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Smart Tips for Growing Your Business During the Pandemic

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Growing your business|Smart Tips for Growing Your Business During the PandemicThe COVID-19 pandemic tested many enterprises’ resolve, forcing many others to make significant adjustments to their standard business operations. Although companies suffered a severe hit in their operations and revenue, several others were flexible enough to adjust their approaches to survive the chaos. A US survey proposed that while consumers stayed home to limit the spread of the virus, millions of small business owners searched for creative ways to adapt their operating models to stay afloat. If surviving isn’t enough for you, here are some smart tips for growing your business during the pandemic.

1. Improve customer relationships

A business depends on its customers to grow, yet the pandemic has made it even more crucial to build and maintain your core clients. Lockdowns and staying home mean your clients are presently spending more time online, from remote working to virtual classes and organizing family events via Zoom and Google Meets. With the need for businesses to become creative with their email and social media marketing efforts, it has become essential as many people are spending more hours on their smartphones and laptops. Grow your online business presence using a website and social media to create client engagements. Be present, give them a reason to engage your business, and spread the word about how helpful your products and services have been to them.

2. Adapt to new trends

During a recession, most organizations center their efforts on salvaging their current client base. However, innovative businesses are looking for ways to add more. The present period offers an ideal opportunity for creativity to trump tradition. Understanding client needs during this challenging period is key to staying proactive and turning your plans into action. This strategy is excellent for exploring other consumer needs that your competitors are presently missing out on.

Who would have known that pickup and delivery offers would offer a lifeline for brick-and-mortar business today?

Identifying an emerging trend is crucial for growing your business even in the present business climate.

3. Explore the power of outsourcing

You may want to find out why entrepreneurs have proposed outsourcing as a practical choice in the current competitive and challenging business climate. In a period of increasing business costs and dwindling revenue generations, it has become a crucial tool for fostering business growth. From cost reduction to enhancing business focus and efficient resource use, outsourcing means allowing outside organizations to perform specific in-house jobs rather than employing new staff to handle demanding infrastructural needs. An example of this is engaging a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to drive your IT support.

4. Exploit changes in media consumption habits

The stay-at-home lifestyle has increased regardless of whether it’s compulsory or self-imposed. Individual lifestyles are affected, and there’s a surge in media consumption as there’s more time for leisure. These changes offer your brand an excellent opportunity to create a meaningful impression on your target audience or customers.

The pandemic prompted the need for remote working, with many businesses looking to make it a permanent feature. Your business can adopt this model to reach a wider audience using all the available media such as radios, television, streaming platforms, and smart speakers. You can successfully reexamine your business communication channels by analyzing consumption changes inside your specific business industry.

3 Ways You Can Make Employees Feel Comfortable Enough To Return To The Workplace

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | 3 Ways You Can Make Employees Feel Comfortable Enough To Return To The WorkplaceThe pandemic has altered people’s lives in many ways, including forcing most employees to work from home. In some ways, this has immensely changed the dynamics of company culture, which hasn’t been to every business’ liking.

If you miss having your staff around, or you’re worried that remote working is damaging employee performance and productivity, you’re probably eager to get everyone back to the workplace ASAP. How do you do this, though, without harming people’s safety and ensuring that they all feel comfortable?

These three suggestions ought to help.

Have Consistent And Open Communication

If you want to have a successful business, it’s important to understand why employee communication is essential. The more you talk to your employees and understand their feelings about work, the likelier they are to be honest with you and become dedicated to the business.

Of course, trying to do this in big team meetings isn’t the way to go about things. Instead, you want to focus on one-to-one conversations so that employees can voice concerns without potential judgement from their colleagues. Admittedly, some people may still be nervous about sharing their struggles with you, but they’re more likely to open up this way.

In terms of COVID-19, regular communication can let you know who’s uncomfortable about returning to the workplace and find ways to ease their minds. That way, no-one has to do anything that they’re not comfortable doing.

Make The Workplace Exceptionally Hygienic

One of the biggest concerns that employees are likely to have about returning to the workplace is hygiene. After all, the reason they’ve been stuck at home for so long is that there’s a virus going around.

While you might not be able to give your employees absolute certainty that they won’t get sick, you can still provide them with an exceptional level of hygiene. This can be achieved in several ways, including using a COVID-19 fogging machine.

Capable of killing all but 0.0001% of germs, a disinfectant fogger could help your UK workplace to be as free of contaminants as possible. You’ll find such a solution at Ideal Cleaning, who promise that the process will only keep you away from work for as little as two hours. If you combine their fogging capabilities with social distancing and good employee hygiene, there’s a good chance that COVID-19 will never infiltrate your workplace.

Establish A Detailed Work Plan

If employees are still hesitant after opening communication and cleaning the office, it may be worth presenting them with a return-to-work plan. In this, you can detail exactly how you’ll ensure everyone stays safe, so the risk of the virus spreading is as low as possible.

In this detailed plan, you’ll probably want to include these protocols, as well as outlining how you’ll monitor and respond to employee behaviour. After all, there’s no point telling people to do x, y, and z if you’re not going to check that everyone follows your orders.

Your staff who are reluctant to return to the workplace need to know that you’ll do everything to keep them safe. Otherwise, they’re just going to continue working from home.

If your business is struggling with the remote working setup, then it’s understandable why you’d want everyone back as soon as possible. Just make sure you take all the necessary steps to acknowledge and protect your employees so that this move benefits, rather than hurts, your business.