I lost €50!
I had withdrawn €50 the other morning at a local ATM and was rushing back to my car as my next stop was a meeting with a client. I had planned to grab a coffee but knew I wouldn’t make the meeting so my caffeine fix would have to wait – not good but one must deal with these challenges from time to time…
Anyway, the note was one of those never-used-before crisp notes, one that slides out of the machine and feels great in your hand, all the more satisfying knowing it’s never been used before. As I was in a hurry, I pushed it into my pocket with the intention of buying a coffee shortly after. So the coffee didn’t happen but I made it to my meeting on time. Shortly after, I made my way straight to the nearest coffee shop. Ordered my coffee, reached into my pocket – no €50 note… argh!
Checked other pockets, wallet etc. but nowhere to be found. I awkwardly shuffled to the till, all flustered at the loss of my lovely note and embarrassingly commented to the cashier that I’d lost my money, forgetting for a moment that I could of course use a card, which the nice lady reminded me was indeed a payment option – not sure if she thought I was trying to pull a fast one, I am of course an advocate of finding ways to save money, but not to that extent. I proceeded to pay for my coffee and retrace my steps back to the car, in the highly unlikely event that my note had fallen out of my pocket and was waiting for me to retrieve it. Needless to say, that wasn’t the case and I had to accept the loss of my €50 – not a nice feeling, whether it’s €10, €20 or in my case, €50.
That got me thinking about my business and how we save money for other businesses. Most of the time when we save money for businesses, we tell them the monetary amount and they are always very pleased, it’s a figure on a spreadsheet or over the phone or by email. Some businesses are reluctant to engage, maybe believing they already have good rates or it’s already in capable hands – and that’s not to say it isn’t, this is about expertise and knowing not only the various utility providers, but knowing the market dynamics and how to manage, that requires full-time resources and is the reason why we are so successful at what we do.
When you think about actually LOSING money as in my case the other day, you consider a tangible note – whether it’s a brand new note just starting it’s life in circulation or one that’s been around the block a few times, it’s hard cash that can sit in our pocket or wallet. It becomes a much more emotional consideration but in reality it’s no different and probably a lot worse when you do not ensure you are enjoying the very best rates for your electricity, gas, telecoms or whatever utility service it may be – you might as well go to an ATM once or twice a week, withdraw some cash and just throw it away.
We regularly assess utility costs for even small businesses and find they are overspending to the tune of €3,000 per year, in €50 notes terms, that’s 60 notes – can you imagine how you’d feel if you lost that amount of cash?! So why would you allow it happen in your business?
Contact me to arrange an appointment. We can help you to stop 'losing' money.
