HOW YOUR BUSINESS CAN BOUNCE BACK AFTER COVID-19

The First Step — Action Plan

Having a plan is always the first place to start. While you may have had a business plan and financial projections for your business before COVID, the world has changed and you need to revisit (if you haven’t already) your business plan, focus and strategy in light of what will likely become the “new norm” for us all.  Before you can begin to plan though, you’ve got to ask yourself two questions:

  1. What does your customer base need?
  2. What is possible for your business to do?

Your customers (or clients) needs have likely changed in this new environment, too.  By identifying your customer’s current pressure points, you can better plan for how to best satisfy their needs. You may find that you can continue to offer the same products or services, while simply adjusting the delivery methods or ways of marketing them.

But what if you don’t feel that your business no longer positioned to cater to your customer’s current needs? This is where you can get creative and adjust what (and how) you sell. For example, if you are a brick-and-mortar retailer, targeted cleaning and sanitizing could take “the edge” off of your customers’ concerns.

The Second Step —Alternate Sales Channels

Now that you have a plan, it is time to put it into action.  It’s vital to consider alternate ways to deliver your services or products.

Here are a few different ideas:

  • eCommerce — whether you provide a full eCommerce offering with all of your products and services, or pick a few items to “whet your customer’s whistle”
  • Virtual Tour — give the experience of visiting your business without having customers visit your store/offices
  • Virtual Consultations — video meetings or phone calls are a great way to interact
  • No touch or low touch options — if in-person contact with your customers is essential to your business, offer ways to keep it to a dull roar
  • Curbside Pickup/ Local Delivery — a quick and contact-less option for those who order your products online

By opening up multiple different sales channels, it allows you to cater to your customers in different ways.

The Third Step — Update your Business Information

Have your hours, products, or services changed?

Here is where it is necessary to make sure your business information is up to date.

Website

A helpful message about any operating restrictions, policy, or hour changes should be clearly displayed on your site for users to see.

Google My Business

Confirm that you have claimed your Google My Business listing. From there, you will want to update all of your business information.

Social Media

Be sure to update any bios, business descriptions, hours, or any other important changes your business will be making.

The Fourth Step — Future Planning

This unprecedented economic landscape has been eye-opening for many businesses and may have changed the way we work in and with our customers in the future.

By offering different ways to generate revenues, whether in-person sales, no touch/low touch services, online sales (eCommerce), virtual tours, and/or educational content, you will be able to stay open for business through these difficult times.

The Fifth Step — Communicate to your Customers

This is the most important of all the steps! If you put in the work of planning and making adjustments without communicating the changes to your customers, they won’t know what you’re doing.

Maintaining open communication through a myriad of ways will let your clients know what you are doing to keep them safe as well as what your business will continue to provide and how you are there to “scratch their itch”.

These are your primary channels of communication:

  • Website
  • Email
  • Social media — Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

These are trying times for us all, for sure.  We would welcome the opportunity to speak with you and share our thoughts on new revenue streams for your business, opportunities to generate incremental profit, ways to cost contain (and reduce cash burn) and strive to improve the overall health of your business.  Please do reach out—and let’s see how we can help!