In order for your business to save, it must obey the simple, yet profound principle of spending less than it makes. Large expenditures or one time costs must be analyzed and justified. All incoming bids and pricing must be compared. All expenditures should be negotiated and renegotiated with vendors when possible. In other words, don’t bite on their first estimate or offer.

The longer a company has been in business, the more things need to be analyzed because the accumulating costs of doing business rarely get reevaluated.

Here are some smaller costs that often go overlooked when it comes to expenditures and lowering your overhead:

1. Cell phone plans, features, and minutes
2. Delivery charges
3. Shipping costs
4. Office supplies
5. Printing costs
6. Internet services
7. Computer repairs and support
8. Break room supplies
9. Add on charges for phone service

Now please keep in mind, that what we do not want to develop is a penny pincher mentality, which differs from the penny saver approach. The penny saver retains customer service and product quality whereas the penny pincher will sacrifice value and customer experience in order to save money. The penny saver is not cheap nor a scrounger. The penny pincher will cut costs with little consideration to the future outcome. The idea here is not to constantly change suppliers in an effort to save a couple of dollars.

So when you are making budget decisions, take a long look at how the additional savings will actually benefit the company and also consider if it will hurt the company in any way. Refuse to compromise your service and quality. The savings just are not worth it.