As the pandemic rages on, many entrepreneurs continue to struggle to figure out the best way that they can ride it out. The key to making it through hard times—low sales, customers leaving/not having the budget to afford your products or services– is sticking to the fundamentals of your business. This way, the entrepreneur will be able to continue even though the future may seem uncertain.
With that, we’ve put together five tips that can help maintain your business focus during a crisis.
1. Organize Company Funds for Lean Times
Your company’s CFO (or yourself, if your company structure doesn’t have one) will need to make some decisive moves to streamline your operations in this new normal. The role will call some a good hard look at the company’s finances and making forecasts– don’t project for a rosy path. Stick to the reality you’re facing now because these will be the basis for some tough decision-making:
- Tap some lines of credit. You need to buy yourself some time (ideally at least three months’ worth of operating costs) while you raise more capital.
- Divest. Stick to your core business and shed off all the extras. You’ll need to be lean during lean times.
- Curb expenditure. Every expense has to be prioritized against another, with the higher value being given to the ones that generate income and ensure the most liquidity.
2. Make Every Customer Count
When a business goes through a crisis like we are seeing today, it is the perfect time to implement creative ways to stay afloat.
Regardless of what your business status currently is, you need to create a way that will ensure that every new customer you have stays with you. Implement customer onboarding. With a shrinking customer base, making sure every single one stays loyal will make you more money if you’re able to keep ahead of customer acquisition cost. Even with a small sales and accounts team, automating your processes with customer onboarding software can make your company more efficient while ensuring customer retention. When you do, your company will be able to manage the following goals:
- Increasing up sales
- Growing your business Net Promoter Score
- Growing score for customer satisfaction
- Decreasing overall churn from customers
- Recovering business costs
- Increasing revenue
3. Integrate Remote Work
During the current crisis, no industry has some remote workplace set up. Thanks to current technology, this shift can be conducted. But you need to be able to make an effort for it to work. This means you need to implement the needed software and equipment to get up and running, of course, but make sure that your processes are also reviewed to ensure that remote work won’t be disruptive.
If you’re a tech-based business, it will be much easier to allow staff to work remotely on a full-time basis. This will cut down on costs to maintain an office space to work out of.
It all boils down to that during a crisis; adjustments are necessary no matter how little or big they seem. While adapting to the new workplace, you will be able to come out stronger, leaner, and more efficient after a crisis.