Three Quick Tips to Save Your Business Money

As you may already know, we at OverView pride ourselves that we are the bookkeepers who focus on the bottom line. The thing is though — we are so much more than that! We’ve spent years learning about several different industries, and we want to use our experiences to help others. Here you’ll find a few simple, yet effective, ways to quickly save you and your business those hard-earned dollars.

Insurance

You can save money by having the right insurance. How long has it been since you took a good look at your policy? Are you happy with the coverage you’re receiving? How much are you paying for your insurance? When looking at business insurance policies, we like to focus on workers’ compensation. We do this because we can assure that the insurance company that is currently working with you has truly fulfilled their promise to you—the very best deal for your budget without having to sacrifice coverage for you or your employees. We keep them honest by searching for something known as the “deviation credit,” which will be displayed on your policy’s declaration page. If there’s no deviation credit and your modification rating is above or below a “1,” then there’s solid opportunity for improvement. You need someone who’s willing to stand up and fight for you in front of the infamous underwriter, which we’re happy to do.

Energy

If your business uses natural gas, you can save on what you are being charged for your consumption. If you look at the contract you have with your energy supply company, there’s this little thing called a “swing commodity charge.” If you see those three words on your contract, it means the company analyzed your energy usage in previous years. They found your historical use, and now you are obligated to consume a specific amount of energy. If you consume more than the listed amount or even if you consume less, you will be penalized. If you consume less energy than that listed amount, that penalty appears as a credit on your invoice. And hardly anyone ever questions a credit on their bill. If you are being penalized for going under or over your energy consumption, take a look at the contract you have with your current energy supply company. This can be negotiated.

Credit Card Processing

You can save money for your business on credit card processing. Imagine saving money with every swipe of a credit card! All you need to do is Google “interchange rates” for the credit cards you have, like Visa and Mastercard. Those interchange rates are the costs that the credit card companies require for each transaction. That is their cost of doing business. Now, check your bill from your credit card processing company to see how much you are paying for each transaction. Anything that is above the interchange rate listed by the credit card company is the profit going directly to the processing company. You can negotiate with the company on this. A trick of the trade is to require any price proposals you receive as interchange plus pricing.

Bottom Line

We hope these tips are helpful to you, and if you have any questions about how to negotiate in these areas, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. OverView is always happy to help and eager to serve.

Improve Your Own Bottom Line

Schedule a 15-minute call with Ben to discover how you can realize savings on business insurance, energy costs, credit card processing, and many other business expenses.