The Global pandemic of COVID-19 isn’t showing any sign of slowing down. Along with human beings, survival is the only goal for most businesses now.
Fast Food titans such as Pizza Hut and KFC have moved their marketing and payment online. Beverage giants such as Coca-Cola have moved to offer logistic support for assisting deliveries of goods and medical equipment for those in need.
The only way most businesses are trying to stay afloat is by taking their businesses online and maintaining a strong bond with their customers online.
This article will show you how to stay afloat during this pandemic using the CRM online based software. It is a WordPress based solution for any kind of business that has to deal with a large number of customers in groups and categories.
Here is a list of 7 tips to stay in business by keeping your customers satisfied which also leads to sustainable brand value.
| Top 7 Tips to Business Survival During the Pandemic | |
| 1 | Getting In Touch with Your Customers Maximizes Business Survival |
| 2 | Changing Your Communication Tone to Secure Business Survival |
| 3 | Migrate Everything Online for Your Business Survival |
| 4 | Employee Training and Management for Business Survival |
| 5 | Pandemic Planning for Business Must Include Online Deals |
| 6 | Avoid Cash Transaction As Much As Possible |
| 7 | Let’s Move your Accounting to Online |
1. Getting In Touch with Your Customers Maximizes Business Survival
Now is the time to show how reliable you can be. Get in touch with your customers by using the right communication medium is a sure way to make them feel less stressed.
Make communication online mandatory as part of your business pandemic policy. The COVID-19 virus is highly contagious so avoid any face-to-face communication. Most of the cases, you may be running your business from home, and your clients are doing the same.
To make all the processes easier, you can use a remote ERP tool like WP ERP CRM. It is immensely helpful to manage your employees and clients alike.
For example, the SMS extension is of great help in this regard. Here is an image showing the SMS feature that enables you to send messages from your CRM dashboard to your clients.
Many of your customers may not have internet or are having low bandwidth. Sending SMS notification will enable you to keep in touch with your customers.
2. Changing Your Communication Tone to Secure Business Survival
It’s necessary to turn your usual tone of communication to a more aiding manner. Previously, all communication was expected to be formal and business-like. This will have to change.
Most people have lost their jobs or the source of income. Therefore, everybody is vulnerable to the virus. The people are now anxious, stressed and worried. So communicating in a robotic tone will only increase the distance between you and your customers.
Contact all your staff responsible for communicating with the customers. Instruct them to be patient and be sympathetic. They must also show empathy when talking to clients.
Even Emails, SMS communication and video conferencing should not be excluded from this rule. Every medium of communication should have the same tone of empathy, patience, and kindness.
Make reassurances if you need to. Your clients should be at ease when communicating with you. This matters most because remember, gaining new customers is harder than to retain them. So make sure your business communication sound more humane than lifeless.
It is very likely that your customers may not be able to pay their dues. If they explain their situation, listen to them. Now is not the time to be stern. Your clients are also focusing on survival so allow them the time they need to cover their dues.
3. Migrate Everything Online for Your Business Survival
According to research, the COVID-19 virus can spread even if the climate is hot. Countries like Saudi Arabia and India which are known to have warmer climates have reported high cases of COVID infections.
If you are still conducting face-to-face business-just stop it instantly. Send all your business’s employees home instantly. This will ensure safety for both you and your customers.
Most importantly, move all your business, communication, meetings, or any deals online. Extend any deadlines to allow time for you to migrate online.
Download your excel file containing all the list of your client’s contact and convert them into a CSV file. Then you can upload them onto the CRM Module of your WordPress site. This way you do not lose contact of your customer details
For example, Awesome Support Sync is an extension that lets you manage your customer’s tickets online. You can view and manage your customer’s issues online is a more organized way. This is done by submitting tickets for looking into an issue.
Awsome Support Sync is all about posting problems is a form of a ticket and then solving it while also tracking the conversation of the tickets according to the date so you do not forget the past issues of the tickets as shown above.
The tickets are marked, with labels, status and are categorized as shown below.
In an online business, it is common for the communication gap to be created especially when problems arise and require it to be solved in a systematic way.
4. Employee Training and Management for Business Survival
You can also move to train your employees online. Many firms have been late to respond to the ongoing pandemic.
Try the WP ERP Training extension for training your employees on how to deal with the pandemic so that you and your employees may survive together.
Another very useful tool is the Document Manager, which is used to upload files to the cloud. This is a feature that should be in constant use.
Files with instructions and rules will be needed to be uploaded to the cloud. It is very likely that employees will forget what they have been taught during their training sessions. So if they forget anything, they can refer to the files uploaded to the CRM system.
This is will reduce the need to message for every confusion your employees might face when dealing with your business operation.
5. Pandemic Planning for Business Must Include Online Deals
If you own a store, it would not be wise to leave it open. Chances are you won’t be allowed to leave it open unless you are running a pharmacy or a food store.
Move all your business online. If you do not have any online presence then you can build a WordPress site for your businesses.
On your site, you can continue to run your business in various ways. For example, you could offer discounts or make deals. You could also continue to offer services and accept payment later when the situation is stable. The Woocomerce Plugin handles this very aspect of online businesses.
6. Avoid Cash Transaction As Much As Possible
Cash is notoriously covered in germs because they transfer from one hand to another. According to research, a number of germs were found on cash notes.
In China, where 80,500 cases of COVID-19 is reported and counting, banks had to disinfect their cash with ultraviolet-rays and to prevent the spread of the virus through cash.
So avoid any transaction in cash and move all your payment online. The world has gotten a lot easy with online payment. Use Paypal, Stripe or mobile banking system to avoid germ-infected cash.
This is safe for you and your customers. Cash payments are also a hassle as they have to be carried around which is risky. Online payments are easy fast and secure.
7. Let’s Move your Accounting to Online
Even though most businesses are not in good shape, you are going to have to keep your bankers, investors, and shareholders informed-if not satisfied.
A lot of businesses keep their accounting log in Microfots Excel. The number one crucial issue is if you are running a WordPress website, you cannot integrate a Microsoft excel sheet with your Wordpress site.
During this pandemic, accounting management must be handled online which you and your accountant have access to at the same time.
So choose a proper Accounting plugin for your WordPress site. You can use WP ERP Accounting Module to track your day to day accounting activities. If you have shareholders, investors or banks who are asking for documents, a Wordpress this robust tool will not only calculate and manage your costs but also generate reports for you.
What’s Next You Should Be Doing
Another important tip could be to lower your business’s operating costs. You can do so by halting the purchase of services you do not need.
Losses will be made, this cannot be avoided. You are not alone on this. Even tech giants such as Apple have had to halt their production in China. What you can do is to minimize the losses and do your best to survive this pandemic.
Also, focus on using Remote Office Management Software that will enable business survival without compromising on customer satisfaction. The CRM software has several extensions such as Woocommerce we’ve mentioned above.
So don’t get stressed. This is a new situation. Always try to invent new ways to survive through this. Do you have any particular ideas? Don’t hesitate to let us know.
