Setting direct health concerns aside, it is almost clear now that the COVID-19 pandemic will not pass without causing some serious long-term economic and business consequences in its wake. Therefore, it becomes imperative that you must plan for the future of your business and try getting in the repair and rejuvenation mode now. 

Here’s a helpful eight-step guide to getting started

1. Adapt your services to the current situation

Across the world, the general public has been advised to stay and work at home that invariably poses huge difficulties to businesses. The situation is worse for businesses following the B2C model as they heavily rely on in-store, face-to-face interactions with clients. So, it becomes essential for these businesses to brainstorm different ways to deliver their products and services. 

One obvious example is that of cafes and restaurants that have started to offer free delivery, weekly or monthly subscription-style deals, discounts, and other incentives to stay ahead of their peers.

2. Find leads and customers ahead of time

There is no denying the fact that it could be the last chance for many businesses to build and nurture a new and powerful network of potential customers to maintain running of operations in a normal way. 

For this, they need to put more time and effort than ever to generate new leads consistently to ensure that they always have a big pool of potential customers on which they can rely once things have calmed down. The point is – you show your customers that you are calmly on top of things by looking for new clients at a time when a majority of your peers are going through a crisis.

3. Market your solutions with COVID-19 in mind

One of the best things that you can knowingly or unknowingly do for your business is to ask yourself whether your products and services could be of additional relevance or use in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. If you are about to introduce an altered service for the outbreak’s duration, it is time for you to adapt your marketing strategies to clearly reflect it.

Remember, flexible and increased marketing is also critical as of now as many individuals will wonder whether specific businesses are still operational. Therefore, it becomes all-important for you to make sure they know you’re still going strong and open.

4. Identify the primary and secondary challenges to your business

Before you get started with anything else, you must take out enough time to prepare a well-thought list of challenges your business might face. It is critical for you as a future-driven business to strategies for a series of possible scenarios and take every possibility into account.

Consider everything from difficulties in communication, hurdles in generating leads and customers, disruption of supply chains, and competition with other businesses in your market. All in all, the basic idea is to plan for every conceivable scenario and prepare for the worst irrespective of how you think the COVID-19 outbreak might affect your business and how it is going to pan out.

5. Make sure your services will still be relevant at later phases

It is highly important for you to remember that you must have a comprehensive and all-inclusive strategy in place for what’s possibly going to happen post pandemic along with how to survive as a profit-generating business during the outbreak. 

Don’t commit the mistake of assuming that everything will immediately fall into the same place the way they’d been before the outbreak once the threat to public health has passed.

6. Use alternative solutions to maintain daily operation

Undoubtedly, the ongoing pandemic will possibly disrupt your staffing, communication, supply chains, and travel arrangements if it hasn’t done so already. It’s just the right time for you to brainstorm creative solutions and alternatives instead of simply canceling business trips, events, and plans.

7. Plan solutions with several scenarios in mind

Don’t just wait for the worst to happen, plan ahead of times, and act now. Yes, right now! While you’re right to ascertain that no one can completely predict what’s exactly going to happen, you can always plan and strategize well in advance instead of being caught unaware and unprepared.

8. Implement out-of-the-box technology upgrades to keep communication flowing

With the potential threat of a huge majority, if not all, of your staff working from home at some point or another, you must have a clear vision and plan to make sure communication will remain as efficient as possible. 

With all the home-life distractions, chats and phone calls are not going to be fast enough. Consider using online platforms for your communication, interactions, and planning. Try out Google Docs for collaborative documents so that everyone in your business can view/edit and comment on, the likes of Stormboard for file sharing and brainstorming, and Asana or similar software for business planning so that everyone is on the same page.

Find out how Propel Guru is guiding businesses across the globe with its out-of-the-box digital marketing and lead generation strategies. To know more, call us now at +1 (604) 256-0821 or email us at hello@propelguru.com.