Cost Reduction Strategies That Work

Cost Reduction Strategy October 02, 2020

Michelle Jaco

Writer

According to figures recently released by Bloomberg, around eight out of ten small-scale businesses are destined to fail within a period of 18 months. While most entrepreneurs and sales managers tend to focus on increasing overall sales, reducing expenses is equally crucial when trying to increase or maintain profitability.

Many small-scale and large organizations are known to struggle with high operational costs. The issue remains more critical for new businesses that are struggling with bringing more revenue into play in order to balance startup costs and the overall cost of operations. The utilization of an effective cost reduction strategy can help businesses boost productivity as well as profitability at the same time.

When you're running a business organization, there are certain costs that simply cannot be avoided. However, implementation of an effective cost reduction strategy can help in reducing day-to-day operating costs while increasing overall productivity. Cost reduction strategies are also known to deliver additional benefits by getting rid of waste, accelerating business-centric procedures, and utilizing resources more effectively.

Top Strategies for Cost Reduction

Here are some of the ways in which an organization can realize a reduction in overall costs for day-to-day business operations

1. Encourage Remote Working

While many organizations have been either using or adapting to a remote working culture for quite some time, it has become the all-new norm since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. Both small and large-scale companies around the world have started adopting the concept of remote working per lockdown restrictions that have been implemented globally to varying degrees.

In addition to ensuring maximum protection and safety from the outspread of the virus, there are several benefits to encouraging remote working in the organizational structure.

Several organizations have reported that they now prefer hiring remote workers, as it helps them to dramatically reduce overall operating costs on a day-to-day basis. With the implementation of remote working, a company can look forward to reducing additional overhead, as well as costs for extra office space, office furniture, utilities, and office equipment.

These days when an organization needs to expand existing teams in a cost-effective manner, many look to hiring employees remotely before considering on-site workers.

2. Improve Negotiation Skills

Many small businesses are known to incur higher operating costs because their suppliers often charge more for the allocation of raw materials than they charge larger companies.

This can also occur due to an overall lack of trust or communication between the organization and the respective suppliers or clients. Startups often suffer from having to pay a premium for supplies simply because they've not yet cultivated solid relationships with suppliers.

As such, effective negotiation can be indispensable in reducing costs significantly for the organization. One must aim at developing a relationship of trust with suppliers for the long term, but strong negotiating skills can go a long way toward keeping costs down.

3. Reduce Inventory Levels

A large number of businesses are known to spend a majority of their budgets on bringing in huge amounts of inventory in order to secure the better deals (lower prices) on the inventory. While it might appear to be a great idea, this is not always so. It is important to analyze the respective market in-depth to determine as closely as is possible just how much inventory will actually be needed.

This will prevent the organization from buying more than it needs and incurring unnecessary storage costs (which can outstrip the savings gained from volume discounts).

Moreover, experts also recommend that one should not spend capital on inventory that is going to sit idle for a substantial period of time, as this can be impractical and expensive. These days, there are numerous advanced technological solutions that allow businesses to manage their entire inventory intuitively, anticipating short-term demand, and maximizing cost savingswhich brings us to our next cost-saving strategy.

4. Leverage Technology

There is no denying the overall importance of cutting-edge technologies for reducing the overall operating costs. Technology allows businesses to save significantly in ways that were not possible before even ten years ago. In truth, the only thing keeping any organization from exploiting these advances to their benefit is a failure to keep on top of novel technologies.

From the implementation of online payment processes to teleconference services, remote desktop applications, open-source software utilization, and more, there are new utilities coming to market on a frequent basisand many of these have been designed with cost reduction in mind.

5. Implement Online Marketing

If any business out there is still considering diving into the ocean of digital marketing, it is high time that organization committed to doing so. While this still seems like a daunting proposition for some small businesses, many are missing out on the immense opportunities offered by high-paced, top-result, and cost-effective marketing solutions.

Getting into the arena of digital marketing for the first time, an organization can start with a business-centric blog or social media marketing. There are also innumerable innovative ideas for digital advertising available. With effective utilization of the right digital marketing strategies for business, one can look forward to effectively reducing their overall marketing and operating costs.

Creating and Sticking to a Business Budget

Budgeting is known to go hand-in-hand with minimized business costs. This is because it is almost impossible to ensure smart business decisions unless there is a clear idea of the amount that will be coming in and going out of the organization on a monthly basis. If a proper business budget is consulted on a regular basis and observed, it will serve as a powerful tool for reducing overall costs.

Adopting or formulating the right strategies to reduce business costs isn't a one-time proposition. Looking for ways to maximize productivity while minimizing costs has to be an ongoing process, especially when one considers rapidly-advancing technologies. With reduced costs, an organization can then refocus budgeted resources on expanding operations or expanding into new markets.

Since business success relies on operational success, taking a strategic approach to reducing operations should be considered an imperative, rather than just a prudent measure.