Whether or not you want to admit it, everybody is still reeling with the effects of the global pandemic brought about by COVID-19 – and it seems like it’s taking its precious time in our midst!
Turn on the channel and most of the news you receive will be about uncertainties and unemployment. Over the past decades, we have seen a staggering increase in the unemployment rate all over the world.
If you are a business owner, the first thing you most probably would be thinking is whether you are also heading that path of doom.
Your anxiety and fear are valid. However, that’s not the only way of how you should be looking at the present situation right now. In fact, you might be able to make the best and smartest business move during this season.
Go Against the Grain
Be still for a moment and envision your business and your team five years from now.
What move or decision can you make today – in the middle of a crisis – that will positively have affected your business and your team five years later? A move that will set you up for success to come up better and stronger than ever?
“Is it even possible?” you ask. Definitely possible!
How?
Lay-off some people in your team!
Yes, you heard it right! One of the positive things the crisis has brought is it placed people under a microscope. It has clearly magnified who the assets and the liabilities are, whom you need to invest in and whom to let go.
So if you want to get rid of those people who are crippling your business or your company, NOW is the TIME to do that! It might sound heartless, but what you need at this point are not freeloaders but those who will help carry the load with you.
More so, you need to empty those spots and reserve them to those who have the talent and a good fit for your company and business. If there are a lot of people not worth hiring, there are also a lot of brilliant talents sitting on the sidelines that hadn’t been available before. These are the people who are rock star team players – hungry, humble, and willing to learn more. These people are sitting there not because they are bad employees but because their companies were shut down. Therefore, THIS IS THE TIME to start thinking about upgrading your team.
It does not mean that you start hiring right away but you can start having conversations with these talents to fill strategic roles three months or six months from now. Start a plan right now so that when you make a comeback, you have these talents on queue. You can start the interview process now and give them a specific time when you can hire them for the positions you need. Maybe they can wait until such time because there are no other opportunities for them at the moment. Then, after the agreed time, you come back with a new deal and a new team. You even have a stronger foundation to build on.
Upgrade Your People
Every team wants to be set up for success. If you want your business to thrive, even during a crisis, you need to train them regularly. In fact, you need to train them to be better than you. There’s no room for insecurity, especially at this point in time.
And there’s no better time to train your team than now. Start brainstorming what you want your team to learn. You can also ask them what they want to learn or develop. Then, you can have regular coaching and training sessions online, or you can send training manuals or record videos on a regular basis – perhaps twice a week or every other day. You can build a repository of training manuals and videos overtime which future employees can also benefit from many years from now.
Revitalize Your Marketing Strategies
You have created your dream team and upgraded their knowledge. Next, you also need to revitalize your marketing strategies. It’s time to review and evaluate which work and which do not.
Where is the weak link – is it in your lead generation strategies? Is it in your sales process? Do you need to improve your after-sales service?
Go back to the drawing board and evaluate your game plan. If you need to change something, go ahead and change it. You want to do an A/B testing for your new product or service? Now is the time to do that. When you have them all figured out now, it will be much easier for your business to transition after the crisis because by then, you will have a better game plan.
What are You Waiting for?
No matter what business you have and industry you are in, now is the best way to make some bold moves for your team, upgrade their skills, and revitalize your marketing strategies.
