Fellow MD’s and CEO’s No matter what business you are in today your business environment has changed significantly in the past week. You may have hit the pause/stop button, got your staff to work from home, implemented temporary layoffs, part-time working or had a surge in demand while short-staffed etc. Many business owners are facing huge challenges over the coming months. When will we recover and what will be different? You can do nothing, panic or plan. Our job is to help you plan. It has been inspirational to learn how our members have been reacting to the current crisis at our Virtual Board Meetings. The assistance they are giving each other in this time of need makes me so proud to be surrounded by such amazing business leaders in our community. I would like to extend that invitation to you to become part of this amazing community as a guest during this crisis. This is your opportunity to help others. Its also a great way of meeting other business leaders, extending your supply and customer base and getting external perspectives on the way forward. All meetings are virtual, impactful and professionally facilitated. You may have missed our webinar on virtual boards last December, but here is the link What is there to lose by having a quick video call with me or one of our facilitators. Pick a time that suits you here pjtimmins.youcanbook.me or contact one of our facilitators directly https://thealternativeboard.ie/advisory-boards/ In the meantime, here are some Tips that we have picked up in the past two weeks, not just locally in Ireland but across the world. We will be adding to them as more tips come in in our Coronavirus Resources Centre. Business Continuity Plan
Have you got your business continuity plan working well. Here is one sample Our Spanish TAB master advises - Prepare for lockdown as it comes faster than you think. Get your IT support ready for when people are working from home, secure connections to servers or cloud sharing tools, training on virtual communication tools, and get your authorisation paperwork ready that shows you are travelling for work reasons and nothing else. These are all admin tasks that take longer than anybody thinks when a crisis is on. This is a sample authorisation form currently being used in Germany for staff travel.
He also advised that laptops were very scarce so think of moving the PC’s from the office to the home asap. Ensure all employees who can work from home are set up to do so. - Test work-from-home procedures and technology.
- Develop strategies to conduct business without business travel for an extended period.
- Cross-train employees especially where you have a single point of failure and have plan B and C.
- Be particularly mindful of couples who work in your business and may have to self isolate.
- See detail on short-time working support from DEASP – Short-time-work-support-Booklet
Employee Communications Tips - Communicate workplace wellness, work-from-home, sick and HR policies. Consider if you need to make changes. e.g. set up an Intranet containing all of your policies.
- Any employee or those with a family member showing signs of sickness must stay home.
- If an employee COVID-19 case is confirmed, inform others but respect confidentiality.
- Identify staff who live with vulnerable people e.g. as schools are closed, grandparents may be minding children. These staff will be the first to take up unpaid/compassionate leave.
- Identify staff who lack resiliency as their mental state will be fragile and they are likely to go out sick due to stress. Here is a note from Retail Excellence and the HSE in respect of stress
- Plan for a scarcity of labour if your business is experiencing a sudden increase in demand. People will be out sick/on leave in greater numbers than you expect. Parents may not wish their teenage kids working in your business.
- You can still have meals together shared online as promoted by our member Camile Thai where you can be confident about safety matters.
Supply Chain Tips - Evaluate the potential interruption of any points of the supply chain. Note that many specialist items in your supply chain come from Italy, Spain and Germany.
- Ask suppliers to provide their continuity plans.
- Review contracts with key suppliers.
- Evaluate alternative vendors and suppliers.
- Note TAB member Connect Promotions have hand sanitisers and masks in stock and available for order plus lots of other home working materials.
- While Zoom has taken off as the preferred online communications platform, have a backup ready to go. All US Universities will move to Zoom this week and the impact of that move on the stability of the platform is unknown. Other platforms like Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, Goto meeting are best in class alternatives.
- If you do need to organise future travel, consider using a licensed and bonded travel agent who has some negotiation power with the airlines, rather than just booking online and hoping for the best. Our member Mary McKenna at Tour America has been a lifesaver for so many travelling at this time.
Revenue Strategies - Develop alternative strategies for acquiring customers that do not require in-person contact.
- Develop plans for a 25%, 50% or 75% decrease in revenue.
- Review business disruption insurance for adequacy. Some members tell us that their insurer has claimed that Covid-19 is not a specified risk.
- Deliver your product using the Zendfast crowdsourced delivery platform.
- Learn how to sell in uncertain times from TAB Guru Joe Zente
- If you don’t have a great digital marketing strategy, it may be time to get one. TAB member Maryrose Lyons of Brightspark Consulting brings massive expertise in B2C digital marketing strategies
- Consider diverting resources to SEO of your online offer which gives a slower but longer return on investment for your web strategy according to TAB member John Ring of TinterPoint Digital Marketing.
- If you wish to drive more return on investment for your marking spend for online shopping consider our member Aidan Corbett at Conjura
Premises and Environmental Tips - Provide additional on-site stock of sanitation supplies and hand sanatisers at workstations.
- Engage cleaning service for deep cleaning.
- Train employees on best practices for employee contact and social distancing.
Customer Impact - Assess potential impact/delay to customer shipments/service.
- Communicate with customers whether or not you expect a service impact.
- See how you can add more value to customers to make them raving fans in the longer term.
- Ask customers to use their car as your waiting room if you are seeing many clients and text them when your previous client has left.
Leadership - Communicate often with your staff e.g. daily zoom catchup meetings.
- Show concern but not panic.
- Take care of your employees first.
- Use the time to plan and work on your business, not in it. We will witness 20 years of change in the next three months.
- Recognise great performance from those who have gone over and above in this crisis. Perhaps even send them some wine from our TAB member David Whelehan of Whelehans Wines.
Cash Management - Evaluate your balance sheet and cash position.
- Reduce fixed or discretionary costs wherever possible.
- Make a financial plan for 3 months and for 15 months which enables you to survive
- Talk to your Bank, the Revenue about your circumstances and preserve your cash as much as possible.
- If your bank is not engaging with you, do consider non-bank lending. You can navigate that course of action with the help of our member Rupert Hogan at Businessloans.ie Non-bank lending is still active.
- Attend our webinar on sources of funds on Wednesday 25th at 4pm.
Remote working Tips Here is an entire blog of tips on remote working Pivot to New Realities
Think about any way your business can pivot to take advantage of the new realities. There will be fundamental changes in the way we do business moving forward, and only the agile will capitalise on them. Take Appropriate Action
Now that you have a plan, you have to commit to taking action. Any additional delays will cause your cash to run out sooner, putting the long term health of your business in jeopardy. In the global financial crisis, I failed to persuade my board of directors to make the necessary cuts that I felt were necessary. They believed that we should hold on to our cash and not make the redundancies to cut costs. It was an expensive mistake and massively weakened our hand in negotiations of the sale of the business in 2012 when we had run out of cash. Finally, my recommendation would be to discuss the potential impacts with your key advisors – your business coach, accountant or fellow business owners. By having the discussion, they will give you essential ideas you might not have considered. TAB was formed in a recession and grew in a recession. TAB members share their expertise and unique perspectives with each other and they simply increase their chances of success. Take up my invitation for a chat at pjtimmins.youcanbook.me | 
