Money.com.au spokesperson Helen Baker discusses the five simple changes you can make in your business ahead of the economic recovery phase.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent recession, has caused strife for thousands of businesses across the country, challenging the fundamental ways in which they operate.
New policies and procedures – coupled with a shift to remote meeting technologies – were required by businesses everywhere to adapt to operating in a very different environment as quickly as possible.
At the same time, the pandemic has given businesses downtime to examine their operations and spending and highlight where they can make improvements.
Taking the time to adjust your focus may put your business in an advantageous position for economic recovery.
Here are five simple changes to put your business on the path to economic recovery – and that could yield you major rewards:
1. Re-evaluate your product or service delivery
Have issues in the supply chain caused certain products to become unavailable, or are certain products or services gaining increased attention?
If so, now is a perfect opportunity to look at the issues you may have faced in the supply chain during the pandemic shutdowns, cut out redundant products or services, and focus on re-marketing your core products to customers in the coming months.
Consider what is most important to your customers at this time – this may be things such as cost, delivery, availability, and safety.
2. Adjust your marketing strategy to align with ‘the new normal’
Marketers everywhere have had to navigate the rapidly changing landscape and re-adjust their marketing plans in an uncertain environment.
Physical events and field marketing have taken one of the biggest hits.
Not only do marketing teams now have to adapt to how their buyers are behaving and change their strategy accordingly, but it can be both costly and time-consuming.
Therefore, it’s essential to use this time to re-strategise your marketing plan for FY21, re-evaluate where you are directing your marketing budget, and whether the results are worth the expense.
Your first consideration will be any digital and print media marketing, such as billboards, website content, search engine advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing.
With social distancing likely to continue for months, the world will have changed, and so should your marketing messages for prospective customers.
3. Update your sales strategy
During this time, you might have uncovered valuable information about what is most important to your customers and how they engage with your business during a financial crisis – whether it be how your customer service team interacts with clients, to common pain points and complaints, to issues with delivery or payment.
Using this information to reveal gaps in your customer service can lead you to refine aspects of your business that will improve customer engagement.
Including more relevant information on your website to guide customers or provide training to your customer service team to better handle complaints and issues are the right places to start.
4. Fine-tune your operational systems and processes
This ‘downtime’ in the business market provides an opportunity for business owners to review and improve their systems and processes so that they can be in a position of strength when the economy is on the trajectory to pre-pandemic levels.
For instance, if you found the remote working period highly productive and beneficial, why not review home and office-based working arrangements for employees.
You might even decide to make savings by downsizing your physical office space to save on unnecessary rent costs.
Taking the time to revisit the foundation of your business can open new opportunities to improve cash flow and streamline how your company operates at the same time.
5. Take care of yourself – and your business – by rewarding yourself with a break
As a business owner, you may find this piece of preparation advice laughable given the current climate.
However, SME owners tend to work longer hours than their employees – it’s not uncommon to work 50 hours per week, and often six or seven days a week.
Once you have reviewed your systems and processes, and feel prepared for the impending recovery period, why not take time to rest and recover yourself.
As the main driver of your business, you will need to be refreshed and ready to lead your business into a new future, with new challenges and obstacles to overcome as well.
While there was little anyone could do to prepare for the global pandemic, there are actions you can take to prepare for a more stable future.
Reviewing and refining the foundations of your business during this time will encourage recovery once the country returns to normal business operations.
It will also provide an opportunity to take time for yourself and review the business so you can hit the ground running when you return.