What follows are a series of suggestions I’d like to provide to any business owners and upper management that are facing the tall task of guiding a company through a crisis.
Remain Calm!
This is only a test! At the onset of a crisis, it is human nature to react emotionally. Panic, despair, fear, denial, anger, anxiety can all set in. Work through the emotion. Scream! Yell! Kick something!-…but not within earshot of employees or customers.
Be the sponge! Absorb all of the drama and don’t let it trickle down into the work culture or environment. As soon as you can remain calm and begin focusing on your plan of action, sharing the message to your key people is critical.
Exude confidence! Your key people at the top will need to do the same. Make sure all key people are conveying your same message. Exuding confidence and being consistent will assure your employees.
Financial Impact
ANY crisis results in a financial impact of some kind on the business and affects the company’s financial health. Ensure you have pieces in place to mitigate any loss. Contingency planning is crucial.
Things to Analyze
- How long can you continue in your present state?
- What’s your new budget?
- How much money is in reserves?
- How many receivables are left in your pipeline?
Action Plan
- Determine strategies for each crisis for future planning.
- Prolong any major expenditures.
- Negotiate with vendors for longer terms and price cuts.
- Work on your receivables to get money coming in the door.
- Are layoffs needed and necessary?
- Trim expenses that won’t impact operations.
Mitigate Risk
- Rainy Day Fund: Have liquid funds set aside. Enough for 2-3 months of major business expenses.
- Outside Help: Can’t be objective? Then bring in a specialist. Play to your strengths and hire out the rest in this time of need.
- Vendor Management: Your business may be secure, but if a critical vendor goes bankrupt, you will be adversely impacted.
Situational Analysis: Problem/Solution Thinking
Was it us?
Prevent from occurring again
Build up business around biggest customers
Focus on your strengths Human capital to retain top talent Your edge
Get an Attorney
Re-evaluate controls
CPA for guidance
CLOUD computing
Key data and technology redundancies
Key leader in insurance
Cross-training
Contingencies regarding workplace and recovery critical
Secondary office space
Growth Strategies to Rise Back to Your Feet: The 5 R's
- Relationship: Build relationships with the people inside and outside of your company.
- Revenue: Build a Relationship with people first and foremost THEN focus on making a sale and bringing in Revenue.
- Review: After you have developed a Relationship with a customer, and asked them to spend money with you (Revenue), it’s important to ask them how their experience was on the back-end and if they would be willing to share that experience with others through an online review.
- Refer: A Referral is when a satisfied customer Recommends you or your company to help their Friends, Family, or Neighbor by providing them with your service. Lean on advocates of your business for these!
- Repeat: Start over. We want customers to repeat the process defined above.
Note: Just because these are placed toward the bottom of this article, there is no reason that a company should delay getting the 5 R’s working for you.
You got this! Believe in yourself, your people and your company!!