By Jane Friedmann
It’s hard to say to no to all the Corona prices coming up these days; many companies are giving things away for free or at a discount but how do we know which of these services are legitimate vs. scams, and which products or services to invest our time or money into and which to ignore? What should I be offering as a small business owner?
To get a grip on the situation, I sat down with expert Business Development Coach and Professor of Small Business Management at Chaffey College, Monica Stockhausen.
“I would be very wary of people changing their entire business model in the face of Coronavirus. Instead I would encourage folks with small businesses to focus on changing their value proposition.”
- Prof. Monica Stockhausen
Prof. Stockhausen strongly advises against repositioning your business model completely to capitalize on (or survive) Coronavirus but rather to change your mindset from one of selling to serving; brainstorming the best ways to serve your client, not just during these challenging times but always. So it’s about making the shift from "how do I sell this product?" to "how do I help someone?"
E.g. Value Proposition for a flower shop:
Pre-Coronavirus
Fresh flower arrangements order now, delivered tomorrow.
Post-Coronavirus
Birthday cancelled ? Her birthday flowers don’t have to be.
Order now, delivered tomorrow. Let Grandma know you’re thinking of her.
Essentially what professor Stockhausen is suggesting is about repositioning rather than reinventing your business completely. Let’s take a hair salon or barbershop as an example. Your salon might not be open for hair styling right now but there are ways you can still serve your clients. For example, do you sell professional styling products in your salon? You should be selling them online now. Do you help your clients with styling ideas? How about launching some online tutorials. And clearly now is the time to be pushing those gift certificates.
“We need to change our mindset from one of selling to serving”
- Prof. Monica Stockhausen
If you’re a restaurant, you might not be open for sit down service but are you open for take out? What else can you offer your clients? Freshly baked breads? Your famous cakes? Jams that you make in-house? How can you leverage your kitchen, staff and reach to providing new yet similar services during these times?
Another strategy to take is to buckle down and focus on business development. When you're in the thick of running a business, you usually don't have, or take, the time to invest in business development strategies. Now is the perfect time to set those strategies in motion. Do you have a website that you're not capitalizing on? Now is your time to invest in that. Been putting off SEO? Now is the time to get that done.
Additional business development strategies you may not have time for usually are:
Requesting reviews from loyal clients on platforms like Google or Yelp
Increasing your social engagement by posting more and replying to comments
Holding virtual events
Selling merch/expanding your brand
It has never been easier to tap into what your customers’ needs really are, they are literally displaying them all over the internet, in blogs, in comment sections; keep your ear to the ground and use the influx of honest and direct opinions to form your value statements and service offerings.
Finally, make time to answer the basics, effectively communicate answers to the key questions your customers have:
Are you still open?
What are your services?
How do I buy?
Now is not the time to forget about the little things.
It may be tempting to jump on the bandwagon of reinventing your business during the Coronavirus but make sure you don’t jump too fast or out of desperation. Recreating a business model requires planning and shouldn’t be taken lightly or rushed into (no matter what that guy on that facebook ad is telling you). In summary, rather than recreating, the focus should all be on repositioning and pivoting. As Prof. Stockhausen says, shifting from a mindset of selling to serving will not only open your brain to ideas you hadn't thought of before about how to offer your products or services, it will further help you imagine value propositions and business strategies that will last you in the long haul, and prepare your business to grow when the Coronavirus crisis is over.
For more from Monica, follow @NerdyGirlLifesyle on Instagram
Curious about how to effectively market your brand? Reach out to me via email ContactJane@Rocketmail.com
Jane Friedmann and Monica Stockhausen