Ideas to Transition your Business during COVID-19

As businesses are being required to shut their doors to the public and people are working from home at an unprecedented rate – it’s become very clear that many businesses across various industries will be fighting to stay afloat during this period of uncertainty. More specifically, small businesses.

As I’ve had conversations with every one of our clients over the last week, it’s become clear that almost all of them will have to find new ways to deliver their product and/or service to their customers.

I’ve put together a list of ideas that several industries can implement into their business quickly in order to help mitigate revenue losses.

RESTAURANTS AND RETAIL 

• Offer a subscription service
• Offer free delivery
• Make items available to order online
• Create a separate line of business such as online cooking classes, personal shopping, and affiliated partnerships
• Re-negotiate leases with landlords

REAL ESTATE 

• Go virtual – digitize the open house experience
• Transition all in-person interactions to video conferencing with the camera on
• Adopt an e-signature platform
• Make content available online and keep audience updated

ECOMMERCE

• Open up more shifts throughout the day for order fulfillment limiting the amount of people working at the same time
• Isolate each person to one assigned work area to reduce the number of items being touched and possibly contaminated

INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES 

• Reach out to all commercial clients to find out how they’re transitioning to make sure they have the proper coverages in place to support claims
• Transition all in-person interactions to video conferencing with the camera on
• Adopt and e-signature platform
• Be helpful in recommending ways to avoid large loss of income claims by staying relevant with news and trends
• Be a solution resource and connect them to reliable people who can assist

MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTION 

• Similar to eCommerce: open up more shifts from day to night in order to limit the amount of people working together at the same time
•  Isolate each person to one assigned work area to reduce the number of items being touched and possibly contaminated

FITNESS

• Create online subscriptions with at home workouts
• Create downloadable meal plans with shopping lists included

EVENTS, CONFERENCES, NETWORKING GROUPS 

• Create virtual value by offering panel discussions via video conferences
• Ask attendees if it’s okay to share contact/business information with those registered for the event in order to create connections and possible sales relationships
• Create a Facebook or LinkedIn group by inviting currently registered and new leads where discussions can take place about the value of the event and networking group

I’m sure there is a lot I haven’t covered, so please feel free to lend a hand to businesses out there looking for answers.