5 Ways to Save Money in Your Business

Small business owners need to make sure they run tight ships. Spending less can help weather slowing cash flow; cutting expenses can help realise more profit. The following are tips for saving money - share them with key members of your team. It's not just enough for the owner to be aware of spending - others on the team who are closer to day-to-day expenditures may also spot money-saving opportunities.

Ask the People You Know for Help.

The kind of support you'd most like to get from your contacts is referrals-the names of specific individuals who need your products and services. So go ahead and ask! Your contacts can also give prospects your name and number. As the number of referrals you receive increases, so does your potential for increasing the percentage of your business generated through referrals.

Take it To the Cloud.

If you have in-house servers, you know they can be costly to maintain and update. Not to mention the fact that if you have a sudden surge in traffic or activity, it can be difficult to ramp up to accommodate the influx, short of buying more servers. Just like with freelancers, cloud servers and storage let you pay for what you need, and they allow you to ramp up or down as your business needs change. Cloud software eliminates the need to have staff update software, install patches and keep it operating--this can reduce staff costs. You also can eliminate hefty up-front license fees, replacing them with lower monthly costs. Just be sure to tally up a year's worth of monthly costs, to make sure you truly are saving money. A comparison of annual or multi-year costs, fully loaded with staff costs, lets you compare apples to apples.

Get Free Software.

Visit Download.com to try hundreds of software products for free through trial downloads, freeware and limited versions of the full product. Download.com also has a plethora of free downloads in categories like security, development and networking, so check there first before forking over cash unnecessarily. Another tip: If you haven't found what you're looking for through Download.com, check out the manufacturer's site. Most offer free trial downloads.

Hire Freelancers.

If your business is growing, but you don't feel certain enough to hire full time staff, consider a freelancer, contractor or third party agency. This way, you only pay for the work you need done, and you don't have the headache of benefits, raises and sick days. And if you need to ratchet costs down again, you can easily do that without the emotional trauma of laying off employees. Hiring freelancers works particularly well for professional roles: software developers, Web designers, copywriters, PR professionals, consultants, administrative professionals and the like. You will typically pay a higher hourly rate for a contractor versus an employee. But in exchange you may get a more experienced worker who accomplishes more in an hour's time and needs less daily supervision. Remember, there's a cost for management and training time, too.

Query Your Consultants.

The professionals you work with regularly are often easy to bargain with, thanks to the rapport you've developed with them. Ask your insurance agent, accountant or attorney how you can cut back on their costs. You'd be surprised at the suggestions they might offer on ways to cut your premiums, reduce billable hours or avoid huge retainers. You might also barter your services.

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