growing your business that you simply haven't made cost-reduction a priority. But many other companies, large and small, find themselves in the same boat. Whatever size your enterprise, cost cutting and sales development can and should go hand-in-hand. Cost reduction initiatives like those suggested below will deliver a leaner, meaner enterprise that's better equipped to deal with all kinds of challenges.

Tip 1 - Develop a cost cutting strategy

A slash and burn approach to cost cutting can be as destructive as indiscriminate spending. Poorly designed cutbacks in areas like IT security, Internet connectivity or software licensing could spark off incidents that hurt your productivity and your bottom line, such as a virus attack, loss of data, software penalties, or impaired ability of personnel to complete tasks due to poor connectivity. Make a commitment to take a structured approach to cost-reduction rather than being tempted to cut in haste and repent at leisure.

Tip 2 - Automate wherever you can

When you achieve more during the business day, your costs fall. Look hard at what areas of your business can be automated or where customer self-service can be implemented. Call handling solutions are inexpensive and quick to implement, and user acceptance is high. Using voice recognition or keypad-controlled option menus, a call handling solution can ensure that your customers never hear engaged tones or phones that ring out, all calls can be answered 24 hours a day, and staff whose time is now fully consumed in call handling can be redeployed.

Tip 3 - Put your website to work

Apply the same logic of automation and self-service to your website. The key is to adopt the right mindset: ask yourself what customers might want from the website. Simply ensuring that you have up-to-date information about your opening hours, ample contact information for different departments, and a frequently asked questions list could save dozens or hundreds of telephone calls to your office, dramatically improving your productivity. Your web design partner should also be able to advise how your website can assume additional business process burdens, saving you even more time.

Tip 4 - Ask staff to help you cut costs

Who knows your business better than your own team? Involve your staff in brainstorming and executing ideas for cost cutting and problem solving - even the problem of how to reduce staff costs. Staff returning from career break or parental leave may not want to return to fulltime employment but prefer to reduce their hours; new or renewing contractors may offer more competitive rates than before.

Tip 5 - Use technology to deliver on strategy

Apart from cost cutting, what are your principal business objectives in the medium and long term? Entering new markets, bringing customer service to the next level? Whatever you're trying to do, by researching and adopting enabling technologies you will reduce your costs. Your website or communications provider can usually offer excellent advice here. If they know your business well, they can suggest specific technologies that can help.

Tip 6 - Transform productivity with flexible working

If you haven't yet explored home working for yourself or your trusted staff, now is the time to do it. Staff with families will especially appreciate being offered this option, and often go the extra mile in their work. For instance, the reality of home working means people are likely to log on very late or very early in addition to during normal work hours.

Tip 7 - Improve debtor and creditor control with technology

Have you searched for all the ways that you can use email and the Internet to reduce costs in your accounts function? If you are not already using Internet banking, get yourself set up. If you already bank online, revisit all debtors to see which will now agree to pay you electronically instead of by cheque. Paying creditors electronically and sending remittances by email saves a huge amount of time and can reduce the number of phone calls your accounts people need to take.