Where Is Your Money Going (Part 2)

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In “Where Is Your Money Going (Part 1)”, I touched on three of the most common areas where small businesses throw away money. In Part 2, I will give a brief overview of three of the more unknown areas in which small businesses throw away money.

Service/Software Installation

When you begin using a new software or online service, the company you hire will typically provide onsite or remote assistance to get you up and running with their product. However, when this new service has replaced an old service, the new support team will not help you deactivate or unsubscribe from your previous service. 
Many small businesses get caught up with with the transition and onboarding process (and a million other things), and forget about their previous expense. Unless this is a large monthly expense, it frequently goes unnoticed.

Service Subscriptions: Multiple Purchasers

This is probably the sneakiest way money disappears, because it’s looks like a completely legitimate expense. Thankfully, it’s not too common. In small businesses with multiple departments, there are multiple people responsible for purchasing. Occasionally department needs overlap. When this happens, you end up paying for two subscriptions.
You will likely notice multiple subscriptions, but when your department head says there is only one subscription allowed per user, the conversation ends. However, most online service providers offer the ability to share an account at a discounted rate. Some even allow the ability to segment an account at no additional charge. If this information isn’t readily available, you may have to do a little research - that could save you a lot of money every month.

Lack of Integrations

This isn’t as much about throwing money away as it is about missing an opportunity to save a lot of time. In recent years, online integration services like Automate.io, Zapier, or PieSync have popped up. These services allow you to connect online services and programs, thereby streamlining your processes and procedures. 
For example, you can connect your Customer Relationship Management service to your online bookkeeping software. When you turn that lead into a customer, your customer’s information is already in your bookkeeping software and ready to invoice. You don’t need to spend time with manual entry.
Note: I always recommend checking if your online service provides built-in integrations first. It will be more reliable and usually cheaper than using a third party service. You will also get better support if something goes wrong with the integration.

Summary

As your business grows and evolves, your needs will change. Once or twice a year you should closely examine your spending. This self-evaluation will also give you a moment to see if the rapidly expanding tech industry has created a new product that may be cheaper or provide better features for your business. 
Here are a few questions to help you evaluate your current situation: 
  1. Does this software or service still meet my needs?
  2. Am I paying for any other services that might have similar features?
  3. Have the employees using this service or software received proper training?
  4. Is there a cheaper or free option available?


Is your business operating efficiently? Take our free online evaluation to find out!


Micah is an entrepreneur and spreadsheet enthusiast.

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