Important points to consider when reopening your business after the lockdown
Quarantine has had a massive effect on businesses. Some have been closed down, others have moved online in order to continue their operations and some have had to adopt a hybrid approach to trading. As lockdown is seeming more and more likely to come to an end. We have decided to provide you with some tips to ensure your business has a grand reopening.
Re attracting customers
Technology has become more prevalent now than it ever was before the pandemic. A good way to reach out to your customers would be through the use of the now super popular social media sites and apps. This can come in many forms such as advertising, posting constant updates on the state of the business, staying in touch with your customers and countless other things you can do.
When trying to reach customers, a great social media campaign goes a long way. Do not forget, however, other ways of marketing your business. This may be through TV advertisements, bus adverts or any other marketing campaign you can think of. Think about what works well with your business. If you are unsure, you can always reach out to a marketing company.
Safety in the business premise
No matter what your business is, be it an office or a store, providing adequate anti-covid training is a must. Not only will this actually prevent covid from spreading, it will also result in a positive outlook to the customers. Everyone likes a responsible business.
One thing we learned from lockdown is that now, more than ever customers are worried about sanitation of both the staff and the business. Hence why it is important that your business, as well as your staff, is following sanitising procedures which have been put in place as well as social distancing.
If you are a business which takes payments in any way, you should definitely consider prioritising cashless or contactless payments where possible. Customers have become wary and paranoid of ways in which viruses such as covid19 can spread. Cash being one of them. Because of this, customers are less and less likely to be carrying cash around with them when out and about.
A trend to consider
During the lockdown one of, if not the biggest trend has been the deviation from working within offices and instead having staff work from home. Whilst this change was a necessity during the pandemic. It is slowly becoming the norm for more and more businesses even as the lockdown is coming to an end. This is not in any way surprising, as employees are now able to experience an improved work-life balance along with being able to save money which would otherwise be spent on travelling to and from work amongst the countless other benefits working from home provides.
Virtual communication
As businesses closed down, and moved to a more work from home type environment as mentioned above, communication within the business has become predominantly virtual thanks to the use of programs such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Team meetings or any other important meetings have been moved from the more traditional face-to-face environment to a new modern online way of communicating.
Therefore, it is important to know how to carry them out effectively. One way is to learn as much as possible about the new technology using the plethora of online resources available. Getting personal with your team may also bolster results. Get to know your team a little before beginning a meeting. Ask them about their weekend or anything that may help them feel more relaxed and better about working with you.
What to look out for
Knowing when to hold your grand reopening is just as important as the rest of the things to consider. Pick your time wisely, you do not want to open up business when cases start rising or if another strain surfaces. Observe carefully and pick out the best time.
Rushing your staff back to a face-to-face environment may be the worst thing for them. As everyone has gotten more and more used to working from home. Forcing your staff to abruptly come back could be detrimental to their behaviour and work ethic. Not to mention the risk of infection. Instead try doing it in a more controlled way. Perhaps start with a couple days a week and slowly work up. Furthermore, try having your staff work from home as it is what they have gotten used to and could result in your business doing better than ever.
As we have already mentioned, everyone likes a responsible, sanitised business. Therefore it is vital that the anti covid measures of your business are up to standard.
If you would like to know more about how to get your business back on its feet after the lockdown or would like help with marketing your business and reaching out to customers. Feel free to contact us.