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During the 2019-2020 COVID-19/oil/real estate crisis, many businesses around the world will be working out a damage limitation plan. This will include reducing outgoing and holding on to income. With many of us forced to work remotely, how can we adapt our pre-crisis business plan to work in the new world?
Don’t panic. Don’t wait. Don’t react.
One of the most important things to remember is that you want to protect your business. Panic can lead you to strip your business, and that isn’t protecting it. You may believe the company is heading into a disaster, but you need to keep a level head and look at all of your options.
Of course, you may have decided to wait and see what happens as the current crisis evolves, perhaps looking at competitors to see when they react. This static state is not going to help your business move forward. Delaying action could cause catastrophic issues later down the line.
It’s tempting to create the most amount of revenue from the remaining work you have, but this is counterproductive for future business. You could shrink your companies potential and end up with a more significant issue on the other side of the current global crisis.
The key to your success is down to active, precise and constructive planning.
This can be done at home. Your first steps should be to secure a stable and reliable working office, away from disturbances. Using time blocking can help ensure that your family understands when you need to be productive and help you create a better work-life balance.
You also need to get practical with your communications solutions. If your company used tools such as flackbox, then you will be able to access all your essential data and information from anywhere in the world. Providing you have a reliable internet connection.
Planning in a crisis is almost like starting again. So don’t underestimate the process you will have to go through. Your financial forecasts will all have to change, your turnover, your growth and your team are going to have to adapt too. While you cannot predict the future, you should start researching a lot. Look into history at major events and study how businesses like yours were affected and how they changed to overcome.
Successful businesses know how to diversify, and this is key to your survival. Within the COVID-19 crisis, many clothing lines have started to produce fashionable face masks, and they are maintaining a healthy turnover. With innovative marketing strategies, they are drawing the public in with a product that is high in demand, then upselling once they have the consumer on their site. Restaurants are becoming online stores, taking advantage of their wholesale connections and the pressure on supermarkets. They are delivering a service to their customers and surviving because of the trust they built with the consumer pre-crisis.
Planning is the key to your success and will help you find the right route out of the current situation.
