With Coronavirus now part of daily discussion most business owners have already asked themselves this question. How will my business survive coronavirus?

Some immediate personal adjustments to adopt social distancing, home working or homeschooling have been forced upon us. But what will happen if you don’t take the matter into your own hands and just leave things to the guidance?

If you’re in the toilet paper or sanitiser business, there’s a pretty good chance your company is going to survive, but what if you’re not? What if your normal product or service is no longer in high demand?

Crossing your fingers and hoping for the best is not an option. At least not a viable one that will help your business survive coronavirus

Make changes & make them now

Every business leader needs to make some changes and make them now. What we have to remember is many changes, and new priorities, are going to be positive.

The first point of action is not to panic or act rashly. This will only get in the way of what you need to be doing. While it is completely understandable to be concerned. As a professional your time is better spent getting prepared. Then doing the right thing for your specific business.

You need to understand that the government guidance for companies is biased to addressing people’s health and wellbeing. The guidance does not  consider or address your company’s health.

What you need to do!

What you need to do is this.

Filter misinformation delivered to you by less credible sources, and at times correct misinformed staff.

You also need to recognise that even if your business qualifies for some of the great support announced by the government, your company will need to get stronger and fitter right now, to benefit.

To satisfy criteria for some grants and loans you can expect to be asked to prove, in some way, that your business is affected directly by the Coronavirus, and not just suffering for another reason. You may be asked for copies of items such as business plans, budgets, cash flow forecasts. You may also be asked to demonstrate how you will pay it back, and provide security for some loans.

So now is the time to ensure you have a strong grasp of your company’s current position, and the options available to you.

Is my business essential? Should I have stopped trading?

Misinformation & vague guidelines have led to some leaders making mistakes. Mistakes that could seriously harm the future success of their business! Here we clarify the confusion around the terms “essential” & “necessary” when it comes to closing your business or continue trading. learn more

Actions to make

Make sure you have simple tools in place to review your sales pipeline, so you can ascertain which anticipated orders may no longer happen as (or when) you originally envisioned.

Make sure you have an uncomplicated way to assess the orders and commitments you already have, or will secure from the pipeline, and establish if they are to be fulfilled as originally planned or sold.

People with underlying health issues are at greater risk from Coronavirus (Covid-19). The same is true for businesses…

We’re big advocates of conducting regular business health checks. They keep your business fit & well, ready to capitalise on opportunities or adapt to market changes. When did you last health check yours? 

learn more

Ensure that you have fundamental financial information. Will the realistic sales forecasts and projected order fulfilment support your company’s ongoing overheads and costs. Will your cash or lending cover these costs?

Spending time right now to review each function of the business can identify what you need to be doing in the ’now’, ‘during’ and ‘recovery’ phases.

The during and recovery phase may feel like tomorrows problem, but some areas deserve thought now. For example, you may wish to review the credit you provide to all existing and new clients to increase control of this risk.

You may want to prepare the company management to provide support for staff who are affected by the serious illness or death of a family member, friend or work colleague.

You may want to plan for high levels of absence, or recruitment to expand areas of your business to support the necessary changes.

Reviewing your business can uncover positive opportunities

As you review the phases for each part of your business you can uncover further positive opportunities such as:

Sales & Marketing

Reviewing your pipeline and market may reveal that product or market ‘A’ may be about to experience a dip in sales, but with this positive insight, you may be able to direct marketing energy and sales resource to product or market ‘B’ which is in growth.

Clients are likely to be unable to complete face to face meeting, so you can get ahead and equip and train your team on video call etiquette…

You can increase your presence by advertising and lifting your profile to let your clients know you are still able to safely support them, and at the simplest level be at the front of their mind when we enter the recovery phase.

Right now, renewed energy can be applied to existing and new products or services, launched and promoted with a new set of perspectives that support the new concerns faced by your clients.

With potentially less time spent travelling, sales teams may be able to use that time to complete further product training or spend the extra time contributing to new initiatives.

Fulfilment

Reviewing your ‘order book’, the updated pipeline and marketing plans will clarify what is now needed and likely to be needed in the phases ahead, and resource can be adjusted and balanced now, rather than later.

New stronger relationships can be forged with your supply chain to secure ongoing supply and access to their flexibility and innovation.

If there is downtime or delays decisions can be made if contracts allow to lay staff off, or if safe to do so deploy them on related activities that you have never otherwise had time to do.

Financial & business management

By reviewing the current government and bank-backed schemes and resources available to help you may be able to address any anticipated strains on cash and staff retention. Improved business management should equip you with the evidence you will need to satisfy the criteria for some grants and funding support (such as interim revised business plan, sales forecasts, cash flow predictions).

The actions you take now could be the difference between your business surviving the coronavirus outbreak or not

Get free coronavirus leadership support from professional business consultants. learn more 

This is an opportunity to review your critical dependencies, address weaknesses such as dependency on specific staff or equipment. Identify your company’s overall strengths and weaknesses and use that to your advantage.

Clients or even further government decisions may force changes to your normal business, and more government guidance will inevitably follow. However, it is very clear that if you do not take matters into your own hands right now, the coronavirus is more likely to cause additional damage

What successful business leaders are doing

Successful business leaders are combining government guidance with improved business scrutiny, re-planning and positive actions.

They’ll also recognise that they may well need external leadership support, to help them achieve success, as their consumed by the unplanned additional workload covid19 has caused.

Often viewing things from a distance provides you with a better sense of perspective. That’s exactly why external leadership support is viewed as essential by the most successful business leaders.

In these uncertain times, one thing is for sure. That is the most succesfull business leaders are not shutting their eyes, crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. They’re taking the support they need to make positive steps to ensure their business not only survives, but is ready to capitalise on the immediate and future opportunities.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, need assistance in any specific area, or want to make your businesses stronger, contact us and find out more about our network, and how our resource solutions can support you to achieve your business goals.