With each passing hour of uncertainty, we keep receiving new information about travel bans, large gatherings shut down and other areas that can cause a disarming amount of fear.
Now is not the time to panic, which will only get in the way of what you need to be doing. While it’s completely understandable to be worried, your best bet is to channel that anxious energy and get prepared NOW.
From your business side, it is vital to plan now so you can sustain the uncertainty of the economic swoon that is constantly shifting.
Earlier today on my webinar, I went over the 11 steps you MUST start doing in your business TODAY:
1. Communicate … Serve as the forefront of your business and community. Communicate, with clarity, to your team, customers, networks, suppliers, stakeholders and community. Speak from a place of solution and not from reactivity.
2. Be Positive … Panic and worry never helps. Look for small wins every hour. Sometimes less news is better. LEAD your people.
3. Know the Cycles … Understand what season you’re in. The life cycle of the market is 7-10 years.
4. Change … It is the only constant in life and you need to get ahead in all areas: products, services, pricing, delivery, staffing, etc.
5. Cut Back … Until we have a better idea of where this is going, pause spending. At this moment Cash is King. Look to see where you can reduce outlays and places where you can re-negotiate. But, you have to keep marketing and selling.
6. Extend Your Credit … Get it NOW while they are still lending … that includes credit lines and credit cards. To do this in your personal finances as well.
7. Staffing Cuts/Changes … Suspend bonus programs. Have your team take vacation. Pay cuts are an option as well. If you have to, layoffs can all at once or by attrition.
8. Plan Work From Home … Look to see how you have pivot all areas (customer service, meetings and reporting, banking and mail) to a virtual space.
9. Online or Deliveries … Postmates is seizing the opportunity. You should as well. People won’t come to you, you have to go to them.
10. Market and Sell … You HAVE to keep Marketing. This is the time to INCREASE not decrease. Create new offers and rates. Negotiate existing rates.
11. Repeat Business … Existing customers are BEST customers. HAVE to keep at all costs. Create exclusive deals for them. Look at bulk buys and getting cash upfront.
12. Common Sense and Compassion … Over deliver on customer service. CLEAN and don’t touch. Put people first. And save some toilet paper for the rest of us:)
There’s a lot to take in here. To dig deeper, spend the next hour by watching its entirety in the link below: