Consultant pours over invoices to decrease corporate expenses

If Edwards Fields Inc. had a corporate travel department, Arleen Kahn wouldn't have a business right now.

In 1981, after a misguided expansion into the restaurant business dragged her successful T-shirt company under, Ms. Kahn went looking for a job. She landed a post as an executive secretary at the New York showroom of Edward Fields custom carpet maker after somewhat obfuscating her past as an entrepreneur.

At that time, Edward Fields had 35 salespeople traveling to clients and its 11 showrooms across the United States. What it didn't have was anyone making sure it was getting the best prices for air fares, rental cars or hotels.

"For every salesperson, we were using a different company," Ms. Kahn recalls. "We had no corporate accounts."

The research and negotiating skills Ms. Kahn honed to get Edward Fields its corporate discounts became the foundation of her cost control consultancy.

Hot button in 1990s
She has capitalized on the cost-consciousness of the late 1990s and the shrinking of in-house staffs to build a business committed to paring expenses for services such as shipping, printing, travel and office supplies. Her experience shows that even a narrow skill, if properly cultivated, can become a solid small business.

"Arleen is a digger," says Nancy Ploeger who was vice president of operations and human resources at Manhattan-based New York Sports Clubs when the company hired Ms. Kahn. "What she doesn't know, she finds out." The fitness company saved $50,000.

After examining nine to 12 months of potential clients' invoices, Ms. Kahn prepares a report on what overall savings she could achieve. (Having once been burned, she no longer discloses item-by-item savings until after the client is under contract.) She then negotiates new vendor contracts and informs a company's employees of the new cost-savings procedures.

And she leaves behind valuable tips, clients say, on monitoring bills and avoiding unnecessary expenses.

"For certain office machines, she taught us to wait until the first breakdown and then get a service contract," Ms. Ploeger recalls. "She knew which machines broke down and when."

A home-based sole proprietor in Manhattan, Ms. Kahn bills clients according to their projected savings. Her fees range from $12,750 for savings $20,000 to $30,000, to $95,000 for savings from $201,000 to $300,000. She stresses that while she works with vendors, she has no financial ties to any of them.

Seeks better deal first
Indeed, rather than immediately dumping a company's existing vendor, Ms. Kahn tries first to get better prices from them. By doing that with Winmill & Company overnight express carrier, she trimmed the Manhattan financial business' bills 60% according to President Thomas Winmill. (Ms. Kahn stays in touch with ousted vendors, who may, she says, be right for other clients.)

"A lot of the questions are knotty and the vendors are vocal," says Mr. Winmill, who now has Ms. Kahn serve as Winmill & Company de facto office manager. "The numbers aren't big but they add up."

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