IMPACT OF THE COVID – 19 : HERE ARE A FEW TIPS TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVE

As COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, we hope you are taking the necessary precautions to stay safe. With many countries enforcing a strict lockdown to battle the pandemic, plenty of businesses have taken a big hit.

If your business is one of these, you might be wondering how to stay afloat during this crisis. Instead of backing down, we recommend you focus on strengthening your business from the inside out. Let’s look at a few ways to do this. Whatever business you might be in, there are ways to make this lockdown work better for you. There will be minor setbacks, but with careful planning you can come out stronger.

Most companies are following a “Work From Home” policy, so they need tools to help them allocate tasks and communicate with their teammates through remote software services. Since some companies may find it expensive to afford them, many businesses are currently offering their products for free or at reduced rates for a limited time as an act of goodwill and a show of solidarity.

Get in touch with your customers by using the right communication medium is a sure way to make them feel less stressed.

Make communication online mandatory as part of your business pandemic policy. The COVID-19 virus is highly contagious so avoid any face-to-face communication. Most of the cases, you may be running your business from home, and your clients are doing the same.

Think about adapting to current market trends

Current market trends are going to be difficult to understand and predict, but this might work to your advantage. If you quickly spend the time to understand the current landscape of your market and the world, you can reoptimize your business’s positioning. Maybe your business can provide its product or services more remotely than you thought. Maybe a brand repositioning is even in order.

If you’re able to capitalize on this now, then when quarantine lifts you may have an entirely new revenue stream to leverage or a whole new business pathway. Your business could transform from one that is focused exclusively on in-person services and sales to one that approaches those sales from two angles: in person and/or online.

Look at your competition

Some businesses are suffering more than others right now. Study the ones that seem to be making it through this crisis and learn what they’re doing differently. Look at both your indirect and direct competition for the best understanding of what others are doing and which strategies seem to be the most effective. While some strategies may not apply cross industry use what you can and shift these strategies to fit your own needs.

The most important thing you can do right now is to listen to medical experts.

The most important thing you can do right now is to listen to medical experts. Keep yourself healthy, make sure you practice social distancing, and keep at-risk populations protected. Following all these guidelines likely means that you will be stuck at home with a lot more free time than before. Do not view this as a setback. Instead, look at this quarantine as an incredible opportunity to majorly level-up as an entrepreneur.

Spend your time reading advice from experts, researching other businesses and entrepreneurs who have accomplished what you want to, and dig through the data to gain a better understanding of your market and the competition you face. Take up business coaching, their experts care about your business and they want you to succeed through this pandemic. This is something you’re probably doing anyway.

For most successful entrepreneurs reading about business, researching the competition, and improving the self is just a full-time night job. The quarantine gives you an opportunity to condense even more of this into a shorter period. Leverage this to your advantage.

There are countless opportunities to adjust the macro strategy and positioning of your business in order to better match the competition. If you understand how your competitors position themselves during and after this crisis then you can get ready to have an advantage as businesses begin to return to normal operations.

Keep an open mind and stay positive.

The world is a scary place right now. Eventually, things will get better, most things will return to normal, and those things which permanently change are all things that you will be able to adapt to.

Entrepreneurship is always full of challenges and this is no different. Approach it like you approached any other roadblock. The fact that you’re reading this and thinking about how to make it through places you ahead of most.

Obviously the hope is that when things return to normal, those using the product for free will feel a sense of loyalty to the brand and will be ok paying to use the product. By taking a short-term loss in offering premium features and resources for free, B2B companies can increase brand awareness and secure long-term growth.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.