Let's face it, running your own small business is expensive, in fact, 90% of small businesses fail in their first year of trading. There's a lot to consider when first setting up a business, expenses, employees and stock. All of this can add up quickly when going about day to day business operations. It's important to have cost-saving measures in place to avoid problems with cash flow.

Here are six actionable tips to start saving money for your small business.

1. Increase Employee Recognition

Firstly, it's important to start within the business with employee recognition. This is the cheapest and most effective way to start saving while still keeping operations intact. Ensure hard work and results are recognised within your institution as this has a long effect on how long employees stay. The recruitment process is lengthy and not time effective which means your small business could be missing out in the long run.

Moreover, praising employees can boost their happiness at work as they feel rewarded and more inclined to do better in their role, meaning more sales and money. 

2. Hold an office purchasing review

If your main base of operations is in an office it would be beneficial to hold regular office purchasing reviews. In the UK, a small business spends on average £870 per year on stationery which can add up when looking to squeeze on expenses. Ensure you are getting the best value for your stationery and office equipment and shop local rather than bigger establishments. Going further, having staff admin find savings for you can lessen the cost.

3. Negotiate with suppliers

Moving on from the previous point, don't be afraid to negotiate with supplies and challenge the first quoted rate offered to your business. There is often room for movement on this and ask about any offers that are going on at the moment. Explain how you've been a customer a number of time and discounts would be favourable. Ask them to go out of their way to see what they can do for you. Don't double down and mention that you have been shopping with other competitors to apply a bit of heat. This can go a long way with getting cheaper deals for your usual equipment. 

4. Go green

This point may seem obvious but be sure to turn off electricity and computers at the end of every workday. Going further, see if you can partner with a greener energy supplier which offers cheaper deals compared to their bigger counterparts. This can do wonders for both the life of your computers and also larger utility bills across the business. Ensure your printer hibernates automatically at the end of each day and encourage other employees to always make sure their personal equipment is off.

5. Marketing

Marketing can be incredibly expensive for a small business in a largely competitive field such as telecoms, IT etc. Google Ads are a good way to start getting your services out there but consider using social media first. Social media offers an instant way to get your products in front of your target audience and best of all it's free! Furthermore, you can boost posts at a much smaller cost compared to most search engines. 

6. Switch to a hosted phone system 

Finally, consider moving away from your landline provider and switching to a hosted phone system! Having to maintain a landline can be expensive at best and unreliable at worst meaning you would have to pay large sums to maintain it. A hosted phone system doesn't need an engineer and you can get set up within 24hrs. 

Moreover, with remote work capabilities, you and your team can spend less time at the office saving on rent and commuting. 

Final thoughts

Following the steps outlined above, your small business can start to see improvements in its spending. Of course, these changes may not be seen immediately but steadily changing your daily practices and lead to big improvements in the long run. The money you save can then be re-invested into your business bettering your organisation and services. 

Build a professional front and customer rapport with a cloud phone that's accessible anywhere with 40+ features to enhance customer journeys. To see how a bOnline phone can benefit your business speak to an expert on 0203 697 4166.