Four Ways To Keep Costs Low In An SME

As the Southeast Asian market expands and matures, business opportunities in the region will experience a period of sustained growth. Data from the Singapore Economic Board (SEB) supports this finding, demonstrating that the number of new businesses emerging in the Southeast Asian region has grown year-on-year, suggesting that people around the region are aware of this trend and are beginning to kick-start new businesses in the region. Coupled with the plethora of funding available to support the spirit of entrepreneurship in the region, this is indeed the time to launch a new business in Southeast Asia.

Despite the possible influx of investment, keeping costs lean is still a primary objective for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to sustain operations in a competitive business landscape like ours. How can employers and business owners manufacture success, while skillfully keeping costs low at the same time? Here are four ways to reduce short-term spending when pursuing long-term success.

1. Hire Smart

In other words, find the right talent for the right job. This keeps costs low as it reduces unnecessary spending – be it man-hours spent training the wrong person or undertaking a second expensive recruitment drive to replace a miscalculated hire.

It’s all about finding the right personality type for the position available to ensure that both employer and employee stand to benefit from the partnership. One way to do this would be to integrate psychological or psychometric evaluations during the interview process to take a peek into the candidate’s psyche. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, meaning that a candidate that does not suit the requirements for a particular role could be an excellent fit for future expansion in another team.

2. Establishing Relationships With Partners

There is a multitude of advantages from forging strong relationships with business partners. Not only does this result in smoother business dealings and discussions, it also creates opportunities for mutually beneficial agreements to be made with ease. However, as per all other personal relationships, strong bonds can only be built on a foundation of honesty and trust. It is crucial for business partners to remain transparent with each other in order to be able to build a strong foundation, which could lead to greater sustained success for both parties.

3. Separate The Wheat From The Chaff

This is especially crucial for SMEs, given the often-limited resources available on hand. In other words, employers should identify underperformers in a team and repurpose them to better live up to their potential and contribute to the organisation in more effective ways. By identifying and reassigning people early, the organisation saves costs from lost opportunities and reaps greater rewards from the same pool of employees. Furthermore, this approach improves team morale and staff welfare ratings, leading to a happier, more productive team in the long run.

4. Future-proofing Your Organisation

As with all businesses, there are definitely risks involved in every business venture. To better focus on developing and strengthening your business, having your public property, personal accident and public liability taken care of frees up more time for you to channel more energy into building your business, with all of these worries covered and taken care of. Asuransi Bisnis Tokio Marine enables you to have a peace of mind against unforeseen circumstances with a wide range of packages tailored to different industries and business types to best suit your needs at affordable prices.

With the spirit of entrepreneurship thick around us, here’s to a year of taking a leap of faith and opportunities. Cheers.