How to pivot quickly to weather the storm during Coronavirus

By Joy Moore

As we move into a new form of society with self-isolation, social distancing, pubs and clubs closed, more and more we need to look at online options.  Not just for buying our necessities but also for the way we work and communicate.

Whilst there are a lot of companies that already fully embrace online practices and working remotely for some companies this will be a massive change to their ‘norm’.  If companies are not prepared then this could seriously impact their business more than the current climate already has.  

As SMB’s co-director Jeffrey Atizado recently stated, ‘These are difficult times and business owners need to be able to pivot quickly to weather the storm.  People will adapt to new behaviours and ways of doing business. We need to move quickly and find innovative solutions to survive.’ 

Companies need to look at what online options they currently have and what they need to look at moving to.  If they don’t already, can they sell online? Is their website current? How do they have team meetings and communicate especially, if people need to work from home?  

Some of the questions you can ask are:

Are you in the Hospitality business?

• Do you have systems in place for home delivery/drive-through pickup?

Are you in the Retail industry?

• Do you sell your products online?  
• Do you sell through other marketplaces as well like Amazon?  
• What systems can you invest in to help centralise and consolidate those sales channels?  
• What systems will give me my benchmark reports?  
• Do you have a brick and mortar shop, would moving to a 3PL assist you in fulfilling your orders?

Are you a Wholesaler with distribution requirements?

• Do you need to look at a rostering system for your staff to meet the social distancing demands?

Are you a service-based business? 

• Do you provide training?  Have you considered doing web-based training?

What methods of communication will work for staff working remotely?

• Email, phone, direct messaging (Slack, Teams, Google Chat etc), video conference call (Zoom, Google Hangouts, BlueJeans). 
•  Do your current communications have the capacity to adapt? 

SMB Consultants are specialists in Retail, Wholesale, Online and Hospitality and can help you navigate through these challenging times. We also have a remote working team based in Sydney, Hervey Bay, Sunshine Coast, Auckland and the Philippines so we know what systems work to continue functioning as a team.

Please reach out at any time during these unprecedented times so we can discuss some methods to keep your business going and your team working together.