Whatever you did to achieve success pre-Corona is not going to be the same as the things you need to do to achieve success in a Corona world.
Our whole way of interacting with the physical world, and with each other, has changed and will stay that way for a long time yet. Our priorities as human beings and consumers have altered drastically. Things that used to feel like necessities – the cappuccino on the way into the office; the cars we spent hours in, the gym session to clear our heads – none of these is essential in a world of social distancing.
As a business, if you’re waiting for things to go back to ‘normal’ you’re waiting to close your doors. You must reset your business for the new reality, which means understand the new problems that your pre-corona customers will now face, and rebuilding your business to service them.
We have developed three strategies to get this right. Red, during lockdown, is all about resetting your business. Amber, the 3 to 6 months post-lockdown, is what you need to do to turn your insights gained during the red phase, into a rebuilt business during this phase. Finally, green, once you have seen and understood what works, is the time to accelerate and reignite growth.
Remaining positive is crucial. The right mindset, irrespective of your current circumstances, will yield positive outcomes if you act against these 3 strategies. At a recent Aurik client roundtable with 15 business owners in industries as varied as restaurants and rubber manufacturing, we came up with ideas that saw collaborations between these unlikely partners, that fit each of these categories.
In the Red zone, business owners in computing, airfreight and distribution identified that there are not enough laptops in South Africa to meet the demand caused by remote working. So the three of them are exploring the possibility of chartering a plane to bring in these new essential resources.
In the Amber zone, an auto dealer, rubber manufacturer, virtual reality services and computing hardware provider are looking into digitising an outbound sales force.
In the Green zone, a coatings specialist, exhibitions company and a restaurateur are coming together to design a series of physical distancing solutions for retail and industry.
Collaborations are going to be key going forward, to ensure that we can act as quickly as possible to solve the new problems that the corona economy presents.
Join me in a 60 minute webinar to reset, rebuild and reignite your business on Thursday 30 April at 4pm.
