The effects of the pandemic on businesses have been devastating. Since it first broke out last year, no small or big business has been safe from its effects. Some have even closed down because of the lockdowns which prevented them from getting any profit.
Business owners have been working overtime to keep their businesses afloat. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a small, corner café or an integrated mental health care facility inside a county clinic — no one’s safe from the lack of activity because of the lockdowns. Businesses should do all they can to keep working, in spite of the pandemic if they’re lucky enough to remain open.
If you aren’t a healthcare facility or an essential business but you’re still open, here’s how you can continue operating. Read these for tips on how to keep your business up in such a way that no pandemic can stop you.
Stopping the Pandemic’s Effects on Your Business
The hardest challenge to face during the pandemic is keeping your doors open to customers. If big business has been affected heavily, what more the small businesses?
Yelp’s Economic Impact Report, released last year, does not forecast a positive outlook for most businesses. According to the report, about 60% of the affected businesses during the pandemic are in danger of staying closed for good. Small businesses that got caught in the lockdown won’t even be able to return once the new normal starts settling in.
A business struggling to operate right now should learn to go back to the basics. Re-assess your company’s services and find products that can provide what people are looking for right now. For instance, people are looking to protect themselves from the virus. Products like disinfectants and sanitizers are going big right now.
Going Around the Biggest Hurdles
Aside from the pandemic, another issue that’s bringing difficulties to business owners today is a divide between people of different ethnicity.
COVID-19 has been unforgiving for these businesses as most of them felt the gravity of socio-economic factors that have been compounded. The solution for these businesses lies in reviewing their business practices. They should make these reflect their commitment to keep and make people safe.
In the spirit of adding value to services, businesses can also add services that seek to help customers feeling stressed and employees that are under duress. Free resources like readily available help for employees with unhealthy levels of stress are a good way of showing that your business cares.
Looking for New Business Channels
Not all businesses have a strong following these days; for instance, there are companies that have not been doing well because no one requires their services. Those companies that are handling conferences and in-person meetings are obviously not doing a lot these days.
Travel agencies are a good example of businesses offering services that have become a bit redundant due to the pandemic. The key to staying alive, in such cases when a business offers services like these, is to diversify. Seek to offer services that are close in nature to your core business but adjusted to fit in a situation like the pandemic.
Innovating Your Business to Survive
In another case, travel agencies that have lost their customers can regain them by offering services that may not continue after the pandemic but are a welcome twist to the traditional way of travel. Some do that by bringing delicacies from other places to their craving customers. Others offer virtual tours to places that locked-in people cannot visit.
It’s customer engagement and a constant reminder of your business and services that can keep you afloat during the pandemic. It also adds a new value and recall to your business that’s sure to have your clients return for more.
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Re-purposing Your Business
There are cases where businesses have been used to help front liners in the fight against COVID-19. Every bit helps, and if you’ve got room to help medical personnel, why not? This might be the case with hotels or motels that have plenty of vacancies.
Instead of letting those rooms go to waste, why not offer them for hospitals or medical workers working nearby to stay in? If you need to profit, you can create arrangements with the hospital or the local government to offer your vacant rooms as places to stay. If you want, you can lower your fees as a way to help.
Businesses should learn to adjust during the times when COVID-19 is the major situation. In these cases, there’s no shame in saying your business needs help. You only need to learn how to make your business offer services that are of value during this pandemic.