No matter what condition the economy is in, cutting costs for your small business is a major move towards increasing profits. Since profit is that amount between what it costs to run your business and what you net, it stands to reason that cutting costs is one way of increasing profitability. While everyone knows that you can keep lights dimmed, adjust climate control temperatures and do things like going paperless to cut costs, there are other innovative ways to save money that you may not have thought of.

Periodic Audits to Ensure Efficiency

While most businesses will conduct inventory audits regularly, there are other audits you should be aware of to ensure efficiency which generally equates to saving money. Many small businesses have begun conducting such things as energy audits, payroll audits and even financial audits. Many utility companies offer either a free or very low cost energy audit to help businesses make better use of their resources. A huge amount of energy is wasted and turning off the lights or adjusting temperature controls are a very small part of it.

Cutting Back on Mobile Service Plans

Here is one that many small business owners aren’t aware of and if they are, they may believe that it is not possible to change from one service provider to another once you purchased your phones through them. Big companies such as AT&T and Verizon are trying to be competitive in their pricing but there are other cell phone carriers that are a lot less expensive. Also, many of the large companies will push the latest iPhone technology which is more expensive than Samsung, for example, and so they lock themselves into a costly package for their mobile workforce.

If you’ve opted for a plan with the latest Samsung technology that is competitive with iPhones, even though a different operating system, you could always switch providers when your contract runs out. Instead of renewing at a higher cost, you can unlock Samsung phones with codes purchased cheaply at sites like UnlockBase and then be on a plan that is significantly cheaper than the one you are on. The best part is, you won’t need to pay a service charge once you’ve purchased the codes because you get the instructions to do it yourself and then when the phone is unlocked you can switch to the provider of your choice.

Take a Closer Look at Payroll

Also, there are times when you are simply overstaffed. Most small business owners don’t take the time to really analyze scheduling to ascertain whether the number of people on the floor are absolutely necessary. By tracking patterns, it is easy to adjust seasonal schedules, for example, to reduce payroll when fewer employees are needed without laying any off.

There are numerous ways to cut costs if you take the time to analyze where your greatest expenditures are. It may mean hiring a CPA to do the financial analysis, but at the end of the day, tracking overpayments and inefficient processes can help increase your bottom line and that is what being in business is all about – profit. If you are looking to increase your profit margin, cutting costs should be your first move. After that, everything else will fall into place.