Securing your business:
An example of business isolation during lockdown may be a driving instructor, electrician, or a factory production company to just name just a few, so what do you do when you are on lockdown and in isolation how do you turn this around? You obviously do not want to lose your customers how do you generate more business and most importantly how do you survive and continue paying your staff that is the big question.
Firstly, the UK Government has grants and loans available that they are giving to businesses in need of help.
Secondly, defer production and explain to your customers situation, be transparent, and in order to secure business further down the line give incentives. I know you may be already finding finances hard but remember you have the business already established, you just need to postpone it for a little while and for new customers give them special offers so that you can secure their business.
Remember keep safe and don’t try to break the rules as you may lose your license or get fined, Sports Direct has already suffered public condemnation for needlessly trying to stay open and pubs who continue to trade in Lockins are liable to have their licenses taken off them.
Conduct daily morning meetings with your workers and give them motivation and inspiration to work. We can become very complacent in our own homes and have distractions that can easily send us astray. Workers need to stay focused and need to have daily tasks set for them with goals they need to achieve and report on.
When you have automatic recurring costs that you charge your customers, consider suspending the costs and giving them credit for future business. Work out your cash flow for the next few months and refrain from spending on unnecessary subscriptions and services, try to minimize your spending and evaluate your overheads as a whole and see where you can cut costs to the minimum. Discuss with your bank your situation and see if they can help you with extended loans or get government grants that can tide you over.
The government is bringing in new measures to assist small businesses, freelancers, and sole traders. Do keep up to speed on what assistance you are able to claim. If you have an accountant speak to them about any financial advice, they can give you, after all that’s what they are there for.
Secure your future:
Going back to the example of say driving instructors offer special offers like book your bulk 40 lessons now and get 6 -10 lessons free with lessons resuming in April for example. I am being optimistic the lockdown will be lifted in April.
Electricians can book your appointment now with work to be carried out in April with no call-out charge only if you use the code: covid19 and book now for example and the offer is only available for advanced bookings.
If you are a production company waive all charges in order to secure your business give incentives that is the key.
The public mindset will be altered over the next year or so, therefore you need to find ways to reassure your customers and give them a reason to use you. Marketing campaigns and advertising are going to be the main factors in order to generate new business. Consider what you need to do in order to drive business. LinkedIn is a good way to start advertising, but you need a lot of connections or know of someone that has a lot of connections. The alternative is to consider pay-per-click advertising such as Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Sponsor Ads.
Conclusion
***Stay positive. Every crisis eventually passes, position yourself for growth when it does.
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