Let’s face it; We’re in crappy times right now. The Coronavirus has hit us all hard. And there’s lots of good advice out there to help you in your business. I must admit though, some of it seems a little… fluffy.
Staying positive, setting goals and making a plan are all well and good: but what if you have zero clue what it is that you can actually do with your business now? You’ve been told to close the doors or there are less and less folks coming your way due to social isolation and lockdowns. You’re thinking you need to get online, but how? How do you even show up now? And isn’t there another option? Something else you could do?
Do not despair! I’ve pulled together the best advice I have on all the things you could do in your business right now, that might just help you through to the other side of this bloody mess. And actually, when you do get to the other side (which you will!), some of these ideas will mean you have new sources of income on top of your actual business model! Whoop de doop! There is light at the end of the tunnel but for now, here’s a match…
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Practical Advice
- Ask regular customers to continue to pay as normal and accrue hours that you will deliver at a later date. This means that your business will still be there when things go back to normal.
- Offer take-out and no-contact delivery options, whatever your business is.
- Create DIY packages with products and ensure you have the capability to checkout digitally so there is no need for the exchange of cash or contact with customers
- Go digital with your gift vouchers so customers can buy online without having to come into the store (try sendowl.com if you don’t have an ecommerce website)
- Provide customers with the facility to book and pay for appointments later in the year, to keep your books full and provide much needed cash injections right now. I use Acuity and love it!
- Move to Zoom or Google Hangouts for non-physical client appointments, especially if you’re in an industry that can deliver digitally. Record those sessions, and consider setting up a membership site so customers can access your services, even when you’re not live.
- Explore private sector grants in addition to local government support. There’s lots out there, for example; Facebook are offering $100 million to small businesses during this time.
Get Creative with Your Skills
How can you take what you do now and do it in a new and exciting way?
- Food & drinks businesses offer ‘cook-along’ / ‘make-with-me’ sessions for less complex dishes or cocktails. Create a PDF shopping list of items available online to accompany your videos and use affiliate links to boost the income.
- Move from b2b wholesale to b2c packages – listen out on social, what is needed right now?
- Work in collaboration with other businesses that complement your own to create buzz, new products or giveaways
- If you work in an industry where events etc. Are being cancelled, how can you support those customers? Is there a way to leverage your knowledge and position yourself as the ‘go to’ expert in your field? People will remember who helped them during this difficult time. People buy people, so be the person people want to buy from.
- Make recommendations for alternatives – i.e. gyms are closed. Become an affiliate for home gym equipment and make recommendations for those still training at home. The same applies to beauty therapists, hairdressers and similar fields where you can’t physically provide the service, but you can recommend products, show customers how to use them and then monetise those recommendations through affiliate marketing, paid mini-courses and memberships.
- Teach what you know – do you have skills in your business or personal life that you can share digitally and earn from?
- Pre-sell ideas – if a project is going to take a little longer, presell it to both quantify the idea and to fund the time to put it into practice
- Pivot to the periphery customers – people now have children at home, could you provide something in line with your business that helps parents in entertaining and educating their children?
Communicate & Leverage
- Look for sponsors for digital content, like podcasts and videos, especially if you have a large social media following. Make this time to become an influencer in your field.
- Create content, courses, podcasts, videos and eBooks, plus build community in the form of groups, group events and memberships – stay visible and keep selling, even if it’s not your core offer
- Do more background work, optimise and plan for the future – tackle SEO on your website, write blog posts and automate processes. If things are slow, this is an ideal time to tackle those projects you have been putting off. Invest in this time, don’t waste it. Instead, consider this time for you or your team to be invested in improving products, services, digitising and finding efficiencies
- Communicate and market – make sure you’re telling customers, old and new, what you’re offering right now. Don’t assume people will know. Be clear, concise and consistent in your messaging
Whatever you do, don’t disappear. Now is the time to stay visible because this won’t last forever.
Do what you can around childcare and managing other day to day things. Perhaps bulk create content when you can, and drip feed it to your social media over the coming week.
There’s always a way. You are strong and resilient and creative. Keep it up. Keep going. This won’t last forever.
Want more? Watch ‘Pivot Don’t Pause’ over on my Facebook page.
