Buckle up your business with survival strategies

Vaccines have already been developed to beat the menacing Coronavirus pandemic. But even with the COVID jabs, we’re still far from getting back to where we used to be. Millions of jobs have been lost, millions of people have been displaced, billions and trillions worth of businesses were destroyed and tragically more than 2.21 million have lost their lives.

The end of this tragic pandemic is still far from over with the virus mutating to deadlier and more transmissible forms such as those found in Britain, South Africa, Brazil and Japan.

With these developments, businesses should brace for more challenges and adopt survival strategies to sail them through till things get better.

Road map

You need a road map so you won’t get lost in the chaos of things but rather reach your destination—successful survivor.

For starters, experts suggest doing a strategic approach, which could be anything from focusing on a nar niche market to keeping it low cost, to offering products or services with better qualities.

Moving forward, staying visible would be the next order of the day and this can be done through effective marketing. Some would cut corners to reduce cost in light of decreased revenues, but bear in mind that getting your products or services out there is very essential such that marketing plays an important role. It is just a matter of figuring out which marketing plan will have best results vis-à-vis the available budget, no matter how small.

Something has to give and as the business starts resuscitating, it’d be just appropriate to breathe more life into it by updating your marketing strategy so that soon you’d be up and running again.

The word of the sages: “Bread is to man as marketing is to business.”

So, no matter how bad the times are, marketing will keep the business buoyed because it enables you to stay in the loop with your customers, spot potential new ones and get everyone’s attention for you to drive home your sales pitch and convince them how much they need your product or services or why they should prefer your products or services over the competition.

Collaborate & Optimise Budget

Another thing to consider is collaboration.

Collaborating or creating alliances empowers you to become stronger and opportunity for expansion by tapping into a wider market.

Collaboration can help you stay low on cost and your business to monetise services or products with little cost. Experts suggest that in times of economic challenges, it’s better to band together. Search for the right alliance that will fit your business interests.

The next step – which is equally as important, if not at all really crucial, is the money part.

Pundits say entrepreneurs must plan ahead so that sufficient funding can be made available for logistics, operations, asset acquisition, expansion and debt-service – the whole nine yards.

Future cash needs should be considered to avoid disruptions. One way to address this is to check the multitude of available government assistance programs, which are in abundance in these COVID times, providing support to businesses big or small.

Lean workforce

Most businesses have had to furlough their staff, especially during the first wave of the pandemic.

Coming on the rebound from a Covid-induced hiatus, a number of considerations have to be made by businesses.

First, you will have to be sure and confident that your employees who had been idling for a while due to inactivity have the proper skills and motivation to meet the requirements of the new normal should you rehire them.

Note that times have changed and policymakers, especially in the medical field, say this will be with us for a while as global mass vaccinations are confronted with logistical challenges and new variations of the virus crop up every now and then.

Keep in mind then that you need to be 100% sure your employees can do it.

Now, should you consider otherwise and hire new people, note that they will have to undergo proper training so that full operation resumes as soon as possible and without glitch.

It’s all a matter of planning and timing could play a part and that time is now, experts say.

Waiting till the time is right doesn’t sound like a good plan because this could cause missed opportunities. Your business should be high on its toes when the sun finally shines again.