Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Once a year at the Tratensek household, which is run like a well-oiled Fortune 500 company, I sit down with our Chief Financial Officer (read, my wife) and we take a look at all of our expenses to determine if we really “need” everything we spend money on.
So, during the Great Purge of 2013, one item that stuck out to my CFO/wife (our youngest daughter is the CEO and chairman of the board, by the way) was our cable bill.
How did we ever get to a point where we were spending nearly $300 a month on cable? I mean, how many channels of Kardashians, Housewives and Honey Boo Boos do we really need?
The solution? Our CFO got on the phone, called the cable company and told them to trim down our service to something in the low three-figure range. They kindly obliged but also offered to let us keep some of the premium channels, just at a lower price. Not a bad deal, right?
As 2013 winds down, I would recommend you go through this same process with your business. Take a look at your services and see where there are areas you can save some money.
Like the cable bill at Tratensek Inc., one area of expense that might stick out to you is health insurance.
Now I don’t mean to compare health care for you and your employees to my ability to watch ESPN Deportes or MTV6, but both items represent expenses that should be monitored.
Thankfully, your association has an easy way for you to make sure you are getting the best deal on your health insurance. We have established the NRHA Health Insurance Program to deliver retailers like you a host of options when it comes to providing health care coverage to you and your employees.
Since we kicked off the program, we have provided quotes to a range of companies of different sizes from locations all across the country. In most every case, the quotes these companies received through the NRHA Health Insurance Program would allow them to save money over their current plans without sacrificing any benefits.
If you haven’t done so yet, I would strongly encourage you to contact NRHA’s Health Insurance director Bob Chiesa at 888-201-7408 or cbigi@msn.com to get a quote.
There’s no obligation and you might even save enough money on your health insurance that you can add Lifetime Español and C-SPAN 4 back to your own cable package.
