Reset Button – Part 1 COVID – 19 ; During and After – Some Tips for Small & Medium Businesses

Lots have been said on this subject in the last few months and days of lock down but what is missing is that most of the articles and discussion is on macro level. It’s no brainier that economy will be severely affected and will take a while to heal.

This type of pandemic has never happened in many many years and the impact will be on all kinds of businesses , small to large. The question is what can we do to reduce the impact?

The answer can be divided into two parts:

  1. Things that we can do During the lock down period and
  2. Things that we should do after the lock down period

Things That we Can do During the lock down period

  1. Reflect : Few years back I learned this beautiful art called “Self Reflection”, it’s a very simple exercise but one of the most effective one. U can write on a paper all the things that u did and then write what else u could have done to make it better. Believe me if ur honest with ur self … it works like magic… Try this. ( Example is I did not visit top 20% of my customers, I started during that after self reflection)
  2. Operations – How many times I wised that I will visit each and every operation and activity in detail but again due to paucity of time or bad time management this was pushed to back burner. Now is the time to review all ur operations, cost, finance, stocks (inventory), customer profile (believe me some customers are really loss making) , product profiles, etc etc… Weed out unnecessary operations , ur loosing money on them also ur valuable time. Study the concept of Pareto Principal ( https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/paretos-8020-rule-marketing/)
  3. I had an opportunity of having a Online conference zoom call with 600+ people on a foundation day of my company, then we had a session with almost 200+ key distributors and team members, tell me was this possible if the lock down was not there ? Look at the logistics cost and time , man hours that would have been wasted to arrange this kind of a meeting? During Lock down connect with ur customers thru the new age digital platforms, share business plans with them, motivate them,engage them. One of such free tool available is https://zoom.us/ , its so simple that u will love it.
  4. Some times back someone told me about on-line learning platforms but generally we humans are easy going, I did not bother but now during the lock down period I saved lots of time on my daily commute, joined an online course in Digital Marketing ; would u believe the cost , just Rs.600/-( less than $10) . This helped me create this website and could possibly launch a platform for me to reach millions of people across the world. Now u can also join courses of Ur choice , MS-Office, Finance , self development, English learning and many more . This simple platform is known as Udemy (https://www.udemy.com/), apart from this I have now full knowledge on Search Engines , Facebook Marketing , and many more. Try this it’s worth it. Create website for ur Firm , gain customers , register in Google Local Businesses, Do email campaigns and e-mail marketing.
  5. One of our dream was to make our team more value driven rather than sell on pricing, during normal routine we were not able to train them because of day to day pressures of numbers and KPI’s . Now we used the digital platform Zoom to start these training programs, It’s ideal time for u to take up such training with ur respective teams. Lots of trainers are sitting at home ideal . Google free lancers and organize such training for ur teams, Believe me it will be worth every penny.
  6. “There is only one boss. The customer―and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”―Sam Walton How true , now few people in this lock down would be cribbing and taking negative with the stake holders but don’t u think this is the right time to understand them and connect emotionally with them. Teach and learn from them, understand their needs , ask them about feedback and how u can add value to their business… this list is endless…. Please go all out on this. This will be the biggest differentiation for u when the lock down will be over. Try this , u will loose nothing.

…. To Be Continued…

12 Replies to “Reset Button – Part 1 COVID – 19 ; During and After – Some Tips for Small & Medium Businesses”

  1. Very well anaysis done and presented in a right way during lock down. Because many people are still watching the news channels , making tik tok videos and sharing all the no value stuffs on each one whatsapp.
    Good to known about udemy
    Good to knwon about zoom
    Which i still was not aware about.

    Thanks to vikas marwah for sharing such a usefull tips hope one by one we work on it and improve ourself on daily basis.

  2. It’s grt, very enlightening, they say empty mind is devil’s workshop, but empty mind can also be most powerful tool to create.

  3. Very genuine tips and yet so reader friendly. Loved the Self Reflection point which is indeed a true way to self develop oneself and also know the loopholes in marketing techs.
    Looking forward for more to gain more.

  4. Sir, sorry to say. Everyday you are sending me valuable and motivational messages , but what i am doing, watching only some messages and didn’t went in depth in your messages. Today one thing i found that( https://www.udemy.com) in your article. Because of you only, I came to known this kind of platforms are available in online. Thank you Sir.

  5. Bang on! Too much food for thought and already feeling the adrenaline on possibilities. Thanks a ton for sharing!

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