Staying Close – Why Engaging With Customers Is A Priority As The Coronavirus Crisis Unfolds

We’ve seen a 200 percent rise in traffic to our website,” says Emma Jones, CEO of  Enterprise Nation. “People are seeking advice on the schemes that can help them and on how to carry on trading during the crisis.”   

As Jones explains, Enterprise Nation is a business support company that exists to provide advice and help to small businesses through a network of advisers. In more normal times, Enterprise Nation would be looking forward to hosting around 300 live events across 2020. But these are not normal times. Nevertheless, the company is continuing to provide support through its website while also introducing business owners to expert help.

Funding First

And over course of the Covid-19 crisis – as it has affected the U.K. – Jones has seen a shift of focus in terms of the advice required by Enterprise Nation’s community of businesses. Initially, the bulk of inquiries were about the various funding options brought on stream by the government, including a package of loan guarantees, grants, payment of 80 percent of salary to furloughed workers, and cash sums for the self-employed based on their revenues over a period of years.  

“At the start, the main concern was money,” says Jones. “By now most people have understood the sources of money that are available.”  Attention is now shifting to how to make money (if possible) under the current rules and how to position for the future.  

What that actually means depends on the type of business. Many companies – particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors – are completely closed down at the moment in terms of a customer-facing presence. However, online retail sales are rising. Elsewhere, some companies have closed their offices but are employing staff to work from home. A few – if home working isn’t possible – are continuing to operate in the normal way, as long as social distancing can be observed.  In other words, the U.K. economy is not completely moribund. Businesses are doing what they can.

Adapting Rapidly

But there is a new normal. Jones says small businesses have adapted rapidly – for instance, many of those that weren’t selling online already have begun to embrace e-commerce as a means to serve customers. 

Which is not to say everything is fine. There is a huge amount of uncertainty. Consumers may still have money to spend, but as no one can say for sure how long the crisis will last, many are taking a cautious approach to buying goods and services. In the B2B market, customers are probably trying to reduce outgoings while maximizing cash coming in. Consequently, they won’t be buying quite so much. 

Will The Customers Return?

The government support measures are underpinning businesses that have seen sales fall or their market collapse. The question now is will those customers come back or sales return to normal after lockdown is over?  

“So now we’re finding businesses are looking for ways to keep customers engaged. They are also trying to build a community of new customers,” says Jones.

Thus Enterprise Nation is seeing rising interest in marketing via email and social media. As Jones acknowledges, this has required a change in psychology. Rather than going in to work expecting to make sales today, much of the work that’s going on is about preparing the ground for generating revenues in the (hopefully) not too distant future. Nevertheless, Jones, businesses they are responding well to the need to engage. 

Cash Crunch 

In parallel, businesses that are continuing to trade are doing so at a time when managing cash flow can be a challenge. On the one hand, there may fewer orders coming and when sales are made, cash strapped customers may take longer to pay.  If, indeed, the pay at all.

Pranav Sood is VP for Small Business at British fintech, GoCardless – a company that enables businesses to easily set up recurring payment arrangements with their customers. “We’ve been doing a lot of webinars,” he says. “What we’re finding is that small businesses are facing a cash flow crunch,” he says.

There is no easy answer to the cash flow problem – particularly when it’s caused by late payments. In the current crisis, businesses want to take orders and maintain their revenues, but those that offer credit or take monthly subscriptions must be aware that payments might come in behind time or not at all. This is always been a problem, but one that has been exacerbated by the current economic slowdown. 

For its part, GoCardless has added a new A.I. driven business intelligence tool to its system. Customer payment patterns are analyzed and when problems – such as a missed monthly payment arise, users are provided with information on the optimal times to seek to retry a payment request.  This additional tier of information should make it easier for GoCardless users to follow up on late payments and collect the cash they’re owed.

The bigger picture here is businesses who take time to know and engage with their customers  may be better equipped to weather the Covid-19 storm than those who don’t. Marketing, communication and business intelligence all play a part. But it could be a long haul.