Businesses of all sizes are seeing rising costs for everything from raw ingredients to labor. Inflation influences business decisions, from hiring to spending and other planning decisions. Rising inflation creates significant difficulties for small and medium-sized businesses, which often don’t have the capital to absorb the higher costs. Inflation-fighting strategies for your business affect the bottom line, which often doesn’t have the capital to absorb the higher costs. U.S. inflation is at a 40-year high, and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from May 2021 to May 2022, the Consumer Price Index increased 8.6 percent. That represents the most significant 12-month increase since the period ending December 1981.
While inflation increases are beyond the control of business owners, there are inflation-fighting strategies for your business that you can implement. Print businesses need partners to help them build resiliency and embrace new working methods. DFS can help business leaders navigate their companies through the 2022′s inflationary environment and help customers see them as solution providers.
How can small businesses deal with inflation?
Business leaders can implement three inflation-fighting strategies to deal with inflation: providing value for customers, focusing on productivity, and keeping expenses low.
Strategy #1: Provide Value for Customers
Companies have several options for providing more value for customers. One way that print businesses and resellers can add value is by bundling different products. A business that typically sells checks and forms might also offer envelopes, business cards, or even promotional items. If there is a product that you don’t currently offer, DFS advisors can provide the knowledge needed to expand into new product lines without adding costs.
Another way that companies can add value for customers is by diversifying their offerings or offering a new range of products, which is quickly done by partnering with a trusted partner such as DFS. Outsourcing allows you to provide more options for your customer, from full-color printing and promotional products to checks and forms, all with no upfront costs for your business. By adding a wider variety of different types of print jobs to your product line, you can solve more customer problems and provide more value. Product diversification is also an opportunity to identify what differentiates your business from the competition.
The success of your print business depends on creating value for your customers and providing them with products or solutions that will help them solve problems or needs they are facing. Now is the time to invest in your customer experience and deepen customer relationships to understand how to best help your customers.
Strategy #2: Focus on Productivity
A key strategy for weathering the current period of inflation is to focus on productivity. Print businesses and resellers should evaluate their existing processes and look for areas where they can improve productivity and efficiency. To achieve maximum productivity, business leaders must ensure employees use their time wisely. That means focusing on the right tasks at the right time, allowing them to meet deadlines, and preventing them from spending too much time on any one task.
Businesses need to evaluate existing processes, workflows, communication methods, and the work environment to identify improvement areas. Technology, automation, and outsourcing are ways for companies to leverage resources more effectively, streamline processes, and improve productivity. Outsourcing with DFS allows print resellers easy access to trusted printing resources and industry experts. These experts help you to expand your print business with jobs atypical to your standard offerings while allowing your employees to use their time wisely, focusing on tasks that drive revenue and grow your business.
Strategy #3: Keep Your Expenses Low
During an inflationary period, anything that’s not essential to business can be considered unnecessary spending and is a potential area to cut expenses. That might include unused equipment, capital improvements, unneeded technology, or energy usage. Some expenses, such as rent, insurance, and utilities, can be reduced, while others can be eliminated entirely. Tracking expenses is the first step for businesses to understand where money is spent and who spends it.
Rising inflation is something facing every business. Position your print business to remain resilient despite economic changes by partnering with DFS. As you implement inflation-fighting strategies for your business, we can help you take the worry, burden, and inefficiency out of outsourced printing services. Let DFS help you achieve maximum productivity and drive long-term business success. Contact us today to be matched with a DFS business advisor.
Key Takeaways
- Rising inflation can significantly impact the bottom line of small and medium-sized businesses that often don’t have the capital to absorb the higher costs.
- Inflation-fighting strategies for your business include providing customer value, focusing on productivity, and keeping expenses low.
- Now is the time to invest in your customer experience, deepening customer relationships to understand how to best help your customers.
- Print businesses and resellers should evaluate their current processes and look for areas where they can improve productivity and efficiency.
- Anything that’s not essential to business can be considered unnecessary spending and is a potential area to cut expenses.
