What can we do as retailers and suppliers to protect our businesses during these uncertain times? Alongside the flurry of announcements from the government on support packages, there are things we can ourselves to be able to more quickly respond to the short, medium and longer-term implications of this crisis. With the situation changing on a daily basis, we need a fluid approach to our plans. There will also be an opportunity for some during this time that you need to be ready to capitalise on.
It goes without saying that the health of yourself and your loved ones is your first priority. However, doing the same thing as you’ve always done is just not going to be enough for business owners and suppliers to survive these challenging times. Just remember to assess the upside risk as well as the downside risk of any action you can take.
The stress of events that feel out of our control should not be underestimated so my first recommendation is to take a proactive approach to controlling whatever is in your remit. Do whatever it takes to foster your best positive mental attitude to getting through, whatever it takes. For some that is ‘doing’ to counteract the worrying.
So here goes with some recommendations:
1. Do not stop marketing and selling during this period but shift your messaging and your approach to be in tune with your customer’s mindset.
Of course, you can’t ignore cash flow and you will need to realign marketing budget to reflect changed circumstances but stopping all marketing will damage future potential of sales and the ability to respond to pent up demand if things change quickly.
You will no doubt be reviewing expenditure. Recession forces us to review everything for efficiency and effectiveness, but I would rank marketing investment as essential and not optional spending if you are in a position to do so.
2. Is to obsess about your customer and think about your messaging strategy in this crisis period. What good things can you do to reassure and help your customer right now so that when it’s appropriate to start pushing selling messages your relationship is in a good place.
If you have time on your hands, get on the phone and speak to your customers and serve them differently
3. When you are selling to your customer think about how you can offer added value during these times. It’s tempting to slash prices but that will harm your customer base in the longer term. Get creative with the service benefits you can offer, especially in these stressful times.
4. Start right now to think about the marketing and messaging you can do for when things start to improve (and they will). How can you appropriately be front of mind right now through to the recovery period. Make the most of this enforced downtime by working on your content marketing calendar. Escalate your marketing messages but move them from being purely ‘transactional’ to more service and added value. Acknowledge the crisis and don’t ignore it in your communications.
5. Take the money for your business. Take whatever is being offered to support you or your business in whatever format eg tax relief, mortgage holiday etc even if you don’t think you need it right now, things can change very quickly.
6. This is probably the hardest one. Review the upside and downside risks of laying off staff. If keeping staff destroys your cash flow and you fold, you won’t be helping them or yourself in the long term.
7. Reforecast 12mths ahead from now – this is your new budget.
Think short/medium/long term and reflect different rates of sale/cashflow accordingly as the crisis peaks and the tide starts to turn. Your plans for current plans are likely to look very different from your new month 10-12 plans. Plan for slower or quicker recovery options, this is unknown territory. Don’t forget to plan for the worst-case scenario.
8. Use this downtime productively to fix the holes in your leaky bucket. Look at every area where you are losing money – wastage, inefficiencies, not converting customers etc. Get your website looking great, get that welcome programme going you’ve not got around to doing. Enjoy the creativity of problem solving.
9. Scale up your marketing where you can. This is the opportunity to within a recession period as 80 per cent of businesses will be cutting back. The cost of marketing will come down (and already has for Facebook and Google Ads). Don’t forget to constantly review the upside and downside risks to maximise your increased spend in the best place. Your approach may need to change depending on the circumstances.
10. If you have the budget now might be the perfect time for direct mail. Long-form communication to your customers with time on their hands might be a welcome distraction and also gives you the opportunity to engage and inspire for when things get back to the new normal.
11. Look for the positive. Even in the most challenging sectors. How can you adapt and reinvent yourself during the short term? If you’re a restaurant – can you do home deliveries? If you’re a health club – can you do virtual classes? How can you capitalise on pent up demand in certain sectors?
12. PREPARE FOR YOUR MORGAN FREEMAN MOMENT!
Think about all of those blockbuster disaster movies. There’s always a moment when the sun rises amidst the wreckage with the Morgan Freeman character leading the battered and bruised into a new day. What is your Morgan Freeman moment going to look like? You need to be there and ready to act when the crisis is over.
by Chris Cardell, Cardell Media & Katy Ingram, DCA Executive Board Leader
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