There are many businesses across the United Kingdom that have seen a sudden drop in customers and clients due to Coronavirus and the subsequent Government-mandated lockdown. This has been especially hard on those that require constant physical interaction with people ...
From what were well-established companies with great products and services, to no customers, furloughed staff and business bills to pay, almost overnight. It's been a real bloodbath in some sectors.
Some have had to close their doors for good and others are looking at their dwindling bank balances wondering how much more of lockdown they can survive. However, it's also pushed many to find innovative ways to sustain their customer relationships, remain productive and maintain some sort of income stream.
So what can a business owner do to stay productive? Here are my thoughts:
- I've upped my social media game with an extra blog post each week and regular daily shares to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. It's vital that business owners stay in the mind of their customers and clients even if they're premises are closed. For a little more effort, I believe we'll get some excellent returns in the long-run.
- As many of us are working from home now, we find we have extra time because we're not commuting to our places of work, sometimes hours away. I advocate listening to audiobooks, reading blog posts and watching skills-based videos. Is there something you wanted to learn about being in business? Many of the Essendon team are using this extra time to brush up on their knowledge.
- Apart from cloud-based accounting software, there are many productivity tools you can use on your desktop computer as well as your smartphone. Contact management? Task management? Video networking? Almost everything you do in the physical world of business can be replicated online.
- Keep your team motivated with regular contact using Teams, Slack, WhatsApp and Zoom. Support and reassure them as often as you can.
- Explore alternative products, services and other income streams that will add value to your customers and clients in the future.
- And if your team are worried then so are your clients! Stay in regular communication with them, letting them know what changes are happening with your own business. Email is good for this, though a personal phone call is always better.
- Use your time in lockdown to analyse how your business is running. Can that cost be cut? Do you need this new technology? Can you change how you do this, that or the other? A business improvement programme is an excellent idea right now.
As we all know, lockdown will not last forever, so taking on some of my thoughts and ideas above, you can always find ways to stay productive.
Now is also a great time to start planning your special offers ready for when lockdown ends. The Prime Minister wants the economy to bounce back quickly and being ready to go as soon as it happens will mean your income will get back to normal far quicker.
If you feel inspired to find out more about anything I've said here, do call me on 01908 774320 or leave a comment below and I'll be in touch as soon as I can.