How to sell your business and yourself under crises…

A pandemic can disrupt a society and its economy. It could overwhelm a nation’s health system and harm its trade. A pandemic may force organizations to take extraordinary staffing measures. The delivery of services and products may have to be adjusted, even stopped. Such actions have financial impacts for businesses and governments alike. You and your business must not collapse with the present situation. Your business continuity plan will detail your business’s risk management strategy and business impact analysis. It will describe how your business intends to respond to an incident, sets out a recovery plan and defines policies and procedures for managing staff and communication.

This article explains how you and your business can sell associated with a pandemic.

LOOK FOR BUYERS INSTEAD OF PEOPLE TO SELL

It is very easy to get distracted by different social activities during this hard time, however, as a business entity that needs to grow with the current situation, you need to prioritize your online presence by targeting your audience to be valuable customers as there is different between who is a buyer and someone being sold. It is the time to strategically looking for buyers who are in real need of your products and services to improve their quality of life, depending on their activities; they could also need your services and products to grow their own business too. You have to focus on others, not just yourself as there are buyers out there looking for how to connect with one or few online stores and service providers.

UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE

This is the right time to make your website the cornerstone of your digital communication. Anyone or group of people looking for ways or thinking about utilizing your platform, services, and products or even to buy from you, they are extremely likely going to explore your website. Understanding your business mission and services as it was before the pandemic, many people out there would be curious about your approach to minimizing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. There is nowhere to get this update and other information when shops, store, and companies are closed, the only place to get an update about how you care is to keep your website updated for your esteemed customers to well informed, this is nothing but proactive and a straightforward approach and it will help to increase transparency and inform your audience about your response to the outbreak.

UPDATE YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS LISTING

The right time to keep your audience and existing customers updated with ease is now. There are several things to be done to ensure that your customers are well informed about your business’s activities during this pandemic. One of the many steps, perhaps, should involve updating your Google business listing. Where many people look when attempting to contact your business is your Google business listing since it has become the phonebook listing of the 21st century. You can use your Google business listing to keep your customers’ update and adjust your hours, share to them whether or not your open or close, and create post about your alternative options like the delivery and takeout.

RELEASE A STATEMENT ABOUT COVID-19

Use this opportunity to provide peace of mind to your customers through transparency. Address your customers and audience about your responses and actions regarding the COVID-19. They will be there waiting to hear from you and this is the time to provide such information they are waiting to hear. This will serve as a means of giving hope. Some of your customers and audience may have even sent you a mail while waiting to hear from you, this is because it’s best to be upfront about the approach of your business, your next steps and if possible any change you are going to react to. Be proactive by deciding on the approach, whether you are closing for the foreseeable future, providing on online discount code, therefore you can also draft a statement for your esteemed customers, you could also make press as most will be at home glued to their television set. Push all these out on your mail list and social media to remain communicative and clear about your response to the pandemic.

ADD E-COMMERCE TO YOUR WEBSITE

Shopify lite for example could make it easy for you to continue selling goods online during the pandemic. The world in general has been shifting to the online marketplace. Moreover, many businesses that were not ready previously to sell their products online may be facing the reality that e-commerce could be the most valuable option for the future which is now. For online business that targets at least about 50% of its revenue, e-commerce websites are the best option. Shopify lite could provide a good option for businesses looking to sell goods quickly online.

IMPLEMENT ONLINE ORDERING AND DELIVERY

Maintaining social distancing with takeout by only dining. In a world that is heavily dependent on grocery stores, healthcare workers, and essential services, it will be nearly impossible to completely stop the spread of a highly contagious disease. To the best of your ability, social distancing is the best way of stopping the spread of COVID-19. An example is for example, restaurants should be encouraged to shift to takeout only dining for the time being so to reduce the spread. There are some delivery platforms like Postmates, Doordash, Grubhub that you could partner with, and ensure your website and social medial presence are regularly promoting your business’s use of these delivery platforms.

TRY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN TO BE SHARING WORTHY ALTERNATIVES ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

It is very important to keep engaging your audience despite social distancing. At this critical time where most businesses have decided to stop the spread of the corona virus, it is very important to continue engaging your audience on different social media platforms. There are several methods of continuing an active social media engagement and presence even when you are not serving the customer. Few of these methods are:

Sharing worthy alternative: Some of your customers may rely on you for some services and products which cannot be fully replaced while on social distancing. To take advantage of this, you should consider sharing the worthy information which is alternatives on social media. For instance, a gym outfit can share a daily at-home workout video by the personal training.

Sharing industry news: As a way of staying active on social media, you should feel free to share engaging, articulating, and fascinating articles about your industry. This should not be limited to the effect of COVID-19 and your industry; rather, it can be about growth or trending news within different industries and yours.

Organized advance training: If you are doing any online program or training for employees while closed or practicing social distancing, this is the time to share such on social media.

FIND A WAY TO HELP

Helping your communities and other areas struggling with COVID-19 is the key to making through a difficult time. You should consider reaching out to your community and providing assistance wherever it is possible, you could also consider donating in kind or cash as relief funds to such a community. This in return, will leave a lasting impression of your company as a very valuable asset to the community.