Everyone’s first priority in the COVID-19 pandemic is physical health. We all need to do what we can to protect ourselves, our families, our friends and neighbors from the virus and speed their physical recoveries. We also need to deal with the emotional impacts as well by working with our social, neighborhood and religious organizations to maintain our mental and spiritual health.
After we deal with these top priorities we will want to deal with economic recovery. Our businesses are going to be hurt. This is not just our airlines or car manufacturers, but also our health care industry and many others. The list could go on and on. It is not just the big players like Delta, GM or UnitedHealth Group, but also thousands of small businesses, clinics, doctors and dentists. All these groups will be dipping deeply into reserves, inventories, credit limits and personal savings during this time to serve others and weather this storm. They will need our help to recover.
This is not a matter of avarice. We need a healthy economic environment to have the services and reserves to provide healthy environments and good health care during “normal” times and especially in “extraordinary” times.
We at the Colorado Center for Innovation in Community Capital (cc4icc.com) applaud the efforts now being made by government agencies and private industry to not only protect physical health, but also for developing extraordinary programs to assist in financing economic recovery. Individual states are developing programs right now that are often tailored for local needs. You should check with your state’s economic development group for what is happening locally. The Small Business Administration and the US Department of Agriculture are also working on some very aggressive programs that small business owners should link into immediately and watch for new developments.
As much as we feel the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to, as soon as practical, turn our attention to the future. Right now is a great time to think about rebuilding and improving your business. The current crisis has certainly shown you some weaknesses in your business, but it probably has also shown you some new opportunities. These could include opportunities to allow employees to work at home, ways to communicate with customers and prospects digitally, new ways to deliver your products and services and new ways to reduce costs while keeping quality and service high in difficult circumstances.
The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to change working and buying habits. It is hard to know what will change and what changes will persist. There will be a lot of charlatans out there that will be trying to sell you on the idea that they can tell you what will change and how to get ready for it. All you need to do is join their forum, buy their book or pay for their seminar. Frankly, they don’t know. They especially don’t know how general trends will impact you and your business.
The keys for your business recovery are:
- Identify what weaknesses showed up during this crisis
- What opportunities do you think or have you heard might have shown up
- Ask your customers, suppliers, regulators and investors directly about these
The most important issue is the last one. Ask you stakeholders what they think and what they need. When habits are changing the most important thing to do is to keep in contact with your customers. Direct two-way communication is best, but it is time consuming. Digital communication/marketing is a great tool to initiate the conversation, get general feedback and set the agendas for one-on-one discussions.
If you need help setting up digital communications/marketing, we would be happy to help. In any case, don’t wait on us. Start talking now to all your stakeholders – that is your customers, suppliers and investors. Call them or email them now and find out how they are faring through this mess. Ask them what they are thinking and how you can help them as a supplier, a customer or as a friend.
The Colorado Center for Innovation in Capital (CCICC) helps small businesses raise capital. For more information visits www.cc4icc.com or email [email protected].