SmallBusinessNewz

This just in: small businesses are feeling pressure from the economy and are looking for ways to save money. Just kidding. Everyone knows this by now, but new data from a study conducted by the U.S. Federation of Small Business and DYMO shows just what these businesses are doing to cut costs:

- 23% of respondents have cut staff

- 36% of respondents have decreased business travel

- 36% of respondents have minimized marketing efforts

- 29% of respondents have put a freeze on bonuses and raises

Ouch. These are not things that any small business wants to do.

Cutting staff?

It's one thing for a large corporation to cut staff, but the smaller the business, the more impact cutting staff is likely to have on the business itself. If you have 15 employees and have to get rid of 5 of them, you're looking at losing a third of your workforce, and along with that, a third of your business's productivity (provided that these employees were indeed productive and not total slackers). Interestingly enough, productivity is one of the main things businesses are looking to increase.

Decreasing Business Travel?

I can actually see this as a reasonable way to save some dough. Some business trips are unavoidable and are of the utmost importance to your business. You don't want to sacrifice these, but how many of your trips can be forfeited in favor of other forms of communication? Networking has gotten easier online in recent years with social media. Web conferencing may suit some scenarios as well, whether that be in the form of text communication, audio, or video conferencing. 

Minmizing Marketing Efforts?

I can't say that I condone this action. To me, it seems that marketing has never been more important for the survival of a business. For one, if you are not marketing, people might forget about you, or even assume that your business in trouble because they have not heard from you lately. Marketing shows potential customers that you are still there for them even in these rocky times. Secondly, you have to drive people to your business. How else do you intend to attract customers?

Freezing Bonuses and Raises?

If it's unavoidable, it's unavoidable, but this is another area that I would suggest steering clear of if you want to keep your most valuable employees. If employees feel like they're not going to be able to get ahead and make the money that they could be, they're not liable to stick around very long. Losing key employees can really put the strain on a business, and such a freeze could very well put you at risk of losing more than just one.

"Well, something's got to give," you might say. "I don't want to do any of these things, but what else am I supposed to do? I'm going broke over here."

Like I said, sometimes these things are unavoidable, and if you really feel that these are your only option, then you gotta do what you gotta do. But there are other ways your business can save money that you might consider trying before taking such drastic measures as cutting your staff, minimizing your marketing efforts, freezing raises, etc.

Rather than create a huge list of tips here, I'll direct you to the one I talked about the other day. InsideCRM has a huge list of 78 money saving tips for small businesses, and if you use a combination of some of these, you may find more money in your business's proverbial pockets, and eliminate the need to cut expenses where it is more likely to have a negative impact on your business.