Cost reduction can be challenging, but it is often an inevitable process given the competitiveness of globalized markets. No matter how good a business or product is, no company is immune to crises or periods when demand is not exactly as expected.
To avoid mistakes in this very sensitive moment in business management, in this article we will look at five fatal mistakes in the process of cost reduction.
If the expenses with personnel are suffocating your finances in a moment of crisis, know that the dismissal of part of the staff can be disastrous for your company. In the short term, this attitude generates the discontent of those who stay on and the distrust that they could be next.
Additionally, expenses with severance pay can worsen your company’s finances, creating cascading problems by decreasing production capacity. If the intention is to get out of the crisis, you will need staff ready to work.
And rehiring after realizing that the dismissal was a mistake can significantly increase your costs. According to data from Gallup Consulting, replacing an employee can cost twice as much as keeping him.
In other words, layoffs are generally not a good way to cut costs, and you must analyze this alternative carefully before choosing it.
As sales decline, the first impulse is to cut back on advertising. Don’t give in to this impulse, because marketing is the main responsible for bringing new customers into a business, and you will need them.
Don’t think like your competitors: advertise not only your main products in the search for new customers, but keep your brand always present in the media, showing that your business was either little affected or not yet affected by the bad winds of the financial crisis.
The quality of the coffee served to employees and customers, the quality of the napkins, the plastic cups, and even the toilet paper is probably something that can be reviewed. However, it is not advisable to waste management’s precious time on expenses of minor importance and materiality for the business.
Besides generating great dissatisfaction from employees and customers, this attitude will not bring significant savings, spending management time that could be applied in other more important points.
Cost reduction can be achieved by saving money by not spending at one point, but also by reviewing processes throughout the company. If this has been an old plan, it is time to review all operational spheres.
Call managers and supervisors to discuss what can be reviewed or restructured. Everything can be reviewed from production processes, administrative processes, and even customer service, bringing more quality and less financial expenses to the company. In this scope, it is very important to pay attention to the indirect costs generated by each activity, because these often go unnoticed and can bring valuable opportunities for cost reduction.
If the idea is to try to maintain sales levels and get your brand seen more by your current customers and potential customers, quality has to be maintained. Sometimes small cost reductions will lead to very large decreases in the quality of the final product or service.
Therefore, analyze deeply your production expenses and the possibility of reducing them, because if there is one thing that cannot be changed when the demand for a market decreases, it is the quality of the product or service that you offer.
Cost reduction without Mystery
Cost reduction must be constantly analyzed by managers, and in periods of crisis the need for it becomes more latent. However, it is necessary to evaluate the feasibility and impacts of cost review actions, because they can bring more harm than financial breath to your organization.
Check out 8 tips to reduce costs efficiently!
To ensure that cutting business costs brings positive results, it is essential to have a good understanding of the sources of costs and how they relate to the organization’s activities and revenues. This can be a challenging analysis, so MyABCM is specifically designed to help organizations visualize and control their costs efficiently.
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