Fixed Business Expenses
Getting a start-up or small business off the ground is no easy task, and smaller firms have many fixed business expenses to deal with. In a recent USA Today article, contributor Rhonda Abrams shared strategies for negotiating fixed business expenses.
“While you’re running a business, you have fixed expenses that you routinely pay monthly,” Abrams wrote. “Perhaps you wince when you write the check or pay the credit card bill, thinking, ‘This just seems too high.’ But you’re busy – with customers, employees – doing the things that make you money. Taking a frustrating hour out of the work day to spend negotiating with your Internet provider, even if it’s your office manager’s time, just doesn’t seem worth it. But these bills add up.”
SMBs in particular can struggle to manage fixed business expenses as their budgets and resources are likely not as cushioned as those of their larger competitors. Small and home-based businesses often need to cut out luxury services due to hefty pricing. However, AccessDirect’s communication offerings like its virtual business phone system can provide an excellent solution for reducing different types of fixed expenses while still providing top quality services.
Benefits of Negotiating Fixed Expenses
As Abrams noted, it is likely that in the time since a company was first started, a number of less-expensive options were introduced. SMBs are able to negotiate and reduce fixed costs by making the transition from legacy service provides toward innovative and more affordable options.
“Moreover, since you first set up your company, a raft of new, less-expensive options probably have been introduced, especially for business services that are cloud based or provided over the Internet,” Abrams wrote. “For example, you can get your entire small-business phone service from a cloud-based Voice over Internet Protocol provider, save money and ditch a traditional phone company. Of course, you’re not going to make a switch on something as important as your phone system in just half a day, but spring is a good time to look at all of your fixed expenses – what some business people refer to as their ‘nut’ – and dedicate time to lower them.”
Small Business Services
Pursuing new phone services can have a major impact on a small business’s finances and help them grow. Writing for Business 2 Community, contributor Dunya Carter shared a variety of ways that SMBs can reduce operational costs, and one of her top suggestions was to implement alternate technology. For example, VoIP is a way to reduce business costs, as the range of VoIP options and business services all cost significantly less than traditional phone lines. In addition, providers like AccessDirect make switching to VoIP systems easy with its hosted PBX option, which requires no additional equipment or installation costs.
Carter noted that another major way to slash operational costs is to reduce printing. With business services like fax to email, AccessDirect service users can receive all faxes directly to their inboxes, which eliminates the need for a traditional fax machine. By replacing the legacy fax with virtual options, businesses will be able to email more and print less, adding up to substantial savings on your fixed business expenses.
