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

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His company, Architectural Columns and Railintg Systems, did have some big projects, including all the fencingy atthe Ritz-Carlton Residences along Key Highway. But with a few othef distractions, including a lawsuit and high cost overruns onanother project, money startedx getting tight. “We had projected aboutg $6 million in volume, and we were trackingv real good for the firsttwo quarters,” he said. “By the third quarter, we starter seeing a slowdown. By the fourtj quarter, the bottom had dropped out of thebusiness plan.
” Martinn is approaching 2009 with what looks like a new He called up business growth consultant Art and together, they undertook some serious cost-cutting. It includesd slashing staff from 41to 28, but that coulr have been worse without reducing salaries and avoiding subcontractors, Martinh said. As businesses prepare for a year in whichn turns could be impossibleto predict, many of them are takinbg similar steps to be as lean as possibled to get themselves through the recession. And if they can do it withougt adding to the growing pool ofthe unemployed, they’res finding creative ways to save cash.
Even befor money gets tight, there are ways to boost efficiencg andlower overhead. • Don’t hire others to do what you can do AtCommunity Analytics, a Canton firm that does business developmenrt through social networking, a large expense is information technology equipment and upkeep. The company outsourcew its server storage and maintenance to a Tide Pointdata center. But to save CEO Myra Gorman decidec to handle internal software and data That way, the company loses some of the cost without sacrificing the benefits outsourced IT servicese provide to customers. • Consolidate purchases from suppliers to negotiatde thelowest price. Frank a CPA with Semper Financ Inc.
of Maryland, call it trying to be “theitr good customer.” The idea being, people trea their good customers well. Ryan recommendw asking vendors how your company mighty make things easier forthe vendor, whetherd by changing the volume of purchases or the frequency. Raise either, and a vendorr is more likely to cut a Michael Reid, director of the Baltimore office of consultant Expense Reduction helps companies find those deals. A firm might go priced shopping for office supply contracts once a but Reid’s consultants are doingh it every day. Reid’s company takesw a cut of the cost saving sclients find, often aroundc 50 percent.
• More than supply prices are negotiablw — give bartering a try with other large Evenreal estate. Tom Barbuti, a real estates lawyer with Whiteford, Taylor and Prestojn LLP in Baltimore, said he is seeing clientse — tenants and landlords — working at dealw to lower rental rates andset long-termj contracts. For example, a national retail chaim recently sent out a letter to all of its landlord asking for a 25 percent reductionin rent, Barbutoi said. The next month when its checkicame in, the landlord found that the retailer had decided to give itself the But rather than making a fight, the landlorde gave in, deciding it wasn’t worth losing a long-term renter.
Landlords also are offering temporaruy reductions if tenants promise to pay themback later, once time are better, Barbuti said. If a slowdown has set in and immediatse actionis needed, therw are ways to scale back withouyt impacting business.