“You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.” – Zig Ziglar

Step One: Positive Communication

During these unprecedented times, your vision and goal must lean toward positive communication with your team. Encourage passion and enthusiasm, create stronger more honest bonds with your team, and encourage them to do the same with their teammates. This time is about survival first, but then we must break through and SURVIVE! Tell your team how you plan on doing this. Keep your team intact, now is not the time to be letting people go – it is the time to build and develop stronger relationships through open communication.

“Business model innovation is constant in this economy.  You start with a vision of a platform.  For a while, you think there is a line of sight, and then it’s gone.  There’s suddenly a new angle.” – Beth Comstock

Step Two: Change Your Business Model

Change is inevitable, Change has been forced upon us, we don’t have a choice, we’ve had to adapt the current new Normal, we will need to change again to adapt to the new world after Lockdown. Stick to the formula that WORKS: (DxV) + F > R. Which is short for Dissatisfaction x Vision + First Steps is greater than Resistance. Now is not the time to resist, it’s the time to get that Vision into ACTION.

“The option to work from home when needed, or to try a different lifestyle without having to change jobs, is a win for everyone.” –  Scott Berkun

Step Three: Virtual is the New Normal

Here is a helpful tip: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TECHNOLOGY. In today’s times business owners need the technological sphere to take them from the physical to the virtual and thrive in the process. Manage your team virtually – set up Zoom accounts, check in with them once a day, people are isolated – make them feel connected! Carry on with your business “norms” like reporting and planning, do this virtually using the plethora of tools that the Internet provides.

“Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is king.” – Unknown 

Step Four: Cashflow Management

We coach our clients to have three months cashflow at any time. Now more than ever business owners need to be looking at contracts – cutting costs where applicable. Extend credit if you are able to! Make sure you are still paying the important roles in your business – your strategic planners, your landlord and big suppliers. Postpone major purchases and change your cost structures!

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – R. Buckminster Fuller

Step Five: Marketing Must Shift

CHANGE.YOUR.MESSAGE! Whatever your ads were saying three months ago, no longer apply and must be shifted to fit within the new economic and global climate. Be compassionate in your message, your customers and partners are in the phase of the “unknown” – what is important is to reassure them that you can still provide the best service possible. You need to be doing much more marketing than before, it will probably cost less than before but it will reach more people. Lastly – MEASURE! Know what is working and what is not.

“The two main pillars of great salesmanship are being competitive and compassionate.” – Steli Efti

Step Six: Sales with Compassion

Change your tone! Think like a customer – what are their worries? Financial? Health? The fear of the unknown? Talk to THEM! Focus on your customers needs. This is still selling, and continue to sell – you do not need to feel guilty for carrying on with business, as your business has created jobs and revenue that benefits many people. Now is the time to build relationships with your customers – get to know them better, find out what they like and don’t like and play to that area.

“Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.” – Kevin Stirtz

Step Seven: Customer Service for Repeat Business

Your repeat business = profit! Look after your existing client and customer base – now is the time to strengthen those relationships. Talk to them, ask them how you can help! Get your team to be empathetic toward your clients and customers. Think of ways you can help them and how can you pivot and change your business to retain your customers! We’re in a virtual world, your customer can’t touch and feel your product, they can’t see your service – use technology to make things visible. Do something that takes your customer to place where they can visualize and grasp what it is you are offering.

“Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss.“ – Lee Iacocca

Step Eight: Get The Most From Your People

Your people right now are in fear, they’re worried about their job, they’re worried about the virus, they’re worried about their family, they’re worried about everything! You can’t remove or change reality, but you’ve got to make certain that you’re leading your people away from the fear, you need to give them something to focus on, get their mindset focused forward and the fear will start to dissipate. Make sure you are going through this at a level that you are getting the results you need. You need to set new standards for your people, what was OK before is no longer, you’re going to have to change what’s acceptable, you’re going to have to change the standards, they need to work harder and they need to achieve more.

“The strength of your mind determines the depth of your desperation! The weaker the mind, the deeper the desperation!” – Mehmet Murat ildan

Step Nine: Build A Strong Mindset

What are you doing every day to learn to see this as an opportunity not a crisis? We need to be focused right now, we need to be looking forward and taking ACTION. Daily rituals are a great way of building and maintaining a strong mindset. Attend Webinars, connect with like-minded people, reach out for help when needed. You need to be adapting, and that means being open and willing to LEARN! Focus on the small wins everyday, manage your expectations but still set GOALS! Planning your way through and out of this will assure that your mind is where it needs to be: positive and determined. Grab onto the opportunities that present themselves and create your own victories! Take ACTION!

“Going into business without a business plan is like going on a mountain trek without a map or GPS support – you’ll eventually get lost and starve!” – Kevin J. Donaldson

Step Ten: Plan for 90 Days

Right now, business owners are in survival mode, with many wondering how they’ll get through the next week, let alone 90 days. However having a vision and goal is the driving force that keeps opportunities growing! Ask yourself:

  • What do I need to sell in the next 90 days?
  • How do I market for the next 90 days?
  • How do I have to do it differently to survive these next 90 days?
  • What are people buying?
  • What is urgent to people?
  • What do I need to deliver for the next 90 days to get me through this thing?

You need to understand that for the next 90 days you may need to be an entirely different business – and that is OK! Acceptance is the key to kick-starting our brains and our willpower into generating strategic planning that works for the current climate.

“A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” – Warren Buffett

Step Eleven: Look to Invest

These are trying times, but business owners and individuals looking to invest need to keep their eye on the prize. Companies are going up for sale and with them their customers are also up for sale. As an individual looking to invest, now IS the time to be putting those dream-boards into reality as you have the opportunity to own your own business TODAY!

Existing business owners need to be closely watching their competitors and peers, those that are closing down still have an existing customer base who will still be needing that service and/or product. You need to be positioned to make the most of these opportunities!

 

TAKE ACTION TODAY! Not tomorrow, not next week, but NOW. Do not wait on this, the speed that this virus has been attacking humans, the speed that this virus is attacking economies is the same speed that you need to be running at right now, you need to be moving with speed with urgency.

Book a FREE one-on-one coaching session with Duncan McKechnie from ActionCOACH Ilminster TODAY and let ActionCOACH take your business from crisis mode to thriving.