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The marketing plan you developed in January is now toast. That’s because your marketplace is thinking differently today, than it did just a few weeks ago.

Very, very differently. And this will continue, until the pandemic has passed and the economy eventually returns to normal.

From a marketing perspective, this means the way you have traditionally sold your services or products needs to change. It needs to change, because the way your marketplace makes purchasing decisions has radically changed. Here is just one example, which is already having a massive impact on almost every industry.

• In a typical economy, people don’t have to think too hard about making a purchase. As such, even poorly marketed businesses are able to generate a level of sales; just by ‘being there’ or contacting prospects at the right time.
• When economies are plunged into crisis, people think far harder before they buy anything. Your prospective clients are anxious. They’re making fear-based decisions. As such, pre pandemic marketing and ‘being there’ just won’t cut it. Literally every marketing or business development decision you make, needs to take this into account.

Adjust and get the wind in your sails

The way we set our sail, determines whether we get the wind behind us and excel or end up on the rocks. We set our sail commercially, with the decisions we take (and the decisions we avoid).

A few areas to consider.

• Reduce the risk attached to hiring you or buying from you.
• Adapt your business, so that it’s more relevant to the current needs of your marketplace.
• Increase the value of your services or products.
• Introduce flexible payment options.
• Grow bigger ears. (This one is really important).

Faced with what now seems to be a long-term challenge, it’s essential to adapt as early as possible. It’s what your agile competitors are already doing. And it’s what your marketplace demands.

Photo: Shutterstock.

Just 5 days ago, I shared some ideas about how to boost your cash flow during the coronavirus restrictions.

Here’s some of the feedback you gave me, on how you’re tackling the impact of the virus. I also share a very important observation for business to business service providers.

Anita runs a vegetarian restaurant. “We were basically waiting for the order to close and figuring out how to survive with no money coming into the business”. […] “After your email I started thinking on things we could do and nothing came to me. I asked Joe my partner and he said why not provide a takeout service so we asked around our friends on Facebook to see if anyone was up for it. They were and we started 2 days later and today we’re getting some thermal bags for home delivery starting next week”.

Grant is a financial advisor. In his email he explained that he had built his reputation around a very personal level of service. “The thought of working remotely with clients left me cold plus I hate cameras”. […] I read your blog and decided to call around some clients to check if they’d like next weeks meetings via video and only one client said no. That’s because he didn’t have video set up on his home computer yet. I’ll call everyone next week and am hopeful about the future for the first time in a month.”

Alan runs a hair studio and liked the idea of offering vouchers, which can be bought today, to secure your place in the queue, when the coronavirus restrictions are lifted. He explained that a lot of his clients were due an appointment, so he emailed them. “Around 35% snapped the vouchers up and I think more people will buy them over coming weeks as hair gets longer and greyer”.

I was also contacted by a piano teacher, a fitness instructor and several business advisers who have offered their first video sessions, or plan to, next week.

Okay. I’m going to pivot slightly and focus on a specific section of readers.

Your marketplace needs you more than ever before

There’s something huge that I’ve noticed increasingly over the past few weeks. And it’s echoed powerfully in many of your emails.

Those who provide B2B (business to business) advice of any kind, are finding they are more needed by their clients now, than ever before. Their clients are worried, uncertain, in real need of answers and support.

However…

This surge in need is being totally missed, by providers who are scaling their services back, rather than ramping their services up.

I can’t help but think that many providers in; marketing, HR, recruitment, finance, training, PR, coaching etc., are missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve their marketplace, by refusing to adapt to the new needs of the market they serve.

If you’re one of these B2B providers, your marketplace needs you. And it needs you like never before. This is not the time to step back. It’s the time to step forward and adapt to the new landscape. Because your expertise has never been more needed. And in helping your clients and wider marketplace, you’re going to help your own business.

Just don’t expect to be able to carry on with a business as usual approach. If your marketplace doesn’t know you have the answers, support and ideas they need for this crisis, they’re not going to ask you for help.

Stay safe and remember, we’re all in this together, my friend.

Photo: Shutterstock.

It now seems increasingly likely the coronavirus crisis will be a medium to longer-term challenge. This means it could be some time, until we revert back to ‘business as usual’.

When circumstances change as radically as they have, we need to adjust accordingly. As I said very recently, we must adapt our services so they are relevant to the NEW needs of our clients and prospective clients. We also need to significantly improve our marketing, so it speaks to the concerns they have right now.

One question people often asked me during the 2007/8 financial crisis, was a version of, “how do I know if my business is improving things enough, to get us successfully through this crisis”?

In general, I have found the following to be a useful gauge:

If the ideas you’re thinking of implementing feel safe, they’re probably not going to have the impact you need.

Why?

Because meaningful change, the kind that has the required impact during a global crisis, doesn’t feel safe.

Incremental change is what feels safe.

And incremental change is the exact opposite of what you need, in order to attract new clients.

Remember, your prospective clients are worried. They’re unsure what the future holds. So they’re thinking a lot harder about what they invest in.

This means they’ll need radically better (different) motivation from you, if you want to earn their trust and inspire them to hire you, than they did when things were ‘normal’.

Compelling marketing ideas, the kind that allow you to thrive when your competitors struggle to survive, will require you to stretch.

To stretch from the danger zone (doing the kind of things you’re used to doing), to the safety zone (doing what’s absolutely essential for this economy).

This is a little different from my usual stuff.

A local business association asked me to join their conference call yesterday, to advise them on how to improve their member’s cash flow.

Here are the bullet points I used for the call. I only had 15 minutes to put them together, but people on the call found them extremely useful. I hope you find them equally so.

Restaurants, cafés, bars and hotels, etc., can offer gift vouchers to their regular / loyal customers, which will be purchased today, for use when things return to normal.

Bookshops, specialist interest shops (board games, music, art / craft shops etc.), can also do the above. Additionally, depending on their situation, they can offer to home deliver items that are traditionally picked-up in the store.

Lawyers, advisers, accountants, coaches, tutors, consultants, planners, designers, etc., who are unable to currently visit clients, may want to work via video conference. Skype, Xoom, FaceTime, etc. This is how I have chosen to work every day for well over a decade, and it’s extremely effective.

Salons, tattoo studios, nail bars, beauty parlours, etc., could find themselves in high demand when they open again, if forced to close for a period of weeks or more. They might consider offering customers the option to book now, via a paid voucher, so they don’t have a super-long wait when the business reopens its doors.

You and your business

You need to get working on ideas today.

Your business will have specific needs, based on your industry, the restrictions on movement in your area, logistics and lots more. However, by widening out these ideas, there will be something here that most people reading this can adapt into their business.

The key points I focused on were:

• Sell gift vouchers today, for services you’ll be able to provide when things settle down again.
• Provide delivery of items, which customers would usually pick up or collect from you.
• Switch your service from face to face, to video / phone calls. This is huge, as it also allows you to attract clients from a massively wider area. My clients this week, for example, are based in the USA, France, Ireland and South Africa.
• Start offering vouchers if your work has to be face-to-face. This lets people pay now, so that they’ll be first when you’re able to start taking bookings again.

I hope you find this useful. If you do, please share it with your contacts.

We’re all in this together, my friend.

Photo: Shutterstock.

There are small business owners reading this, who will absolutely thrive in 2020.

Yes. Really.

They will survey the current crisis and identify improved ways to operate. They will look for opportunities to radically increase their value to the marketplace, based on the landscape ahead. They will adapt to the new needs of the people they serve.

And they’ll not only grow exponentially, they will become more useful, more valued and more cherished by their marketplace than ever before.

The reason this opportunity exists, is that most small business owners won’t do any of that.

They’ll wait. They’ll sit tight. They’ll keep doing what they always do and hope things get better, before they run out of time, money or credit. Just like others did in the 2007/8 financial crisis.

It’s interesting to see how differently small business owners act, when faced with the same situation. They tend to fit into one of two broad groups. Some will thrive. Some will freeze.

• Thriving: Those who thrive will do so by adapting their approach and helping others with the crisis we face. The thrive strategy is a core focus of my work with clients right now. It should be your focus too.
• Freezing: Those who freeze don’t have a strategy. Things are moving fast. So failing to adapt isn’t even an option… let alone a viable business strategy.

Thriving: Where to begin?

Look at the services you provide and the people you serve, not based on their usual needs, but their needs moving forward.

As I learned from working on thrive strategies with small business owners recently, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Strategies that are spectacularly effective for some will be ineffective for others. I’ve needed to piece together individual strategies with my clients.

A useful place to start, is to check your range of services, opening hours, payment methods and client acquisition strategies. Also, check your marketing messages and advertising, etc. What worked fine until now may need to be replaced with more suitable alternatives.

Listen intently to your clients and the marketplace you serve. And keep listening. Things are moving fast and their needs will change and so will the opportunities around you. Be prepared to adapt because it isn’t going to be ‘business as usual’ for a while.

However, it’s your business.

You’re in control.

The winds will certainly change, but you set your own sail.

So don’t freeze.

Because you can thrive if you choose to.