The future of business is most definitely about to change. In fact, the future of how we’re living is about to change. We know that it has been plastered all over the news. Articles telling us about the signs and symptoms. Ones telling us how to wash our hands. Another told us how many the case numbers have gone up by. Then you have all of the hype that’s surrounding it from the news. The news is showing the virus to be spreading rapidly, and one thing that’s being spoken about a lot is what is the future for businesses? Business is what’s keeping the economy alive at the minute. Governments around the world know and understand that, and are trying to provide all of the support that they can to businesses. But how are businesses meant to keep trading if there are no customers? People are ill and self-isolating, stock markets are crashing, and it would seem that the economy is falling apart at the seams and the world along with it. All you have to do is look at all of the posts people are putting up of the empty supermarket shelves to see how much this is panicking people. If it’s worrying you as a business, we’ll show you what it could mean for you.
One thing that might happen for you is that you might have a sudden influx in attention that brings you more money. For example, if you were selling loo rolls online you will no doubt be making a killing right now. But all jokes aside, you could experience a big influx in your online sales because people are having more time on their hands. Some of the self-employed are not going to be able to work, which might mean that they binge buy some clothes to try and comfort themselves. It’s important to remember that there will be a lot of people off work and with no money, which we’ll talk about in the next section. But realistically, as long as you’re selling something that’s only being sold on the internet, and it’s something that people are really in need of at the minute, you’re probably going to make a lot of money from it. For example, even down to niche businesses such as home repairs. People will be eager to get everything they can do that they’ve been putting off in case services are no longer going to be available for a while. It just seems like a mad rush for everyone to try and get things done before, what feels like the world shutting down completely.
We wouldn’t be surprised if a sudden drop happened anytime soon. It’s so easy for a sudden drop to happen because people just aren’t spending their money at the minute. Some are doing the total opposite and spending money on everything they can, including filling the freezer with every single item that they can find. But then there are the people who know that money might be a little tight for the foreseeable future. It’s the people who are self-employed or the ones that are on state benefits that are worried. What if the money just stops flowing? So to cope with a sudden drop you need to start monitoring your sales a little more closely. You can use a monthly sales report software service to track your sales and understand where the ones you are having, are coming from. You could also use this alongside marketing software that helps you to see how well your marketing campaigns are doing. Using these two alongside each other is going to help you gain a much clearer picture. It will also show you the difference in sales that you’re making. We think this is such useful information. If you’re having consistent days where you’re making less money, you’re going to need to focus on cutbacks that level that out. If you just keep spending the same amount of money whilst you’re not making any, your business is soon going to crumble.
There are definitely some big financial changes that are going to change the way that you’re able to run your business. This is going to follow on nicely from the last section. When you have such a sudden drop in sales and you know it’s going to be something that carries on into the next few months, you really need to make sure that you’re making big financial changes that are going to benefit your company. The first is cutbacks to the money you’re paying yourself. Often a business will be falling to its knees and a business owner will still pay themselves the same amount of money as they always have, out of greed. Often that money can be used to support other areas of your business that you know you’re going to have to make cutbacks to. You might also need to look for sponsors or investors who will be looking for a way to make a lot of money at this time of year. They know that people are going to be desperate for a cash investment to keep their company running, and eventually, they’ll be able to start profiting back from it. There are also the government funds that you could try and tap in to if you know you need some serious financial support.
This is something that no one can answer at the minute. It seems as though it will not be over for the next few months, and the peak is still a month or two away. We can’t be sure what this means for businesses, but we do know that you need to focus on sticking to a clear plan and making daily changes where needed. The more time you spend analysing the situation and understanding it, the easier it’s going to be to deal with. Support those around you that you can as well!
Photo: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay
