We know you’re really excited to reopen your business and dust-off your shops, showrooms, offices, etc. The government has lifted some restrictions, and we’re pushing ourselves and our businesses back to the track.
Is it really going to be easy? Definitely not!
So, what all is there to be considered, and how to ensure that neither any rules are broken nor you are anyway unintentionally promoting the spread of the disease. Yes, you have to nail your customers’ and employees’ safety.
Even more importantly, how to push your financial graph to the point? Yes, the lockdown was very devastating, and we know that your pocket is harmed. Most of us are looking to recover as soon as possible, financially.
Some small businesses are on the verge of choking, but no worries, we assure you that you can fix everything in style now!
After deeply analyzing the ongoing situation form a businessman’s perspective, and after tracking for businesses are recovering in Europe and Asia, we’ve brought solid tips for reopening your business gates!
Ready to rumble?
Contents
There are several considerations, as you’ve got many departments to focus on while reopening form business, and you might easily skip some!
Follow Local, National, and Industry Guidelines
The way of reopening your business to customers is going to highly depend on your industry, locality, business sort (online or physical), and certain more factors. To that point, you’ll have to review all guidelines issued by local and national authorities, as well as industry experts, to understand the possibilities.
If you break any guidelines, you might not open up at all. After reviewing local and national guidelines and understanding what restrictions are currently rolling in place for your business, you’ll get the exact understanding. If there isn’t much flexibility on offer, then find out when the government is going to lift or change the restrictions.
Be good at making effective strategies for your business
Things will certainly be different after the ongoing restrictions and shutdowns on businesses are lifted. The government may impose crowd limits besides social distancing practices that may continue long after businesses are permitted to reopen.
Now, that’s the time to consider how you might have to change your business or consider focussing on the changes that are prone to take place in the wake of the COVID-19 scene.
Are there other services or products you can offer that you think would make greater sense, given the crisis we’ll be getting out from? Does any way exist to offer your services or take your products to consumers, like more online or virtual choices?
Several businesses came up with several ways to stay in a task while COVID-19 business shutdowns are going on. Restaurants stayed open with the food delivery and pickup services, gyms and yoga studios kept their client base active by offering online sessions, while healthcare providers, counselors, and various other consultants continued providing their services via Zoom and various other video conferencing platforms.
Keeping these measures in response to the COVID-19 scenario, it may take the public some time to feel comfortable returning to their pre-coronavirus practices.
In case you were able to shift and stay in operation despite business closures, consider whether you should continue providing your services on an alternative basis or further thrive this part of your business. Take your time to think!
More Flexible Work From Home Policies
Shifting employees to remote working was challenging for several business owners, and if you’re the one among them, consider whether you’re comfortable going on with this option or not. For several workers, the necessity of having the “working from home” flexibility will continue, even after the lift-up of the mandatory business shutdowns.
New challenges will be there like children at home due to school closures or elevated caretaking requirements for other family members. Now, that may certainly make it challenging or even impossible for workers to return to the regular work schedules they followed before Covid-19. For you, the necessity is higher than ever to have employees you trust.
Additional stress will be besides uncertainties as you make attempts to get your business running on the track again. You don’t want to get overburdened from the added pressure of getting new employees and train them up to speed if you’ve got the option to avoid all that.
It’s certainly going to be better if you provide flexibility to your existing employees to work from home, as the second option is highly wasting your time and effort. Permit flexibility with shifts and some remote working. That also helps with social distancing and reduces the chances of disease spread in your workplace.
Adapt as per Your Customers’ current Needs
What you’ll offer your customers is going to greatly depend on where you’re located and what industry you’re in. After stating that, universally speaking, you need to mold your business to adapt to what customers are searching for or expecting within the context of what’s possible, safe, and advantageous.
Restaurants can be great examples here. At the current time, several restaurants aren’t able to serve customers indoors. A few permit outdoor dining, but that’s a limited yet best-case scene. What do customers expect from a restaurant?
Yes, they want food, ambiance, and service. Currently, restaurants can’t deliver on the service and ambiance (excluding what’s needed at the cash register or interaction on the phone or), they’ll have to pivot and double-down the effort on providing food. The majority of restaurants have evolved to takeout and delivery for keeping the business running.
We can find some restaurant packaging and selling kits, permitting customers to bring home ingredients besides assembling their favorite meals themselves. On the other hand, some restaurants have evolved into makeshift grocers and are selling the high-quality pantry goods and staples that elevate their dishes above in comparison to what we generally buy in supermarkets.
Various other revenue streams and alterations exist to their business model that restaurants could consider. For example: creating bulk food packages supposed to entertain small family dinner parties, changing the physical menu to a digital one, selling meals that are supposed to be frozen and reheated, shipping across country/internationally, etc.
You can apply a similar mindset to whatever your business is right at the moment. If you’re a retailer, you can invest in an online shopping experience, minimizing in-store browsing and contact. Fitness centers and Gyms can organize outdoors-only workout experiences or create online classes, or carry out operations that don’t need physical contact.
Workspace Changes & Hygiene
A bit of it was discussed up there. It’s likely that the rules will continue on social distancing after all businesses reopen. Some restrictions may be there on how close people can stay or the number of people permitted to gather at a time in one space. Consider the business’s workspace and make changes you think that you need to make to meet these different space needs.
Now, that may include the placement of tables in a restaurant, desks in an office, or how customer displays are set up. Beggin is planning to create a better social distancing module at your workplace for your customers and employees. Also, you’ll have to take added care concerning cleanliness at your business, most importantly, any community spaces, including conference rooms, shared kitchen, cafeteria, etc.
Think about the additional measures you can perform to ensure a very clean workplace, including the installation of hand sanitizer dispensers at highly trafficked spots such as doorways and elevators or close to printers, counters, and other shared equipment. Any repeatedly touched surfaces like elevator buttons, handrails, and doorknobs, should be cleaned and disinfected regularly.
Posting signs can remind workers of the importance of handwashing besides proper etiquette for sneezing and coughing. You can also promote a sanitary workplace environment by putting things such as easily accessible cleansing and disinfectant wipes, no-touch garbage cans, face masks and gloves, good soap dispensers, and so on.
Ultimate Reopening practices for small business owners
You can ask yourself a few questions if you’re a small business owner, as that can identify ways to help keep your employees and customers while reopening your business. Here are the questions:
- Are there new services/products you can offer to attract attention and response in the crisis?
- Can you add virtual communication or online shopping to deliver your products or offer your services to consumers?
- Do you require reconfiguring your retail layout to meet social distancing needs?
- What will be crucial to your customers when you reopen your business? Will they be reluctant to link up with your business? List whatever potential barriers you think your customers may have post-crisis.
- Are there new disinfecting or cleaning procedures that you have to roll out?
- Can you stagger shifts or permit your employees to work from home to reduce the present number of people at the same time in your workplace?
- If you have small business, can you invest in hiring freelancers for temporary support?
- What physical accommodations do you feel you should make, so your customers feel more comfortable?
- How can you make the whole customer experience safer besides highly efficient?
If you’re a small business owner, reopening your business in the post-pandemic will be a lifetime challenge, and you have to deal accordingly. An easy way to do this doesn’t exist, and there is no playbook. We can just follow best practices for ensuring safety, innovating in difficult times. We can communicate with smartness, positivity, and transparency.
Combining these things all together is the most we can do until we’re able to see the upcoming situations clearly. Your motto should be to provide a perfect experience for your customers and also keep your income constant. Learn, adapt, listen, communicate, demonstrate your efforts perfectly, and you’re good enough to reopen the doors of your business.
The true fact is, besides looking for health, hygiene, convenience (for your employees, customers, and yourself as well), you need to highly focus on how to keep the earning level either constant or incline it.
Besides all that, making new strategies is very important, and we know that a few of you might find themselves clueless when it comes to producing fresh and relevant ideas for the business post-crisis.
The easier way is to study what all your fellow competitors are doing and what is working out for them. You don’t need to push yourself extremely hard when you reopen your business, as that might even spoil things. Be patient, but not lazy!
Besides that, if you feel that changing the stem, the infrastructure, or the chain of your business can bring good to you, better don’t hesitate to spend money. It’s the time to work smartly; otherwise, we’ll find ourselves pushed years behind by this COVID-19 crisis.
