Step up, Stand out, & Lead Through Times of Crisis
It’s during the most difficult times that we have to be the most creative. As small business owners, we must create solutions that will allow our businesses to not only survive, but to thrive, and set us on a path for continued growth. The way you handle a time of crisis in your business will set the tone for the months and years ahead, for your employees, for your clients, and for all of those potential clients who will hear your remarkable story.
In the words of Winston Churchill, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
ACKNOWLEDGE THE SITUATION
Look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Analyze how your business will be impacted.
Acknowledge that you are responsible for leading your team and your business through the crisis, and successfully to the other side.
This too shall pass, but if you don’t acknowledge the situation and take action, it will pass, and you’ll be left wondering what happened to your business.
ANALYZE CASH FLOW
What can you afford if...?
How will you allocate funds to make it through one month, two months, 6 months?
Where can you cut expenses that won’t impact the long-term growth of your business?
What projects can you put on hold that are not critical to the here and now?
If you need additional funds, where will you turn?
Make a plan.
OPTIMIZE YOUR TEAM
Focus on working as efficiently as possible.
Adjust employee schedules and internal tasks to maximize efficiency.
Minimize hours for employees who do not provide the most value.
Make some tough decisions. Have you been holding on to an employee who is not worth what you’re paying them, but he or she has been with you so long that you’ve been putting off the inevitable? Now is the time to part ways.
STRATEGIZE
Do not let the grass grow under your feet.
Rely on your closest advisors to help you see things from a different perspective; to give you ideas that will help your bottom line.
Direct your attention and emotions to strategic problem solving, making wise decisions that will carry your business, rather than reactionary decisions that will bury it.
Get creative and offer your clients a new service that meets their needs right now. It’s their crisis too.
Don’t ever stop marketing but do consider a temporary change to your message. Acknowledge your awareness of the situation, not only as it relates to your business, but to your clients and everyone who is impacted.
Put your outreach program into high gear and show your clients what you are willing to do to help them.
Look at your most profitable and least profitable services. Adjust services that are too costly to deliver when volume is low. Provide value for your clients but make smart decisions for your business.
Get your clients involved in the solution, while limiting refunds and generating immediate cash.
If you take deposits, offer to keep the deposit on the client’s account until the next visit.
When someone cancels, offer to hold the deposit on account and increase the value by a certain percentage, which will be applied to the next reservation. (Example: Add 25% value to a $50 deposit so the client will have $62.50 applied to their next reservation, instead of $50.)
If the client keeps the deposit on file, let them know you are adding their name to a drawing for free services.
Sell gift certificates, and for every $100 gift certificate, put the client’s name into a drawing for a big gift certificate, good for free services with a value that won’t break the bank. To determine your grand prize, calculate the number of gift certificates you will need to sell in order to cover the giveaway, and increase cash on hand.
As a way to honor every person who buys a gift certificate, you could sell a $100 gift certificate that’s worth $120 when the client uses it.
Put on that entrepreneurial hat that got you into business in the first place. Get creative and blaze a new trail in this time of uncertainty. Come from a place of support, be a business with a heart, and provide a new service that will meet the immediate needs of your clients.
BE TRANSPARENT
Acknowledge the situation with your leadership team.
Ask your leadership team what they’re worried about.
Address employee concerns with answers that are truthful and that inspire them to roll up their sleeves and help.
Don’t sugar coat your answers but use words that instill trust and confidence.
Explain the plan.
Let them see you sweat, just a little, and then lead your team, taking it one day at a time.
Now, go back to the beginning and do it all over again, until you’re on the other side of the turmoil. Just because you made a plan when the crisis began, don’t be afraid to pivot and address a situation you couldn’t have anticipated. This is new territory, but it won’t be the only time you’ll face a crisis in your business. Use times of crisis to reevaluate and be prepared to set your business on a springboard into a bright and successful future.
