How Do Businesses Survive & Thrive During a Cost-of-Living Crisis?

The reality is during a cost-of-living crisis, households will start to prioritise where they spend money and things like dining out, clothes, shoes, and fun activities may become their last priority.

As business owners, even if you don’t feel you will be affected, you should look at your business and say what changes do we need to make to minimise the negative affect on our business and our staff.

Here are some ideas:

Focus on Cashflow – Ensure you have a rolling cashflow that you are predicting out 12 months so you can predict the good, the bad and the ugly. This will help you make good decisions around wages and expenses, price increases etc.
Take Control of Your Labour Costs – Ensure you are not overspending on staffing, especially if labour costs are one of your biggest expenses. Ensure you have the right technology that tells you from day to day if you are running at the right staffing level.
Automate, Automate, Automate – Look at the areas of your business that you can automate to drive efficiency, transparency and reduce operational and labour costs.
Increase Prices/Add Value – The reality is that businesses have no choice but to increase their prices. Our own suppliers drive this along with wages going up every year. We ourselves have seen dramatic increases in things like insurance, rent etc. But, you could look at how you can add value at the same time to lessen the blow.
Review Operational Expenses – Look at all key areas and see where you can get sharper prices, OR MAYBE, it is an expense you no longer need. But remember, cut the fat…not the muscle. Often people stop advertising or seeing their business consultant, however, that should only be done if the advertising or business advice isn’t working etc. Ensure you don’t cut what is working and helping you and your business.
Look After Your Staff – Ideally, we want to pay all our staff amazing wages, however, sometimes that is not the reality, especially when your business could be hurting. You could look at things like offering flexibility, working from home, perks, rewards, additional leave, great company culture etc. If you can’t offer more money, ensure they understand the ‘why’ and look at what additional you could offer them instead. Money certainly is important, but it is not always about money. Talk to your staff and find out what is important to them and what motivates them.

We made a video back in 2020 when businesses were feeling the effects of Covid and lockdowns. Some of that is still applicable with a cost-of-living crisis – check it out here.

If you want any help on the above, please give either Lisa or Kelly a call. Lisa 928 4277 and Kelly 928 4066 or email info@sass.nz.