A Covid Reset: Three things to do for your business now to see you through to the other side
I’ve been having tennis lessons for about five years (give or take a pandemic here or there) and today was my first day back on the court for 2021. Usually, there are a few other people in my group session, but today I was the only one, so the focus of Coach Bryce was only on heaving, panting, red-faced me. Essentially there was no one else to hide behind and my keen lack of fitness could not be masked by waiting for my turn. So, I used my only other weapon of distraction: chat.
It turns out it was a chat that was well worth having. Bryce and his partners in the tennis coaching business have come out of Melbourne’s severe 2020 Covid-19 lockdown with a reinvigorated sense of purpose and a better sense of the road ahead. I found their perspective refreshing, especially considering the doom and gloom predicted for business in the short to medium term. I think there are lessons to be learned from their approach and from the practices of other small businesses - I’ve touched on three main areas below and hope this helps you in your organisation as 2021 starts to ramp up.
I think it worth mentioning that the tennis coaching business is in a relatively strong position to come out of the pandemic unscathed - no stock going to waste, a willing local population who is excited to see them back and a small fixed cost base. For those businesses or organisations who aren’t lucky enough to enjoy these privileges, I feel for you and hope that some of the ideas below provide some food for thought. I’m rooting for you!
[Update 15 Feb - back in lockdown for five days! Go well everyone!]
One: Take a moment for yourself
Whether we liked it or not, many of us had to down tools for a good chunk of 2020 and some businesses will not recover, as the legions of “for lease” signs on shopping strips will attest. That said, many will recover, even as we tentatively step into 2021 waiting for vaccines to be rolled out and the world to be put to rights.
For those businesses, these days of limited trade and skeleton staff also deliver time, a valuable commodity. Time to reflect. Time to revisit that ideas folder. Time to spend with family and friends. Time to plan. Now that there is (dare I say it?) a light at the end of the Covid tunnel, use that time to take stock, jot down some notes, read and talk to colleagues and customers. I suspect many of us already have the list of things we want/need to do in our business, so use this time to take a breath and muster up the energy to plan it all out.
Two: Put yourself in the shoes of your clients
There are many social media memes joking about being stuck at home during lockdown - the endless worry, baking, Netflix - but for many of us it also gave us some insight into how our partners or roommates conduct themselves when at work and shone a light on the way the kids in our lives handle the daily rigours of school (both “work” and “school” being relative terms in this time). Whilst incomplete, this shift in perspective allows us to see into different aspects of the lives of those around us and gives us a new appreciation of the trials and tribulations they endure on a day to day basis.
New year, better pandemic conditions - now is the time to shift your empathetic perspective once again, but this time to your clients or customers. It is an active thinking and research process and may even involve direct conversations with some of them! Walk yourself through their experience - before they engage with your business (when they identify their need or problem), during their interactions with you (the “transaction”) and after the purchase or engagement. How do you think they feel about how your organisation solved their problem? Identify any potential stumbling blocks or ways you can make each point in the process easier for them or show your organisation in the best light (if you need help with this, let me know, I love a good bit of customer experience analysis!).
Once you can see through the eyes of your customer/client/stakeholder/community, you are better able to make positive and meaningful decisions about your organisation going forward.
Three: Make your communications work harder for you
The tennis coaching business used their downtime well - they took the opportunity to implement an online booking system, trained their junior coaches, researched better equipment and honed their marketing strategy. They also planned how they would handle inevitable intermittent Covid lockdowns and communications around this to minimise confusion for their clients and ensure everyone remains safe.
Whilst these measures may not be applicable to all organisations, this is as good a time as any to look at ways you can make your marketing and communications run as effectively as possible and streamline the way you do things to save you time and money. As another example, one of my clients, a heritage consultant, used the months without jobs to work with me to redesign her website, consolidate and segment her database to enable easier and more targeted email campaigns and set a strategy for the next 12 months. She has even set up an online purchasing system for the publications she produces! These measures will see her time freed up as work starts to roll in again and allow her to develop her business in ways that minimise costs and increase client satisfaction.
I hope you all found this helpful - if you need assistance with your marketing and communications, shout out and I’d be happy to chat.