Reduce costs in your home cleaning business

30 Ways to Reduce Costs in Your Home Cleaning Business

Reduce your business costs for your home cleaning business

There are other ways to cushion that bottom line besides new customers and sales. One of the fastest ways to quickly increase profits is to take a hard look at where you can lower your business expenses

We have collected a list of 30 things you can do to reduce your costs, thereby increasing profits; to not only survive, but thrive in your cleaning business:

1. Provide ongoing training that covers specific methods for increasing productivity. The more efficient your cleaning technicians are, the more money that goes directly to the bottom line.
2. Renegotiate credit card processing fees.
3. Review insurance coverage yearly (auto, liability, worker's comp, medical, etc.).
4. Change cell phone plans for a lower monthly cost.
5. Change Internet plans for a lower monthly cost, or bundle with other services.
6. Review any monthly maintenance agreements you're paying for. Are they really necessary?
7. If you're doing your own payroll, research the cost of outsourcing. Often times, hiring a professional service will not only save money in the long run, it might keep you out of hot water when you make a mistake.
8. Hire a part time bookkeeper for daily entries instead of paying a higher priced CPA to do your books.
9. If your office space will work for you for the next several years, ask for a longer-term lease for a lower price.
10. Look at the bank fees you're paying and renegotiate or change plans to avoid monthly fees. If you have a savings account that requires a minimum balance, make sure you're maintaining that balance.
11. Apply for a gas card that offers discounts for use. Many give 5 cents off per gallon just for using their card.
12. Lay out the travel routes to customers' homes for your employees to make sure they're using their time and gas efficiently.
13. Reduce gas usage by reducing the number of times you "run errands" like going to the bank and buying supplies. Consider ordering supplies online for delivery instead of driving to the office supply store.
14. Recycle ink cartridges. Most office supply stores give credit back.
15. Join rewards programs for office supply stores and only buy supplies when you can apply a cash reward and/or discount.
16. Review any fees paid for recruiting employees. If you're paying fees and not getting results, drop that service.
17. Start documenting under-performing supervisors, managers, and employees. Make plans to either help them improve or get rid of them.
18. Develop efficient cleaning routes for each of your customer's homes in order to maximize performance and productivity.
19. Re-evaluate expensive marketing payments such as a $500 per month fee for SEO or social media marketing. Track the ROI on these types of expenses.
20. Pay off credit cards to avoid high interest rates or switch to a lower-interest card.
21. Use credit cards that have cash back or rewards programs. Accumulate points and use them for office supply gift cards.
22. If you use direct mail and belong to your local Chamber of Commerce, see if you can use their bulk mail rate.
23. Reduce paper usage by billing clients electronically instead of printing invoices and receipts. Also, instead of throwing away used paper, save it and print on the back side when appropriate.
24. Create an energy saving policy in your office. For example, turn off lights when not using an office, switch to energy efficient light bulbs, turn off computers at the end of the day, etc.
25. Buy refurbished equipment and used office furniture.
26. Maintain your own website yourself instead of paying a high fee for a webmaster.
27. Look into bartering.
28. Clean your email newsletter list. Most email services charge by the number of emails. You may be able to clean your list to reduce your cost.
29. Stop paying retail prices for greeting cards to send clients and employees. Sign up for a personalized service like SendOutCards.com.
30. Analyze your books every month to see where the money is going. There are sure to be lots of places you can trim the fat!

As a pre-caution, never slash costs indiscriminately. Do some research and make sure any reductions you make or steps you take don't adversely affect employees, customers or operating efficiencies. Reducing certain costs is a necessary part of smart business management and can be the fastest way to bump up your profitability.

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