Four Ways Businesses Are Surviving Covid-19

– Contributed content –

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4 Aug. 2020. It’s undeniable – Covid-19 is hurting businesses. Unfortunately, the companies that are hit the hardest are the small and local organizations. With less money and fewer resources, it’s a struggle to limit the damage and stem the bleeding.

However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t have a backup plan. Like every business, you can use the competition, big or small, as the blueprint for your success. As long as you tweak the foundations to match your company’s requirements, you should survive and thrive.

Here are the examples that you can copy that are helping enterprises through this difficult period.

Prioritize health

Putting the health and safety of your staff and customers first is the key. As a boss, it’s essential that your brand never puts profits over people’s safety. If it does, it’ll gain a reputation (and rightly so) as a business that only cares about making money. L’Oreal proves how even massive brands that own a huge chunk of the market can enhance their image in crises. The beauty company has launched a social and environmental fund to support the impact of the coronavirus pandemic worth €150m.

You won’t have the same money to donate, but every little helps when people are struggling to make ends meet.

Negotiate leases

McDonald’s, the biggest brand in the fast-food industry, and one of the largest businesses in the entire world stopped paying rent in some countries around the world. Whether you agree or disagree, it’s a sign that you can decide to renegotiate the terms of your lease. It doesn’t matter whether you run a cell tower or a brick-and-mortar store – you have leverage. Not only can you ask for help from a cell tower attorney or a traditional business lawyer, but you can highlight that you can’t pay the usual rates.

Considering landlords prefer to receive some cash, especially when money is tight on their end, you’ll get some leeway.

Manage your cash flow

Your company is your life. Without it, you don’t have the vehicle for success that pays the rent and keeps the roof over your head. Although your current resources don’t go far, you’ve got to showcase that you’re doing all you can manage your cash flow responsibly. Banks, for example, tried to pay dividends in the UK until public uproar made them reverse the decision. Speaking of the UK, just compare the image of their Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the Trump administration.

It’s a no-contest because Mr Sunak has spent savvily where necessary and saved the rest.

Switch up

If in doubt, you shouldn’t be afraid to swap your business plan for something new that will guide you through the tough times. Boober Eats is now a takeout service that delivers food to its customers. Previously, it was a strip club, and food probably didn’t account for 10% of the business’s profits. Still, the organization did something different and received national and international coverage as a result.

Would you tweak your strategy? Would you do whatever it takes to keep the doors open?

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