4 Ways to Help Your Business Recover From COVID-19

The coronavirus outbreak has thrown the world into chaos, bringing with it a time of economic uncertainty. Businesses have had no choice but to furlough employees left, right and centre, and there are growing concerns over how long the global recession could last. 

With this in mind, it’s vital for businesses to think about the future and prepare for a post-COVID-19 landscape. But, how can you prepare without knowing for certain when the pandemic is going to be over? 

Well, we’re here to help. While it may be incredibly difficult to predict what’s going to happen, there are certain things each type of business can do to ensure they stay recession-proof over the coming months. Here are four to get you started. 

1. Think About Your Clients

The coronavirus pandemic is affecting everyone, everywhere – and that includes your clients.

As a small business owner, it’s important to consider the impact that the pandemic will have had on them, analysing how their needs have changed and what your business can provide for them once it’s over. 

If you run a property surveying business, for example, you might need to adapt your approach to how you work with your clients. During the pandemic, due to social distancing restrictions, you may see a drop in the number of surveys you need to conduct and business as a result. 

However, by thinking about your clients and implementing new ways of communicating with them during and after the pandemic, you could see a big difference in terms of both loyalty and profitability. 

2. Don’t Give Up On Potential Leads

Due to the overwhelming amount of uncertainty the coronavirus outbreak has brought with it, you may think it’s more important to focus on your existing clients rather than bring in any more. 

While this will largely depend on the type of business you run, generally speaking, abandoning potential leads at this time isn’t such a good idea. If anything, you should be chasing them down harder than before. 

Therefore, if you have any potential leads in mind, continue to nurture them. Let them know that your business is tackling the situation head-on and demonstrate what you have done to adapt your professional approach. That way, they’ll be more likely to want to work with you once the pandemic is over.

3. Create New Sales Channels

If the coronavirus outbreak has taught businesses anything, it’s that they need multiple sales channels. If you run a restaurant, for instance, and rely on customers coming in and out of your brick-and-mortar location, then you’re obviously going to lose a significant amount of your business during the lockdown. 

Therefore, tackle the situation head-on by creating another type of sales channel for your business to utilise during and after the pandemic. Whether you sign up to a food delivery service like Deliveroo or offer a contact-free delivery service yourself, flexibility is a vital commodity in business – especially during the trying times we currently find ourselves in. 

Once you have created your new sales channel, don’t forget to broadcast and market it via your website and social media channels. If your customers don’t know you’re still open for business, they may start to look elsewhere in order to meet their demands. 

4. Prepare For An Increased Demand

While the COVID-19 outbreak may have seen huge numbers of businesses lose customers, it’s important to remember that this is all only temporary. It’s obviously important right now to cut back on certain areas of the business in order to save money, but be careful not to cut back too much – you want to ensure your business is still afloat by the time the pandemic is over. 

Talking of which, when the world can finally go back to normal, you should expect your business to see a sharp increase in demand. After all, the millions of people who have been stuck at home will be itching to get back out there and utilise the businesses they would have done had the pandemic not hit. 

Therefore, it’s important to prepare your business to meet this level of demand. By predicting how many sales you’re likely to get, and how much traffic your website is likely to generate, you can ensure you have the stock, manpower and services to meet the demands of your customers once COVID-19 is over.