As incoming sales and inquiries drop, understandably you'll be feeling concerned about how you can keep your business running. We've put together a collection of ideas and suggestions of ways you can lower your business costs:

• make a list of all of your outgoing expenses first - you won't be able to analyse and make cuts if you first don't know what you need to spend. You should also revise your current budget and cashflow forecast too.
• save utilities - you'll always need to keep your electricity, gas and water running. But you can cut back on the amount you use, which will reduce your bills for your utilities. Turn off lights, unused appliances and machinery. Have shorter showers and boil the jug less.
• use less paper - it's time to print double sided on everything, and consider if you really even need to print at all. 
• use free cloud tools - if they'll suit your needs, switch your file saving options to free ones such as Google Docs. Or see if you can reduce the amount you have stored in your paid cloud tool so you can move down to a lower priced tier.
• avoid travel - instead of meeting your client in the cafe or restaurant, arrange to meet them via phone or video instead. Not only will you save on the food and drink costs, but transport costs too.
• consider buying secondhand - not everything needs to be brand new for a business, such as machinery, technology and in some cases, the supplies products are even made with. Secondhand products are also GST claimable.
• ask for discounts - many businesses will be in the same boat as you. Ask if they can give you a discount for early payment of their invoices.
• try free marketing ideas - we've written a great article which gives you plenty of free marketing ideas you can try for your business to boost sales.
• ask for a hold on debt repayment - many banks and lenders are happy to change a loan to interest only or even pause payment when a business is having a short term financial issue.
• pool with other businesses - instead of purchasing something, see if you could borrow it from another business. Or combine your money and buy the item to share between you all.
• shop around for couriers - freight is a large expense for many businesses. Spend some time shopping around and comparing the prices between courier companies.
• piggyback your advertising - join other businesses and take out paid advertising together. Don't forget cross promotion too.
• work on your SEO - a website with great search engine optimisation gets more free traffic from search engines. Working on your website's SEO is well worth doing now, so you'll be found when people start shopping once more.
• shift to a cheaper location - if the rent you'll pay at commercial premises would be cheaper two blocks away, consider shifting.
• try bartering - see if you can swap with other businesses the products and services you need
• ask for multiple quotes - get at least three quotes for work or products you need.