The New Normal
As the coronavirus expands across the globe creating panic and fear, it is critical to rethink how to meet these new challenges. As an increasing number of market segments contract, such as airlines, restaurants, sporting events, and entertainment, it is a great opportunity to quickly reinvent how to conduct business. At a time of great uncertainty and potential catastrophic business contraction, all businesses need to develop new, creative ways to engage with consumers.
As these massive disruptions can result in death blows for many businesses, leaders need to proactively create new ways to engage with consumers. As more consumers stay home, the need for flexibility and agility is critical to change direction. You cannot sit back and wait for what will happen next. You cannot hope and pray that this will end soon, or the government will come to the rescue. You need to be proactive and prepare for long-term disruptions and increased governmental restrictions on daily life. What happens when non-essential retail stores are forced to close? How will you ensure your employees have something to return to? How will you ensure an ongoing flow of cash? The best insurance you can rely on is your own ingenuity and creativity.
The restrictions of large social gatherings will not end soon. And leaders cannot expect government to come to the rescue. Daily life will continue but in possibly a very different way. You need to proactively develop innovative strategies and tactics to meet these changes. How will you attract customers when they cannot visit your store? How can you work with customers who are on furlough and cannot pay their bills? How can you collaborate with suppliers and local partners to ensure local community businesses survive? The challenge is to balance short and long-term tactics to survive the next few weeks and create a strong foundation for the long-term.
Times like these are a stark reminder of how important it is for ongoing, continuous improvement. When we wait for crises to find new ways to conduct business, it is often too late. I hope the coronavirus is a relatively short-term disruption, but you should not assume things will improve quickly. It is time to get creative and rethink how you conduct business.
The Affected
There are many market segments and business sectors that are on the verge of collapse if the coronavirus continues long-term. For example, movie theatres are in the direct crosshairs of massive declines in revenue. As government and medical officials recommend avoiding large public gatherings, movie theatres are some of the most highly impacted segments. So, what can theatre managers do to “keep the lights on”? How about offering family packages where single families can have an entire theatre to themselves? Maybe a higher price package with drinks and popcorn included. Or offer the same to small organizations. How about home delivery of popcorn? Or collaborate with local restaurants to offer families or small groups special dinner/movie packages? Or partner with the local government, use a large parking lot, and create a weekly pop-up drive-in theatre.
Or what about small local restaurants that depend on daily cash flow to keep the lights on. How can a local restaurant owner maintain a steady flow of business while overcoming consumer fears of crowds? Do the same as above. Offer family packages for 1-hour meals and special menu offerings. Work with local farmer markets to offer local specialties that cannot be typically offered for large-scale, daily operations. Offer your own unique delivery service that allows your staff to personally deliver and serve the food in the customers home. Or work with the local parks and recreation department and have picnics in the park. Or better yet, partner with a local movie theatre and have a dinner and movie night in the park. Yes, these ideas could potentially create new challenges, but a little energy and team creativity can overcome most challenges.
And it’s not just small businesses that need to adapt. Think about airlines. In normal times airlines are operating on thin margins and relying on daily cash flow. So, what will happen when business travel is basically stopped and consumers are cancelling holidays? Other than wait for governments to help and prop up the airlines with loans, etc., the airlines need to get creative. How about offering small, private planes to ensure businesses can still operate? Or offer the same small planes for families who still want to go on vacation. How about improving how planes are cleaned and sterilized and demonstrate how the “new normal” has created a new experience? Or partner with local private plane operators to help them increase their business through the experience and operation advantages the large airlines can offer. The airline industry is ripe for serious disruption and the coronavirus may be the critical catalyst for change.
Or what about schools and non-profits that rely on events to offset budget cuts. If the local schools can still conduct sporting events but not allow large crowds, stream the games live on the internet and charge a small fee to access. Or develop advertising packages for local businesses during the games. During the intermission, stream performances from local bands or comedians. The goal should be to develop continuous engagement with the community to develop new revenue streams and ensure customers return after the crisis. All it takes is some focus, effort, and time to develop new ideas.
Find a Way Forward
Owners, managers, and employees need to work together to develop solutions to overcome these possible long-term problems and challenges. The entire organization needs to work together to develop new ideas and new ways to continue business in preparation for long-term disruptions. Leaders should not think they can do this on their own. Gathering ideas from all parts of the business will allow those one or two great ideas to be uncovered. Questions need to drive new ways to reinvent the business:
What if we …. ?
How would _____ cope with this? – answer the question from a famous celebrity or historic figure’s perspective
What can we do to surprise our customers? – look at other industries and how they wow customers or start digging through your customer feedback data for areas of opportunity – what do customers hate, love, or request that you have previously ignored?
What combinations of new products and services can you offer? Or who else can you partner with to help each other survive and provide customers a new experience.
Times like these can help you differentiate from your competitors and demonstrate true uniqueness and high value to consumers. As the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia noted:
“You do not merely want to be the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.”
Or as noted by management guru Tom Peters, “When you are the best, it’s the only market that is not crowded.”
So, use this crisis as a great opportunity to be unique and offer customers something amazing. While your competitors are trying to continue “business as usual”, change the game. Help your employees and customers avoid being trapped in a state of worry, and provide them with positivity and hope.
Conclusion
Massive disruptions to business are scary, yet provide incredible opportunities. Finding new, creative ways to meet customer needs should be an ongoing practice, not just during crises. Continuous improvement is critical for long-term growth, but is often avoided until a crisis. So, take advantage of the coronavirus. Show your employees and customers that you truly care about them and respect their loyalty and business. Offer them new services and products to meet their needs while overcoming today’s challenges.
And follow the game plan of how the best small and medium enterprises succeed. From Tom Peter’s latest book, The Excellence Dividend:
Cultivate exceptionally intimate relationships with customers and suppliers, based on personal contact, one-on-one interaction, and mutual commitment to delivering on promises.
Have an intimate relationship with the local city, town, or county in which you do business – a relationship that goes well beyond the usual concept of giving back.
Create an intimate workplace.
Ensure leaders are passionate about the company’s business.
Trust your employees to help change the business. Provide them flexibility while they are impacted by the coronavirus. How can you help your employees deal with school closings? How can you keep your customers supported? What can you do to support the community and give back?
It’s times like these where what you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself. Your employees, customers, and community will remember how you conducted yourself during times of crises. Times like these necessitate creativity, passion, and most importantly empathy. So stop worrying and create your future. And most importantly, wash your hands!