Reducing your corporate expenses

Businesses have faced so many economic challenges in recent years: a global pandemic, increased living costs, international conflicts and rising inflation. With the extra pressure on operational costs, it’s important to keep your bottom line healthy. This way, you can continue to trade effectively, thereby also supporting employees and suppliers. Read on for some tips on reducing your corporate expenses to leave you with room to flourish.

Suppliers

Invest in supplier relationship management. Although you may be a customer, you want to make sure your relationship with suppliers is strong enough that they still want to compete for your custom.

Creating this solid relationship puts you in a stronger position when negotiating agreements. If you’ve got a dedicated relationship manager who has done their job properly, you should be able to get discounts on future contracts. Part of this means incentivizing the supplier by offering them a rewarding partnership, so make sure you’re a reliable client.

Travel

Virtual meetings have taken the business world by storm over the pandemic, often reducing the need for larger offices. This, in turn, permits a reduction in rental costs by allowing you to downsize to smaller premises. Still, in-person meetings will always be fundamental to building successful business relationships, both in your team and with external partners. In a survey, only 22% of respondents showed a preference for hybrid meetings.

Although covering individual travel expenses for all employees can quickly add up, encouraging shared transport between colleagues is an excellent way to reduce expenses, pursue a more environmental policy and build the team dynamic.

Flying privately may be the perfect option to treat your staff or business partners while keeping them all together. To get better value on short-notice trips, investigate empty leg options with a high-quality provider for cost-effective luxury.

One of the most effective things you can do is have a clear travel expense policy which stipulates defined limits. Ask that employees don’t go beyond a certain amount on a hotel room without pre-authorization. However, you must be sure this is a realistic price for the different locations they’re likely to visit. You may be able to find a cheaper hotel room in Texas than in New York, for example.

Marketing

There’s no way to sugar-coat it – marketing is expensive. Unfortunately, it’s also crucial to success for most businesses. This does not mean, however, that you need to have the biggest budget possible. If you’re smart with your market research on what your target audience responds to, you should be able to employ a pointed marketing approach so that not a cent is wasted.

Make use of SEO strategies and social media, which are lower cost but have a higher payback in the long term.

Insurance

Brokers are useful for all categories of insurance, as they often have access to the best deals on the market. Make an appointment and go through the details with them.

Take every step to reduce risks in your business and demonstrate that you have a strong health and safety plan which is compliant with federal laws for digital and physical business spaces and processes. Think about pursuing any industry certifications that can bolster your reputation.

By doing this, you’ll make your business more insurable as you’ll be considered lower risk.