Cutting costs without cutting your throat

Last time we talked about building trust and confidence.
Today we’re going to talk about cutting operating costs.
Here are two field-tested ideas from our Gatlinburg, TN, seminar.
We were at the Park Vista Hotel with the Lakeway Publishers group.
It was exhilarating. They are enthusiastic people with great ideas.
Idea #1: Don’t invite your people to cheat on their mileage reports.
How do you do this? Simply check odometers randomly.
Make sure the odometer readings match their mileage reports.
Our publisher caught one sales person several hundred miles off.
She had given herself a raise by claiming excessive mileage.
If you put temptation in someone's way, they might take it.
Idea #2: Pay them on miles driven, not a standard gas allowance.
A publisher friend asked how to get one of her sales people moving.
He stayed in the office and made calls by phone and on the Internet.
She paid him $200 a month for gas.
No wonder he stayed in the office.
If he didn’t burn gas, he made money.
We advised paying him on miles driven only.
Cut out the allowance and get him off his you-know-what.
Next time we’ll talk about building sales and revenues.
For more cost-saving strategies, click here.