10 steps to Post COVID Business Success

The time has come to start planning for a new world and new ways of working. Already we have seen numerous businesses pivot to online who perhaps resisted before.

Sit down and make a plan. What do your customers need right now? I find that most people on social media want to hear good news stories and stories of hope, compassion and kindness. The businesses who are standing out during all of this are the ones doing good stuff and giving value in different ways. So now it’s time to show consumers

1. It’s safe to shop or work with you – Show the changes you have made.

2. You are open and you welcome them.

3. Forget about the business plan for 2020 and start again.

4. Open up to potential collaborations with other businesses. Now is not the time to be climbing over others to succeed. It’s time to step up and show leadership and work with others in your community.

5. Look at your outgoings and see do you really need some of the items you are paying for right now. This is a good time to re-negotiate

6. Keep communication honest and open. Show behind the scenes of what is being implemented and any changes that have occurred. Show the employees are still here for your customers and share any good news stories that happened during the crisis e.g. an employee who had a new addition to their family etc.

7. Check out if support is available from Government. Get help to fill in forms if you need to.

8. Now is the time to tap into your network. Perhaps you can organize a brainstorming session with other business owners in your sector and create a community around you where you can help each other by sharing each others’ social media posts.

9. Go to your customers and ask them how can you help them right now.

10. Be creative and add value with tips e.g. I have seen many chefs on social media giving tips and recipes which keeps them top of mind for when the restaurant opens.

Now that ‘it could have been an email meeting’ will be eliminated as most companies will be happy to do a virtual meeting. All of those miles clocked up and last-minute dash to find a babysitter could be a thing of the past.

I asked Alastair Thomson, Finance Director and author of Cash Flow Surge for his input.

“The most important thing for businesses is not to try to go straight back to the way things were before. The world has changed, no matter what line of business you’re in, so your plans should be changing too. Imagine you were starting again from scratch today – no suppliers, no factory, no staff.”

“Ask yourself what would be the best way to serve your customers if you were starting over today with a clean sheet of paper, regardless of whether or not that’s how you did things a couple of months ago. The successful businesses in the next year or two will be those businesses which work with the world as now is, not the world as it used to be.”

Yes, these are scary times. But you have already shown your resilience. It’s time to get back up now and show you are the best at what you do and you have the best products or services that people need. Adapt to new services if you have to.

Best way to find out what your customers need is to ask them. The time for cloak and dagger and ignoring other business owners is in the past. It’s time to work together and show you are the leader. The Time for people to collaborate and show leadership is now.

Follow Sam @Tweetinggoddess.