COVID-19:
How to grow your business during this period
COVID-19 and the economic uncertainty it has caused means it’s no longer business as usual. Business strategies must be reworked, and a flexible business model is required to allow room for experimentation and adaptation in the current market to grow your business.
Mark Baggs
Head of Global Expansion
All areas of life pre-pandemic have been significantly impacted. Unless drastic change is undertaken in order to adapt and be agile, growing and expanding your business could become near impossible.
So, is it possible to still grow your business during a pandemic?
Different sectors will be affected in different ways and some to a higher extent than others. But if opportunities can be seized, this will help the reduction of losses and businesses can begin to form a growth strategy.
What is the best strategy during Covid-19 to grow your business?
Pause and look at how your business can restructure/utilise resources more effectively
There has never been a better opportunity to pause and look at your business’ structure and resources. Are you using your resources as effectively as you could be? Is the structure working to achieve what you want?
Looking at your business inwardly is vital during this period so you can identify any gaps, under or over utilised resources or ways in which structure can be improved. Use this time to identify which staff you could upskill, which would improve efficiency and productivity. And, it saves money not having to hire new staff.
Find new paths for opportunity
A great place to start with identifying new opportunities is speaking to your customers. What do they want from you? Want are their current problems/challenges? Getting this information will help you shape your corporate strategy to adapt to the current climate. Getting a better understanding of your customers will help you create a better product or service.
Analysing your competitors is a further helpful technique for discovering potential opportunities. Are your competitors operating in more countries than you are? Expanding into new markets can help grow your business. Doing it with a PEO can help your business grow on average 7-9% faster.
Expanding into a foreign market with a PEO can provide:
- Access to a wider talent pool
- Ability to test markets cost effectively
- Get ahead of the competition by accessing new customers
- Get entry into new markets
Focus on your marketing efforts
With uncertainty, comes the demand for providing people with knowledge that they can gain value from. By looking at how you can focus your marketing efforts on providing a solution to your customers, you will help create a relationship and increase loyalty. For example, if you’re an IT company, sharing valuable tips on how to look after your IT equipment will be helpful, especially when there is limited access to repair support due to the pandemic. A great tool for marketing tips is Hubspot.
Continue to invest, but evaluate your current investments
As tempting as it may seem, this isn’t the time to cut your spending on certain investments. Choosing the right technology and services can help automate your processes and get your business back on track. Automation platforms can help streamline your workflow whilst providing you with a valuable insight into your customer behaviour.
If you have a global workforce, outsourcing certain services can relieve you of the arduous HR admin that comes with managing the team. This means you can focus on the revenue generating activities required to get your business back on track.
Communicate with your customers more
Alongside acquiring new customers, it’s vital to strengthen the relationship with your current customers. How are you retaining your current customers? Are you frequently engaging with them? Just as you are as a business, your customers will be purchasing cautiously and evaluating their decisions.
In a period where face-to-face communication is practically discouraged, it has never been more important to be responsive. Some ways you can make yourself more accessible to your customers are:
- Setting up virtual meetings
- Developing and promoting your FAQ page
- Be across a variety of platforms
For your business to grow, it’s vital to continue to be agile through seeking new opportunities, listening to your customers and striving to be more efficient.
Request a call back from our global expansion expert today to find out how we can help get your business back on track.