Council Post: How To Navigate Your Company Through Difficult Times

As we’ve seen from the recent fallout of COVID-19, small businesses are at the mercy of the global economy. Business might be great one day, and in the span of 24 hours, you could lose your entire customer base due to catastrophe.

These hard times aren’t forever, but even so, small business owners know all too well how hard it is to keep the doors open in a downturn. Fortunately, you don’t have to sit back and watch the world implode. Take matters into your own hands, and adjust your business for survival.

It’s hard to think straight when you’re under so much pressure, but now isn’t the time to give up. Fight harder for the business you’ve built. Follow these five tips to stay afloat during difficult times and build a brand that lasts.

1. Look for opportunity.

If you’ve lost your livelihood overnight, it’s understandable to feel scared, mad and confused. But don’t dwell too long on what’s going wrong: Now is the time to focus on solutions.

There’s always opportunity in the market if you know where to look. The best place to start is with your customers. What do they need right now? What’s keeping them up at night? Take a look at:

• Customer reviews, both of your products and your competitors’ products.

• Social media posts about your products and your industry.

• Feedback from your customers or your sales team.

Is there anything people constantly complain about? Use this pain point as an opportunity. For example, if you’re a fashion brand and customers keep asking for size inclusivity, give it to them. This is free advice from the market, and you need it more now than ever before.

Research people’s needs, and adjust your business accordingly. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many restaurants have closed their brick-and-mortar locations. Instead, some restaurants are now offering takeout options, in addition to free toilet paper with every delivery, catering to customer complaints about toilet paper shortages.

2. Pivot your product.

Maybe this difficult situation has made you realize your products just aren’t relevant anymore. This is your chance to try something new. What worked before the hard times clearly isn’t working right now.

What can you do to make your business bulletproof? Maybe this means diversifying your income streams, or getting into digital products instead of physical ones. Or, maybe you start offering a paid service to complement your products.

This is called pivoting. It’s a popular idea in the startup space, but it also applies to changing the direction of your small business during hard times. Pivoting is about making drastic, but necessary, adjustments to your business, such as:

• Targeting a totally new customer base.

• Turning one successful product into a suite of products.

• Pursuing a new revenue model.

• Sourcing your products from a different manufacturer.

Of course, don’t pivot without good reason. Make the decision to pivot with a level head and a lot of data. Now isn’t the time to make changes out of sheer panic.

3. Tackle nagging tasks.

If it doesn’t make sense to pivot your brand, you might feel stuck for the time being. If you have a small team, low costs and a healthy savings account, it may be best for you to ride out the storm.

So, what should you do in the meantime?

Take advantage of your free time by tackling the important but low-priority tasks you’ve been pushing off. Maybe that means:

• Redesigning your website. Learn how to code for free on Codeacademy and make the changes yourself.

• Starting a blog. Try writing a handful of posts and scheduling them on your website.

• Scheduling a month’s worth of social media posts with Hootsuite.

• Reevaluating your marketing campaigns. What’s been working? What do you want to try?

Oh, and don’t forget to give yourself a day off, too. Self-care is important for business owners, especially in times of stress.

4. Give back.

In the event of an economic downturn, your business is hurting, but you aren’t alone. Charities, other businesses and people are also hurting. If you have the resources, use this as your opportunity to give back.

How can you help your customers? For example, COVID-19 led to many school shutdowns, which left parents scrambling for childcare. In this situation, you could send parents a complimentary add-on with their order to entertain their child. A coloring book and crayons is an easy way to brighten someone’s day (and boost customer satisfaction).

5. Connect with other business owners.

Entrepreneurship isn’t an island. You need to lean on other business owners who are in the same boat. When you surround yourself with other positive, motivated business owners, you can tackle trying times with a heartier attitude that gets results.

Seek out mentorship, coaching or a mastermind group. Try to connect with business owners from different industries, business models and backgrounds to share ideas. You never know where you’ll find your next great idea, but it certainly won’t come from burying your head in the sand.

What’s the bottom line?

If your business is doing well right now, that’s great. But every business eventually experiences difficult times. Use these five tips to navigate your business through rough waters, emerging victorious over everything life throws your way.

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