Prices are rising. We can see it in our weekly shops and utility bills. While not everyone can agree on exactly why this has happened, we can be sure of one thing – it’s happening. I’ve put together 5 key ways your business can survive rising costs.

1. Review your current expenses

Both in our personal lives and in businesses, we too often sign up to memberships and subscriptions we don’t end up using. This is a good time to review all the expenses coming out of your month each month. If you don’t know what a lot of them are, it’s likely you’re paying for a lot of things you aren’t using.

Keeping a spreadsheet of your monthly expenses and bills is essential to running a cost-effective business. Every organisation is different, so find the system that works best for you. Just make sure you’ve got a bird’s eye view of all your monthly bills.

Some areas to look at include:

  • Memberships and subscriptions
  • Advertising and marketing (e.g. do you know how much you’re spending on social media ads each month?)
  • Utilities and operations (what softwares have you signed up for that you don’t use, or are there cheaper alternatives that suit you better?)
  • Suppliers (can your supplier give you a better offer, or is there someone who is cheaper and gives you identical services and goods?)

2. Look after current clients

Bringing on new clients costs time and money. It’s an expensive process. During periods of high-inflation or recession, keeping your current clients is more important than bringing on new clients.

Consider the following:

  • What’s something that’s been sitting on your to-do shelf for your client that they would appreciate being actioned?
  • Are your communications and processes with your clients organised and succinct through a system of processes, or are they confused and disorganised?
  • Do you show your clients the value you are bringing through a monthly report or appropriate updates?

3. Consider new ways of creating leads

This is a good time to review your marketing strategies. Every organisation is different. Review what results your social media is creating, how your email marketing is doing, and where your lead magnets are coming from. Where can improvements be made and where should your focus be?

Also, do you have a referral offer in place or would this be a good time to implement one?

4. Review your business plan

How well is your business doing what you set out for it to do? If you sell a range of products, are there a key ones which are significantly more popular than the rest? If so, would it be worth only offering those products instead of all your current ones?

Also, consider your overall business operations. Streamlining processes that need to be done manually and take up a lot of time is a speedy way to start saving time and money. For example, how are your day-to-day business finances managed? Are you manually keeping track of everything or would a system like Quickbooks or Xero help you be more efficient?

5. Look after your staff

Similarly to bringing on new clients, hiring new staff to replace those who have left is time consuming and expensive. Plus, your new staff will need time to adjust to their new role and may require training. 

Keeping your current staff happy and making sure they have everything they need to do their jobs is the best thing you can do for your business.