1. Team
Perhaps the most important part of the company, on which you should never save.
It is impossible to continue to function and stay afloat without staff, especially during a crisis. Who will keep the indicators close to pre-crisis levels? Who will “pull out” the sales plan so that your employees can receive a salary?
Now more than ever, a team is buy business fax broadcast number list important to you, and a team that is motivated and confident in the company’s future. Therefore, be careful with the “3 through 4” schedule, forced vacations, salary cuts and similar “anti-crisis technologies”.
But do not exchange valuable and loyal employees for “cheaper personnel”, you may never find such specialists again. Company Shouldn’t Skimp In addition, hiring a good employee (especially a unique specialist) will cost your company significantly more than several of his salaries. Remember, layoffs are an extreme measure and always a difficult decision!
And if you still have no choice, try to part ways amicably, to some extent remaining in the format of cooperation and contact. Company Shouldn’t Skimp As soon as your business returns to normal, the specialists with whom you were able to maintain relationships even after dismissal will most likely return.
2. Relations with clients and partners
A friend in need is a friend indeed. And this crisis is another test of the strength of your relationships with clients, partners and contractors. This is a time when friends are more important than ever. Meet your oldest and most reliable partners and clients: Company Shouldn’t Skimp if possible, pay off receivables, promptly refund orders that have been lost due to the pandemic, support your partners just like that, don’t “feed them with empty promises” and look for compromises. A difficult situation will end someday, but relationships with your business friends may never recover due to squabbles over some trifle.
3. Online presence (PR, digital marketing)
Don’t fire your SMM and PR managers! This could be the biggest mistake of 2020. A company’s online presence is now more than just another point of contact with a client. When businesses are closed for quarantine, online communications are proof that your company is alive, continues to function, copes with difficulties, and can be useful to clients.
Form a full-fledged strategy for your presence in social media during this crisis, create a content plan, come up with new types of online activities. Company Shouldn’t Skimp And if you are a traditionally offline business that does not interact with clients through digital tools, now is the time to at least launch social networks.
Marketing and PR departments will also help you organize competent internal anti-crisis marketing and PR to maintain the team’s “combat readiness” and motivate employees in difficult times.
4. Quality of products/services
A crisis is not an excuse to reduce by investing time and resources the quality of your products and services. It is easy to reduce costs at the expense of production – buy cheaper consumables, save on equipment, produce more products in less time, reduce shifts. This is a simple path that will immediately yield results in the form of profit, but, often, it is a path to bankruptcy.
By reducing the quality of your products, you will not be able to compete in the market, and your customers will switch to other solutions. Company Shouldn’t Skimp Maintain quality at the pre-crisis level – firstly, you will not lose your reputation, secondly, you will retain customers and market share, thirdly, you will have room to grow in terms of product quality when the economy stabilizes.
5. Services required for work
Now is not the time to deprive yourself of the opportunity to work with maximum efficiency. If your company’s activities depend on third-party services and paid applications, then you should not give up what your company used before the crisis.
Replacing is not an option. Free analogs and cheaper solutions will only slow down the work, complicate communications, and require a lot of time for staff training and transition. Do not give up on things that help your team work effectively – be it cloud storage and servers, automation tools, access to paid photo stocks, information security solutions, or, for example, SpectrumData data verification and retrieval/enrichment services.
6. Precautionary measures, safety of employees and customers
Only an unscrupulous employer can afford to save on employee safety during a pandemic. If the infection spreads usa data among the staff, and especially if it causes infection of clients, this can result in significant financial and reputational losses. Company Shouldn’t Skimp And it is not even about fines for violating sanitary standards. Not to mention the fact that you will show a complete lack of social responsibility and sink your reputation.
Buy masks, disinfectants, strictly monitor the staff’s compliance with the established rules. This will not require a lot of money, but a positive effect is guaranteed. Another good option would be to conduct general testing of the company for infection (as we did – link). Employees will feel cared for and will respond to you with high work efficiency and loyalty, and customers will notice that you comply with all regulations and think about their safety.
7. Maintenance
A good car owner knows that timely maintenance will cost much less than repairs after a breakdown. The same applies to the technical equipment of your company – be it production facilities, a fleet of vehicles or employees’ computers. Equipment that is used without repairs, working “to the point of wear and tear” can fail at the most inopportune moment – for example, when the crisis is over and you need to produce more.
Epilogue
A crisis is a great opportunity to learn how to manage your company’s expenses wisely. Company Shouldn’t Skimp Use it! Experiment, take into account the specifics of your industry. We are sure that during this crisis you will form a competent strategy for spending the company’s budget and become stronger, temper your character and be prepared for any shocks!