In today’s economy, businesses are competing fiercely for business. In order to have an edge over the competition, most often you cut into the margin of profits in order to bring down the price of the goods or services you offer. Why not cut down on your expenses in order to slash your prices.

There are many ways to lower your expenses. They may not seem obvious at first, but with a little bit of effort you will find little ways to cut back. For instance, if you are like most business owners, you probably depend on your bank for your business checks. However, did you know that it is substantially lower to order your business checks online? You will also find ordering your checks online much more convenient, as you can order the checks straight from your desk and many online check providers can ship out your checks the same day you ordered it.

Another change to make is increasing your use of email over regular mail. You can pay so many bills online, saving you time and the cost of postage. The cost of stamps is constantly rising; why not take advantage of unlimited emails. Many of your clients will be happy to accept invoices via email. The faster they receive their invoice the quicker you receive your payment.

How about your water cooler? You offer your employees free spring water but need it be Poland Spring or another top name brand? You may be able to find a local water supplier that can offer you generic brand water for a savings. You can also find a local vendor that can provide you with coffee, sugar, paper goods and other necessary items at lower prices than many others.

Also try to eliminate some of your traveling. It is now increasingly popular to conduct meeting via WebEx and Skype, in place of face to face meetings. This is an easy, professional and productive way to conduct meetings and presentations. You can reduce the cost associated with travel such as gas, flights, hotels and the like. The saving that this will bring will be tremendous. You will also eliminate the time wasted on travel, thereby increasing productivity.

If you are in the need of new office equipment, be it software or hardware, very often you can buy used equipment for substantial savings. With the ever changing technology, people are constantly upgrading and getting rid of their equipment fairly quickly. Their equipment that they are giving up may be perfectly sufficient for you and will be a fraction of the cost of buying it new.

With all these items listed you are not cutting back on services offered. You are usually increasing your productivity while cutting the costs. The customer will not notice the changes only you will notice the savings and more profits in your wallet. It is with items like these that may seem like small saving that will help your business out in the bigger picture.

Tony Cain is a business consultant for TechChecks. He has brought many new and innovate ideas to business checks. He has a vast knowledge of business matters and has authored many articles on helping companies succeed in their business.