With millions of Americans receiving a vaccine against the coronavirus, many are eager for the world to go back to normal. As you plan what happens next for your business, craft a strategy that takes into account the lessons and challenges presented by COVID-19. You don’t want your business to limp along as it recovers. You should build back more resilient to face any future crisis. From marketing efforts that involve business thank you cards to a financial fail-safe, these ideas can reset your business strategy.
1. Evaluate the Impact of the Past
You don’t want to spend your business future playing defense against crisis after crisis. The pandemic has changed the way things work and caused many to deal with the unthinkable. You can use these past few months to evaluate your actions going forward. Rather than waiting to address potential challenges, use your knowledge of vulnerabilities in your company to devise strategies that take the offense against supply chain interruptions, labor shortages, economic slowdown and other crippling business events.
2. Reconfigure Your Budget
The pandemic left businesses of all sizes dealing with revenue shortages. In addition to lower sales volume, many companies faced extra expenses as they tried to create a safer work environment, employ social distancing measures or redefine how business was done. Your business finances need to take the advice of personal finances experts who advocate for having three months of operating expenses in an emergency fund at all times. Businesses that operate without much surplus may have a harder time getting a savings account to this threshold.
Going forward, reconfigure your operating budget to where more money is being put into an emergency fund. There are many things you may have had to do away with during the pandemic restrictions or safety measures. Draw upon these as starting points for lowering expenses. Reduce office supply orders, allow telecommuting for one or two days a week to reduce overhead costs and reduce the number of printer or copier leases you have. Small savings now (and over time) can add up to a sizeable emergency fund later.
3. Revisit Your Marketing Campaigns
In a post-pandemic environment, you may need to spend your marketing efforts trying to win back consumers that were lost during the last few months. Rather than create new products to attract new consumers, treat products or services known to be consumer favorites with special attention and have a re-launch campaign. Have your sales team use hand-signed business thank you cards to personalize your consumer appreciation. Grow your digital marketing campaigns and attract the 60% of consumers who are preferring to shop online and avoiding in-person contact.
4. Reevaluate Your Vendor and Partner Relationships
The impact of the pandemic might have strained your relationships with partners and vendors. You may not have maintained sizeable orders or vendors may not have been able to fill orders in a timely way. COVID-19 bears some of the responsibility for the shakeup, but you now have a better idea of which relationships are the most valued and which ones are effectively helping you move forward.
Some of your vendors may not bounce back as quickly as their competitors. If this is going to create problems with your ability to meet consumer demand, it could be time to make adjustments. For those partners who are valued, sending business thank you cards for being reliable during the pandemic can strengthen the relationship and open the door for potential negotiations down the road.
5. Decide To Thrive Instead of Survive
Adopt the mindset that your business is going to thrive during recovery rather than just survive. These strategies can help you do that. If you are looking to order high-quality greeting or thank you cards for your business, check out the selection at Cards for Causes.
