1. 減少專屬辦公座位
????私人辦公空間是項(xiàng)花費(fèi)很高的支出,。約翰?德哈特是家庭保健提供商鄰家護(hù)士公司（Nurse Next Door）的聯(lián)合首席執(zhí)行官,。去年，該公司位于溫哥華的總部員工從28人增加到了45人,，但辦公空間卻縮小了,。他們是如何做到的？秘訣在于：他們按照先到先得的原則給員工分配座位,?！熬瓦B我本人也沒(méi)有自己專屬的辦公桌，”德哈特稱,。僅此一項(xiàng),，該公司就節(jié)約了6萬(wàn)美元的租賃費(fèi)以及4萬(wàn)美元的IT基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施成本。
2.加快商品流通
????為什么一定要等產(chǎn)品入庫(kù)后才開(kāi)始著手促銷工作,？總部位于達(dá)拉斯的Driversselect公司的創(chuàng)始人兼總裁史蒂夫?霍爾通過(guò)拍賣(mài)采購(gòu)二手汽車(chē),。一旦拍賣(mài)成交，他馬上就開(kāi)始在自己的網(wǎng)站上兜售這些汽車(chē),，而不是等到這些車(chē)到貨時(shí)才動(dòng)手銷售,。結(jié)果舊車(chē)在其車(chē)庫(kù)中的停留時(shí)間從44天縮短到了36天，每月節(jié)省利息,、保險(xiǎn),、以及庫(kù)存成本1.44萬(wàn)美元,。他還表示，2011年,，該公司的銷售額已近9,100萬(wàn)美元,，簡(jiǎn)直就像“舊車(chē)銷售行業(yè)的Zappos（美國(guó)最大的鞋業(yè)銷售網(wǎng)站——譯注）”。
3.公用事業(yè)收費(fèi)也要討價(jià)還價(jià)
????人們很容易認(rèn)為,，公共事業(yè)費(fèi)用等日常開(kāi)支沒(méi)有討價(jià)還價(jià)的余地,。李?普羅森尼亞克打理著位于丹佛的舞蹈培訓(xùn)機(jī)構(gòu)櫻桃溪舞公司（Cherry Creek Dance），他每個(gè)月都要收到康卡思特公司（Comcast）的電話賬單,，苦不堪言,。于是他要求電話公司降低費(fèi)率，幾分鐘后他的要求就得到了滿足,。對(duì)于多數(shù)其他日常支出,，他也如法炮制。如此一來(lái),，該機(jī)構(gòu)每月的成本支出降低了1,650美元,。2010年，該公司的營(yíng)業(yè)收入達(dá)到了160萬(wàn)美元,?！懊看危覀兌寄芡ㄟ^(guò)協(xié)商,，拿到更劃算的價(jià)格,，”普羅森尼亞克稱。
4.降低借記卡交易手續(xù)費(fèi)
????獸醫(yī)整形外科及運(yùn)動(dòng)醫(yī)學(xué)集團(tuán)（Veterinary Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Group）位于馬里蘭州的安納波利斯章克申,。這家營(yíng)利性診所的創(chuàng)始人之一,、杰森?卡納普變更了公司的交易處理機(jī)構(gòu)，為公司節(jié)省了3萬(wàn)美元,?！敖灰滋幚砥鋵?shí)是我們每天都要用到的服務(wù)項(xiàng)目，”卡納普說(shuō),。這家公司目前的年銷售額為650萬(wàn)美元,。此外，他還要求借記卡用戶在袖珍鍵盤(pán)上手動(dòng)輸入個(gè)人身份號(hào)碼,，而不是直接刷卡,，于是又額外節(jié)省了1%的交易成本。
5.嘗試云服務(wù)
????許多企業(yè)主至今仍然對(duì)托管敏感數(shù)據(jù)心存疑慮,。精華翻譯公司（Choice Translating）在夏洛特市和秘魯?shù)睦R市都設(shè)有辦公機(jī)構(gòu),，該公司正是由于采用了數(shù)據(jù)托管服務(wù)，每年能節(jié)省下3.3萬(wàn)美元的資金。因?yàn)樗麄兙蜔o(wú)需再支持7臺(tái)服務(wù)器和兩個(gè)防火墻,，該公司的聯(lián)合所有者弗農(nóng)?梅納德三世亦無(wú)需再支付每年1.56萬(wàn)美元的IT支持成本,。這家公司節(jié)省的其他開(kāi)支還包括：后臺(tái)支持費(fèi)用降低；電費(fèi)減少,；不再出現(xiàn)因軟硬件問(wèn)題而引起的宕機(jī),，等于延長(zhǎng)了有效工作時(shí)間。
????——Verne Harnish是執(zhí)行教育機(jī)構(gòu)Gazelles公司的首席執(zhí)行官,。
????譯者：大海 |
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1. Ditch assigned seating
????Private offices are an expensive addiction. Ask John DeHart, co-CEO of home health care provider Nurse Next Door. The company reduced office space while expanding from 28 people to 45 at its Vancouver headquarters last year. How? By making all desks available on a first-come, first-served basis. "Even I don't have my own desk," says DeHart. The company saved $60,000 in rent and $40,000 in IT infrastructure costs.
2. Sell faster
????Why wait until products are in stock to promote them? Steve Hall, founder and president of Dallas's Driversselect, peddles the used cars on his website from the moment he purchases them at auction instead of waiting till they're delivered. That cuts the time cars sit in his lots from 44 to 36 days, saving $14,400 a month on interest, insurance, and storage. Sales at the company which he says is like "a Zappos for used cars" are on pace to reach $91 million in 2011.
3. Ask for a better deal
????It's easy to fall into the mindset that routine expenses like utilities are nonnegotiable. Frustrated by the monthly cable bill at Denver's Cherry Creek Dance, Lee Prosenjak asked Comcast for lower rates and got them minutes later. Doing the same with most recurring bills, he reduced monthly costs by $1,650 at the firm, which had more than $1.6 million in revenue for 2010. "We negotiated a better rate every single time," he says.
4. Reduce debit card fees
????Jason Canapp saved $30,000 at Veterinary Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Group in Annapolis Junction, Md., by changing transaction-processing firms. "It really is a commoditized service," says Canapp, a founder of the profitable clinic, with about $6.5 million in annual sales. He took advantage of an offer to shave another 1% off transaction costs by getting debit card users to enter their PINs on a keypad instead of swiping them.
5. Try the cloud
????Many business owners are still uneasy about hosting sensitive data off-site. But it's brought savings of almost $33,000 annually to Choice Translating, which has offices in Charlotte and Lima, Peru. Since getting rid of seven servers and two firewalls, co-owner Vernon Menard III no longer pays $15,600 annually for IT support. Other savings: cheaper backups, lower electric bills, and no downtime caused by hardware and software problems.
????--Verne Harnish is the CEO of Gazelles Inc., an executive education firm. |
