The Inventory Goes Down The Elevator Every Night

Adman Fairfax Cone, co-founder of the iconic advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding, once said “the inventory goes down the elevator every night.”

That’s true now more than ever in our knowledge-based economy. Keeping your employees healthy and happy benefits you equally as much as it benefits them, because they are your product.

Smaller, entrepreneurial firms are especially dependent upon keeping talent as they go through their start-up and growth phases. And healthcare benefits are key to retaining that talent, especially employees with young families.

Group health insurance is attractive to smaller companies for several reasons. First, there is the tax benefit.  Generally, expenses you incur related to employees and dependents are 100 percent tax deductible at both state and federal levels.  Then, there is the dramatic savings that group purchasing power can deliver. Also, there is the ability to deliver the care quality and selection that your larger competitors already provide. And finally, there is the attention to detail and price shopping that dedicated account service representatives can provide for smaller firms with limited human resource support.

Group Purchasing opportunities like those offered to employers through the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health can assure you that your company is getting the best possible price, selection, and service for your health care benefit dollars. Not only with new contracts, but for products you are already buying, because you can often tap into a group purchasing program’s pre-negotiated contract on those products.

International procurement expert Sergio Giordano offers these additional benefits to the group purchasing concept:

1. Economies of Scale which give you the ability to demand prices and services you cannot dream of getting on your own.
2. Savings which can range from 10 percent up to 35 percent.
3. Simplification which can reduce transactional costs
4. Shared information among group members regarding new technologies, suppliers and markets, which can lead to even greater savings.
5. Reduced workload, which allows member businesses to focus on their core products and services.
6. Expertise that you couldn’t afford to hire, which means you get constantly improving processes that will continually benefit you down the road.
7. Buying technologies that will enhance cumulative savings by reducing waste and optimizing the use of goods and services purchased.
8. A potential increase in profits without an increase in sales. According to Giordano, a five percent reduction in purchasing costs can increase profit by two percent. That same two percent would require a sales increase of 20 percent.

For more information about how PBGH can help your company, send a note to: info@pbghpa.org.