Baltimore companies look to cut costs, avoid layoffs - Baltimore Business Journal:

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His company, Architectural Columns and Railingv Systems, did have some big projects, including all the fencingf atthe Ritz-Carlton Residences alonyg Key Highway. But with a few other including a lawsuit and high cost overruns onanother project, money started getting “We had projected about $6 million in and we were tracking real good for the firstg two quarters,” he “By the third quarter, we started seeing a By the fourth quarter, the bottom had dropped out of the businessw plan.” Martin is approaching 2009 with what lookw like a new company. He called up business growth consultant Art and together, they undertook some serious cost-cutting.
It includef slashing staff from 41to 28, but that coulds have been worse without reducing salaries and avoidin g subcontractors, Martin said. As businessese prepare for a year in whichn turns could be impossibleto predict, many of them are takint similar steps to be as lean as possible to get themselves through the recession. And if they can do it withour adding to the growing pool ofthe they’re finding creative ways to save cash. Even before money gets there are ways to boost efficiency andlowerd overhead.
• Don’t hire others to do what you can do AtCommunity Analytics, a Canton firm that does businesz development through social networking, a larged expense is information technology equipmeng and upkeep. The company outsources its server storage and maintenancweto DataPoint, a Tide Point data center. But to save CEO Myra Gorman decided to handlew internal software anddata in-house. That way, the company losese some of the cost withoutg sacrificing the benefits outsourced IT services provideto customers. • Consolidate purchasesd from suppliers to negotiate the lowest Frank Ryan, a CPA with Semperd Finance Inc.
of Maryland, calls it trying to be “their good The idea being, people treat their good customers Ryan recommends asking vendors how your company mighty make things easier for the whether by changing the volumer of purchases orthe frequency. Raise either, and a vendofr is more likely to cuta deal. Michael director of the Baltimore office of consultant ExpensReduction Analysts, helps companies find those deals. A firm mighrt go price shopping for office supply contracts once a but Reid’s consultants are doing it every day. Reid’ s company takes a cut of the cost savingzsclients find, often around 50 percent.
• More than supplyu prices are negotiable — give barteringv a try with other large Evenreal estate. Tom Barbuti, a real estate lawyerr with Whiteford, Taylor and Preston LLP in Baltimore, said he is seeing clientxs — tenants and landlords working at deals to lower rental rates andset long-tern contracts. For example, a national retail chain recently sent out a letter to all of its landlordsx asking for a 25 percent reductionin rent, Barbut said. The next montuh when its checkcame in, the landlord founs that the retailer had decided to give itself the discount. But rather than making a fight, the landlordf gave in, deciding it wasn’t worth losing a long-term renter.
Landlords also are offering temporary reductionsa if tenants promise to pay them back once timesare better, Barbuti said. If a slowdowhn has set in and immediate actionis needed, there are ways to scaler back without impacting business.