Can we stop talking about COVID already? Actually, no. Despite vaccinations moving apace, France is on its third lockdown and they are not alone. The CDC’s Dr. Walensky makes an emotional plea to Americans as COVID cases rise again. This is discouraging news for those who were planning their huge, reopening ceremony.
That is no excuse to wallow in self-pity and sink into a stupor of despair. You still have your business and that means the fight isn’t over. You just have to accept that business as usual is not coming back as soon as you had hoped. As a business owner, you have to be prepared for ups and downs. You also have to remove the notion of business as usual from your vernacular. In the real world there is no such thing.
Successful businesses are always riding the chaos wave. Every day brings a new challenge. With every transaction comes a new threat. Business as usual is a myth. If you want your business to prosper well into the future, learn to ride the chaos wave even if COVID doesn’t go away as soon as you hoped, here is how to get things back on track, now, and for the chaos waves to come:
Solidify Your Sales
Sales is not just a department in your company. Sales is your company. This is doubly true in a time when business is far from usual. That is when you need the best sales people money can buy. If that does not describe your team, invest heavily in sales training until it does. When the economy slows down and you find yourself riding the chaos train, the only way to stay on track is for your sales team to rise above the noise and bring home the contracts.
Your investment can’t stop at training. You also have to invest in higher salaries and incentives. You have to keep that team working at their best during a time when business is at its worst. If there was ever a time to trot out that vacation to Fiji, bad times are the best times. You don’t need great sales people when everyone wants to buy. You need your sales people doing their best work when people are hesitant to buy. There are a lot of things you have to cut when things go pear shaped. The sales department should not be one of them.
Develop a Plan
The way for your business to survive in uncertain times is to have a plan. Part of that plan is to have finances stashed away for when cash flow takes a dive. If you are only breaking even you are really losing money. It is a slow, internal bleed that only becomes apparent when things start to go very badly. If your business can’t afford to go the next three months without making any money, it can be said that you are only three months away from bankruptcy. That is not a plan. That is treading water. No one can survive doing that indefinitely.
It is not just a matter of money. You need a plan for if one of your key people can no longer fulfill their duties. You can’t just hope everyone stays healthy and motivated. Theater productions have understudies for when key actors get sick. They have a lot of built in redundancy. Run your company more like a theater and the show will always go on.
Practice Flexibility
If something is too rigid, it will break when pressure is applied. That also applies to your business. If you are married to a certain way of doing things, the divorce will be catastrophic when those things change. Absolutely everything is subject to change. If your business can’t change with the times, it doesn’t have long for this world.
When things are going smoothly, it would be beneficial for you to try new things. They might not work. But it doesn’t matter because things are going well. The important thing is to find new and different approaches so that you can change things up when change is forced upon you. Never get too comfortable with business as usual.
Even before things start going sideways, solidify your sales force. Develop a plan. And practice flexibility. Do that, and your business will stay on course even as the chaos wave overtakes your competition.
