February 4, 2002

Last year, executives at J.A. Henckels decided that the time had come to pare back their office expenses, which had been rising inexorably for years. Rather than starting to count paper clips, the cutlery manufacturer and distributor brought in a cost-management consultant, Manhattan-based Arleen Kahn.

She began with a detailed assessment of what the company had spent in the previous 12 months on everything from office equipment and supplies to telephone and Internet service. She followed it up by seeking competitive bids, and comparing them to Henckels' bills.

But instead of going with the lowest bidder, Ms. Kahn asked Henckels' existing suppliers to meet with the company's management.

"With some of our suppliers, there was a substantial trust and relationship built up over the years, and we did not want to lose those relationships," says John Henkel, vice president of Hawthorne, NY-based Henckels, which has 75 employees. "We gave them the opportunity to sharpen their pencil."

In the end, Mr. Henkel says, the company succeeded in trimming its annual expenses by $75,000. "It goes to your bottom line," says Mr. Henkel, who paid Ms. Kahn a one-time fee of just over $20,000.

In increasingly difficult time, more and more small businesses are looking to cut costs and are willing to spend good money to do it. As a result, they are turning to consultants, accountants and specialists like payroll services for help.

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