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Management

Article by Ed Arvidson
Add $1,000 or More to Your Business’s

bottom Line in 30 Days! Part

2

Reducing Other Expenses and worse yet, feeding them to their friends and family as well?
There are probably dozens of other areas within your Make sure you have a set policy for employee consumption,
operation where you might be able to reduce expenses if you and that they understand that giving product away to their
think about it. Here are a few you might consider: friends and family, without your permission, is forbidden.
• Bank Charges and Credit Card Fees: If a large percentage of
• Utilities: Are your heat, air conditioning, and lights on timers your sales are being paid for with credit cards, then the fees as-
so they shut off or go into econo mode when you’re not open? sociated with processing those transactions can be significant.
Would drapes, blinds, or reflective film help lower you heating Shop banks for the best credit card rates.
and A.C. costs?
• Laundry: Could you eliminate your laundry service for towels, Ask for a rent reduction
and instead install a stacking washer/dryer in your store, or If your landlord hasn’t offered to lower you rent during
take them home to be washed? this recession, you should ask them to do so. The economic situ-
• Janitorial: If you are using a janitorial service, could you reduce ation over the last two years has caused thousands of businesses
the cost if they cleaned less nights a week, and your employees to fail. As a result, almost any shopping center you visit today will
did the cleaning on those nights instead? Would it be cheaper have spaces available for lease. Worse yet, because money is still
to eliminate your janitorial service all together, and hire a mini- extremely tight, many who would like to start a business cannot
mum wage employee to do the janitorial work? find any financing. This means that commercial property owners
• Trash Disposal: Does you garbage company offer free recy- are facing challenges in finding tenants to replace the ones who
cling, and if so, are you taking advantage of it? (You can probably have left. Cutting your rent will probably be a more agreeable
cut down on the number of weekly trash pick-ups if you get all the proposition to your landlord, than having you shut your doors,
recyclables out of your garbage.) creating yet another vacancy for them to fill.
• Phone/Cable: Are your employees making personal phone I know that approaching your landlord on this subject
calls from your business phone? – if so, implement a no per- might seem a bit intimidating, but what do you have to loose? The
sonal phone call policy. Do you really need a hard-line phone, worst thing that can happen is they will say no! But, there is also
or can you do everything from your cell; if so, eliminated your a very good chance they might say yes. Make an appointment to
hard-line service. have a meeting with your landlord, and say something like the
• Employee Meals: Are your employees eating up your profits, following:
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