No matter how well organized a business is, it will run into its fair share of problems over the course of its lifetime. Solving these problems as they arise is what separates a good business from a truly great one. The more problems that can be solved, the more profitable and efficient a company will become. Here are four ways for companies of any size to solve some common business problems and save money by doing so.
Outsource Peripheral Tasks
When a small business starts out, the owner and a few core team members will almost certainly handle all business tasks. As time goes on, however, the demands on this small cadre of people will often grow too large for this model to remain sustainable. When this happens in your business, it’s time to consider outsourcing some of the day-to-day office tasks that you and your staff have been doing. Areas like accounting, inventory and other logistical tasks can easily be outsourced to professional service companies to save money on labor and free up your staff. Core business tasks, however, should remain internal.
Hire More Employees
Hiring more people may seem an unusual solution because of the costs involved, but in the long run it can make your business far more profitable by enabling it to save on overtime pay while accomplishing more work. Consider, for example, the case of a private hospital. Though the hospital will pay higher labor costs on nursing staff if it hires additional nurse practitioners, it will be able to serve more patients more quickly, thus increasing its profitability and overall service quality. This example also introduces another aspect of labor costs, which is the comparative advantage between different types of employees. Nurse practitioners can perform an estimated 80 to 90 percent of the medical care tasks that would otherwise be performed by physicians at substantially lower costs. As a result, hiring nurse practitioners can save hospitals significant amounts of money on salaries.
Draw on Multiple Types of Expertise
Though you will gain business savvy over time, there is always something to be learned from other quarters. Be sure to draw on the expertise of your staff and to reach out for additional help when you need it. For example, if one of your employees holds a masters degree in public administration, he or she could likely apply knowledge gained in college or work to streamlining your paperwork and human resources processes. Similarly, someone with a masters in electrical engineering will be able to think through technical problems in a way you may not have thought of yourself. When you draw on expertise from many sources, you’re sure to come up with the best and most innovative solutions for any given problem.
Invest in Content Marketing
Pay per click marketing campaigns can be costly, especially if they run for weeks or months at a time. A piece of content, on the other hand, requires a one-time investment to produce, after which it can be used to generate a continuous and largely passive stream of traffic to your website. By creating articles and videos, your brand can put itself out there while saving an immense amount of money on advertising.
Of course, problem solving in any business will be unique to your business model and your company. By employing these basic concepts, however, you can generate solutions for many of the most common business problems while saving money in the process.
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