Beyond lockdown: If things don’t go back to normal, ensure your business survives the virus – our team brings you 3 ideas to adapt in the time of COVID-9
Assessing the impact on your business model. Aligning changes in the core dimensions. And communicating it effectively. Things are unlikely to back to “business as usual” after COVID-19 lockdown. So our team brings you a handy infographic outlining 3 ideas to help your business survive the virus.
INFOGRAPHIC: 3 IDEAS FOR BUSINESS TO SURVIVE THE VIRUS
Building on the work of Thomas Ritter and Carsten Lund Pedersen, who created a model/framework for understanding how the coronavirus impacts a company’s business model, we’ve taken the idea and put it into visual form, breaking it up into 3 core ideas: Assess the impact, align the dimensions in your business model and communicate it to all stakeholders.
Download the full infographic here.
Now, let’s break it down:
WILL IT BE “BUSINESS AS USUAL” AFTER LOCKDOWN?
Unlikely. As we’ve seen in China, even 3 months down the line things are hardly back to normal. And there’s no vaccine yet, so the best bet countries have to stem COVID-19 is quarantine – which as we’ve seen can devastate the economy. And, not being careful enough when easing up quarantine orders, some places had to reinstitute lockdowns, making things even worse.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde predicts South Africa is likely heading for a “partial lockdown” state in May, and that’s mainly to help stimulate the economy – because, even though our numbers are low, we’re far from beating the virus. And that’s apart from scientists saying it might take 12 to 18 months to get a working vaccine – if we ever get one (some scientists think COVID-19 is vaccination resistant).
So, can businesses survive? Yes. But you’ll likely have to make like a virus an adapt, but faster.
HOW DOES THE PANDEMIC THREATEN BUSINESS?
Apart from being deadly, the panic and the need for stemming the spread is having the biggest impact on business. As we’ve seen, just the current 5-week lockdown in SA could potentially lead to -15% in economic growth. That’s devastating, bordering on an economic crisis that eclipses the virus.
Travel bans, restraints on trade, social distancing – all of these are likely to remain in place, even after the official lockdown comes to an end. And the risk of infections might impact your staff and your entire supply chain. So it’s not so much about your company making it through forced quarantine, but the much bigger picture: surviving the virus itself.
STEP 1: ASSESS YOURSELF: THE RITTER-PEDERSEN BUSINESS-MODEL FRAMEWORK
Copenhagen Business Shcool researchers Ritter and Pedersen developed a framework for assessing the potential impact on your company using four core dimensions of your business model. The idea is that you look at each quarter and assess where you’re vulnerable to the impact of the coronavirus on society:
YOUR CUSTOMER
People are getting sick and some are dying. And the rest are afraid and being told to stay home to avoid becoming a statistic. These are your customers, so it’s important to think about how this reality will affect your business, even after lockdown.
If people can’t or won’t come to your store, how can you keep delivering products and services to them? If they don’t want to spend money anymore, how can you show them that they should? Are there maybe new customer segments created by the pandemic? You need to think about the impact of the virus and assess whether you can still connect with your customer in the same or a new way.
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION
Value proposition is the “why” people should buy from you. And their perceptions about it might change during a crisis. We’ve seen millions suddenly start focusing on essentials like food and personal care products, so it almost seem luxuries went out the window. But, at the same time, people spending more time at home now realise they want to be more comfortable, so luxuries are back.
Either way, you have to understand how to position or reposition yourself or your products so that it speaks to what people need right now. A new phone seems like an unnecessary luxury unless it can help someone connect with a loved one in a new way, then it suddenly becomes more important.
Learn more about positioning through brand strategy expertise.
SALES AND MARKETING
The risk of infection might mean you can’t meet people face-to-face anymore. Or maybe tradeshows and exhibitions are cancelled. How can you still showcase your products and value? Maybe you need to invest in doing it digitally? Or, at least, find new channels for talking to people. You might need some expert insights into making that happen.
PRODUCTION
Can your own team come to work safely? Or do you have to keep working from home? Remember, semi-permanent is different from a few weeks. And, even if you’re own business is sorted, what about your suppliers? Can they make the same guarantees?
You need to assess everything that goes into you delivering for a customer, check if there are any possible disruptions along the way and adapt.
STEP 2: ALIGN THE DIMENSIONS OF YOUR BUSINESS MODEL
OK, so now that you’ve looked at each quadrant, noted down the potential issues and what you’re going to do about them, go through all the quadrants again and see if the changes you’ve made are still possible with your current setup.
For example, if you’ve decided to start selling online only (quadrant 1 and 3), can your supply chain actually deliver on that promise (quadrant 4)? Your suppliers might be used to only delivering to a single address, so can they suddenly start delivering all over the country (which is what online needs)? You might need a new distribution plan. And how does that work with existing travel bans?
If you just keep going back to the four dimensions and keep tweaking until everything makes sense, you’ll have a much better plan in place to help your business survive the virus.
STEP 3: COMMUNICATE IT EFFECTIVELY
The best-laid plans in the world can fall flat if you don’t communicate them properly. This touches every aspect of your business.
A few examples:
If you’ve always dealt face-to-face with customers and now suddenly want to move online, you’re about 10 years behind other online sales specialists, so how are you going to outdo a decade’s worth of experienced competition? You’ll need ridiculously good digital marketing for that.
And, if you change fundamental things like how, when and what your suppliers deliver, or how and when your people work, you’re bound to have misalignments unless you have clear communications.
In fact, communication will be crucial for even the simplest things, like just letting your customers know you’re open and how you’re working now. Or reaching them with your new value proposition. You’ll need to invest in communicating these things well, if only because every other business in the country is going to be shouting their messages all over the place.
Again, you can download the infographic here.
HELPING YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVE THE VIRUS
Now more than ever, it’s important to know who you are, how you’re handling the crisis and be able to tell everyone fast, calmly and efficiently.
And, of course, that’s exactly what we do for a living. So, if you feel you need a little help or advice, contact the brand pros.
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