- Date: 16 January 2025
- Category: Small Business Guidance
It’s undeniable that businesses have dozens of contracts in their name, all of which are genuinely needed to keep the business running. But there’s a general sense with customers – both commercial and household – that some contracts are either too expensive, or becoming a lot more costly than they should be. And this blog is here to give you some advice on how to save money on your commercial contracts.
No matter the side of your organisation, there’s a strong chance that you’ve got at least five workplace contracts. Whether that is a phone, washroom, or waste contract, businesses need services to survive and indeed thrive. But many of these providers understand this, and don’t often give you the opportunity to save some money. So we want to help give some advice about how to save money on your contracts. For the question how to save money on your commercial contracts, read on below!
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How to Save Money on Your Commercial Contracts
Many small business owners are one-person bands, and they struggle to find the time to do any extra admin than completely necessary. But using a little time to invest in trying to save money can help you use cash to grow the rest of your business.
The best way to save money is by calling your supplier up, especially when you’re coming close to the end of your contract. But before you do this, it’s best to understand what else is out there in the industry. You need to give suppliers motivation to give you some money off. The one thing businesses are scared of more than losing money is losing customers to competitors.
Next, you need to understand the contract you’re in. Long-term agreements sometimes come with cut-off points or even minimum agreements stating how long you must stay with a supplier, or even better, when you can leave the contract, whether that’s with a cancellation fee or free of charge.
A final important point to know is understand where and why you think you are overpaying. If you have the best business broadband on the market, but you are barely in the office, why would you need the best internet package and therefore the most expensive package. Likewise with washroom services, for example, if you are a small organisation that has a business replenish consumables on a weekly basis, do you really need that? What proof do you have that you’re paying too much? In any negotiation, take as much information as you can get about how much you use the service, and how reliable that service is.
Four Contracts to Check for Savings
Here are just four business commercial contracts that you could negotiate better prices for:
Phone Contracts
Many businesses have mobile phones for some or all of their employees. Smaller businesses especially are less likely to have business deals for their contracts, and could potentially be on standard deals. If this is the case, it’s worth getting on to business rates, as these are often discounted and can offer additional benefits like extra calls/data and come with account managers that will be available for your entire contract length. These will have an immediate download of your usage patterns and should be able to tell you about how best to tailor your plan. If they won’t do this, you have the opportunity to find a better deal elsewhere, and in some cases, competitor network providers will arrange everything you need to leave your current supplier.
WIFI Contracts
There are so many internet providers now, with so many options available, that you really do not need to be paying over the odds for your business broadband. If you’re in a contract, but feel like the provider is taking the mick, then the best way to approach this is to scour the market and find out by how much you are overpaying. There’s a good chance that you will have to pay an exit fee for leaving your contract, but if you know that fee is worth paying to save money over the long term, you have an excellent level of leverage.
For example, if you are 18 months into a 24 month broadband contract, the provider will often take your current monthly payment, deducting their internal costs saved, then multiply for the amount of months remaining. This will often leave with a strongly reduced cost, often around the real cost of 2/3 months of your current deal. This may be massively advantageous if you can arrange a new deal at a cheaper cost for that will save you the figure you pay over a short time period. Understanding this can help you strongly negotiate with your current provider, ensuring you continue to save money without the hassle of changing providers.
Commercial Waste Contracts
At Direct365, we deal with commercial waste for thousands of small business across the UK. And we understand what they need. Your commercial waste contract doesn’t need to cost the earth. When shopping with Direct365, we always aim to give you a better deal than anyone else on the market, and can often give you a discount of anywhere up to 30% from your existing contract.
The best thing to do when approaching this is to understand that that although there’s often a yearly price increase, if you’re a dedicated customer, and one with multiple services from the same supplier, there should be something they can do to accommodate you with lower costs. And if you’re with a waste supplier that isn’t Direct365, give us a call. We aim to offer the best rates on the market which may save you a little bit along the way.
Data Protection Contracts
Data protection is an important topic for almost all businesses. Especially now that a lot of business is conducted online. When it comes to online security, many businesses employ ICT support on a long-term contract. This may be difficult to negotiate but if you’re unhappy with your service, there’s a chance that you can renegotiate resources to areas of your ICT set up that will help you more.
When it comes to offline protection, a lot of that is about how you dispose of sensitive data. This is often done by a confidential waste management company. If you feel like you’re not getting the price and service you require, that feedback may allow you to engage in a renegotiation. Contact your provider to start the conversation.
How Direct365 Can Help with your Workplace Contracts
Direct365 have been working with small businesses for over 20 years. Our safety, waste, facilities and washroom management services are high quality, and provided to ensure businesses stay within their regulations. If you’re looking for an honest organisation that can help you reduce costs while giving you excellent services in fire safety, waste, washroom and PAT testing. Contact us today for more details.