COVID19: Business Action Tips on how to deal with it timely and effectively

No question, Covid19 is a threat to Public Health globally. It is a challenge to all of us on how we will respond in protecting the vulnerable people of our societies. These vulnerable people are our parents, our patients, our disabled fellow people, and not only in respect of health but also in respect of financial adversity.

Beside a high level of resilience we have to possess during this period of time, we need to be able to focus on the major changes laying ahead concerning our business, our jobs and our financial and social lives. We need to follow up with the developments in our field and be able to ‘Innovate’, ‘Design’, ‘Act’, ‘Plan’ and ‘Test’ within a moving and unpredictable business environment.

Need some action tips?

1.     Study and get to know well the issue in all aspects. Do not spend much time on Facebook and Instagram, concentrate on your Linkedin and other professional and reliable sources. Read Articles, analysis, crosscheck them, read all announcements of local, regional and international professional bodies and governments/ministries on the current issue. Try to focus not on the Pandemic Figures but on the predictions of the day after, locally and regionally in your industry and other connected sectors.

2.     Check on the Covid19-response of your main competitors. What do they do best? How are they doing business now, does it sound good, innovative, effective? Think how you would do it even better or differently. Sometimes there is a great idea of a competitor but they just can’t do it well enough. Probably there is an opportunity to collaborate?

3.     Consult your Suppliers! Come into a fair agreement with them on payment plans, cancellation of orders and any other pending issues and schedules. Then ask them what they observe in the market. Do not forget they probably know your market better than you, they serve your competitors as well and ‘master’ the environment of your market supply chain and logistics.

4.     Get your employees together (a virtual meeting obviously!!) and show your genuine interest in their personal and family concerns. Try to support them, but do not dare to promise things you cannot keep later. Then talk business!! Ask them about the problems and the solutions on how to maintain sales and cut cost to survival levels. Then ask for new ideas and what it takes to set them up and test.

5.     Consult your accountant or lawyer on any governmental and other supporting plans and options. Do not spend your weeks trying to figure out how these supportive plans work, you have your partner accountant and lawyer for that. Exploit any of these that fit your plans. Do not rush ‘day one’, but have them aside as options in your plan, but do not miss the deadlines...

6.     Hire a great consultant and have regular meetings with him/her. Sometimes these guys are really ‘idea generating machines’, do not underestimate their experience in solving problems. They have their own channels and sources of finding solutions and benchmark on almost anything under the sun.

7.     Avoid ‘Paralysis by Analysis’. Take action as fast as possible with the lowest risk at the beginning in order to experiment and come up with better and more mature solutions and options. Avoid long-term commitments, prefer short term testing for your trial-and-error days. 

Stay positive and maintain your spirit. You may not be in position to stop the problems around you, but you are certainly in control on how you will react and respond to them.