A New Way To Do Business: 5 Things You Can Take Action Now

Are you ready to jump off the rollercoaster? 2020 has been full of ups and downs. You will have experienced challenges and difficult times you may never have thought possible, in both life and business. Thankfully the fog is now lifting, restrictions are easing and how you do business will change. You’ll be embarking on a new way to do business, so let’s take a look at five things you can take action now and move forward with success.

1. Create a detailed plan for the next 3 months

Business as you know it has changed. It would have been nearly impossible to predict the circumstances that have impacted every aspect of your life these past few months. But you now have an opportunity waiting right in front of you. You can adapt and create a detailed plan on how you will rebuild your business operations and transition to a new way of doing business.

Set aside at least a few hours (or a whole day if you can) and create a detailed plan on what you will do to keep your business moving forward through these ever changing times. In your 3-month plan, you should include:

• How will you communicate with your clients or customers during this time?
• Will your services or products be sold in a different manner?
• Have the needs of your customers or clients changed?
• How can you adapt your products/services to meet the changing needs of your clients/customers?
• How will you maintain staff morale?
• Have you got a COVID approved health and safety plan in place for both staff and clients?
• Will you need to engage in any marketing or advertising to maintain brand awareness and advise of any changes to your business?

2. Adapt to the needs of your customers

Not only has the world changed around you, but so to the needs of your customers or clients has also changed. If you have a product based business, customers will have a heightened awareness of the cleanliness of your store, and the actions of your staff.

• Have you put in place the necessary safeguards and precautions to ensure that they feel comfortable in your store? For example, do you have hand sanitiser stations available for customer use upon entry and exit?
• Do you have a notice up at the front of the store regarding a limit to the number of customers in the store at any one time?
• Are you ensuring that staff have the training necessary to advise customers if they aren’t following the required directions?

3. Safeguard the health of your employees

With restrictions easing, many workplaces will be looking to slowly introduce their employees back into the office. And while many employees may be excited to get out of the house, there will also be others who may be nervous or worried about how their health will be protected upon their return.

It will be your role as the business owner to provide clear communication and directions around the changes that will need to be made to ensure the health and wellbeing of everyone within the business.

It will be important to not only have your COVID-safe plan created, but to communicate this on multiple occasions and have easy access to documentation should employees require clarification at any time.

4. Continue marketing your business

In a time when cash flow is tight, marketing can often be one of the first things that businesses put on hold. However it’s more important than ever to market to your clients because without actively promoting your business, many people may not even realise that you are still operating in these times.

There are many ways to promote and market your business, with some potential options below:

• Creating value bundles or special offers that solve a problem
• Updating your business opening hours on Google My Business
• Posting consistently on your social media channels
• Maintaining your current schedule of digital newsletters (or beginning to communicate with your customers via digital newsletters)
• Updating your website with an updated message/banner image (where required)
• Facebook and Instagram advertising to promote your business, or new products or services that will help to solve customers’ problems
• Updating your website to improve your SEO (search engine optimisation) and Google ranking
• Writing valuable content to help or entertain your customers during this time

5. Using IT and digital technology

Like many businesses, you may have engaged in new IT infrastructure to assist with employees having the ability to work from home. Now that you have taken the time to set this up, it is important to embrace the technology and identify how you can use it on an ongoing basis. Perhaps offering more flexible working arrangements could be an additional benefit you provide your employees?

The IT and digital technology you may have embraced in recent months could also have significant impacts on how your customers do business with you. Could you continue to offer appointments via video conferencing to assist with busy client schedules? Could you offer customer portals where documents can be directly uploaded, rather than emailing or physically printing documents and dropping them into your office?

Take action and adapt how you do business

Are you ready to get in the driver’s seat and make the second half of 2020 a year you can look back at proudly? Times have changed, and the normal that you once knew is no longer here. It’s time to embark on a new way to do business, to take action and control the things that you can.

By implementing the five actions above, you will give yourself the chance to come back stronger than ever. You’ve got this.

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