Survival Tips For Small Businesses

When economic times are tough it can be a struggle for businesses of all sizes to survive. However, small businesses could actually be in better position to ride out rough patches and survive a recession, thanks to their low overheads and smaller workforces. While there are many small businesses who have fallen at the wayside thanks to shrinking profit margins, others have managed to flourish thanks to their flexibility and money saving efforts. By making sure your small business is agile and able to quickly bend to meet customer needs, you could find yourself in a strong position to weather out stormy financial times.

While downsizing may be the last thing you want to do, you may find it a necessary step when the landscape is rough. If you don't want to let go of any of your staff, you could consider asking if any would be willing to cut their weekly hours for a set period of time. On the other hand, if you are already a very small business you could consider changing your premises, perhaps even choosing to run your business from your own home, and thereby saving a lot of money on your overheads.

Other areas you can consider costs saving efforts in include taking a look at your opening hours, is it possible for you to reduce the amount of time your premises or office stays open without impacting your service? You could also offer your customers incentives for paying early. This works best for service industries but can also be useful in retail, and it will help you keep your money fluid. Leasing equipment rather than paying for it outright is another possibility for helping struggling businesses in the short term, although this is likely to become more expensive than buying after a certain amount of time.

If you can help it, try to avoid cutting advertising or promotional items from your budget. While these can be expensive exercises and ones you may thing you can do without in a bad patch, the very opposite is true. You need to speculate to accumulate, and if you slash your advertising budget you are effectively cutting your chances of attracting customers. Make this one area that you do your best to maintain, if you want to have a strong springboard still in place when the economy improves.

One of the best ways to cut your overhead is to look for ways to minimise your communication spend. This can include everything from reducing the number of man hours it takes for you to send out emails or mail shots to your customers to minimising the amount you are spending on your phone bills. Sourcing things such as cheap international calls and low line rentals can help you make big savings in your budget. Let the small size of your business work to your advantage, by utilising your unique abilities as a compact and flexible entity.