5 Routine Checkups Your Business Needs

Like life, your business always has a list of crucial, but painfully boring tasks that need to be routinely checked up on. Not doing so could mean a loss of money and right now, none of us can afford to let it leak out in small, seemingly insignificant ways. If your business is slow and you are trying to use this time wisely, keep your business healthy by doing a check up on these things:1. Review your commercial insurance policy. Your property, liability and errors and omissions insurance should be reviewed routinely. You might be carrying more coverage than necessary, or you might need to be carrying more. If you haven't reviewed this in the last several years, contact an independent insurance agent for a review of your policy and have them shop it to several different carriers for the best price.2. Review your health and other benefits policy. If you offer health care and other insurance benefits to employees, now is a great time to see if you can get a better deal. You may, in fact, be able to offer better coverage for a lower price if you haven't priced this in awhile.3. Get an energy audit of your building. Your utility bill is an easy item to attempt to save some money on. Whether you own or rent, contact your local energy company to see what they charge for an audit. If you rent, but still pay utilities, ask the building's owner to cover this. If they hesitate, offer to split it. Be sure to make the changes the energy audit suggests, many of which are extremely inexpensive like replacing furnace filters, switching bulbs to compact flourescents and installing a programmable thermostat.4. Review your shipping costs. If you are a business who ships a large amount of inventory, you should routinely compare costs on a few sample shipments through several carriers. Even if this cost gets billed back to the customer in some way, it warrants a periodic review for the best price for them and/or for you.5. Reviewing your office supply expenses. The big box stores are not always your best deal. Check prices on the items you use most frequently, both online and at your locally owned store and see if you can negotiate a better deal, even if it is just on delivery costs. by Steven Schlagel