3 Survival Tips for Small Businesses during the Coronavirus Outbreak

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is safe to say that all business owners (especially small business owners) are in a crisis like no other. Trying to keep your business afloat amid a pandemic is undoubtedly daunting. Safety measures like social distancing and lockdowns have been implemented in several states, and it is bound to affect business levels. People’s spending pattern has also vastly changed during the pandemic. Now, everyone is focusing on spending money only on essentials, because they want to save as much money as possible for future emergencies. In such a climate, churning out revenue to keep your business afloat will be very hard, especially if you're not an essential product or service. It's safe to say that regardless of the size of your business, you'll have to re-look at how you manage operations. If you're a small business owner, then it's going to be doubly hard to survive the economic slowdown, since cash reserves are limited. Here are three tips for you to survive the impact of COVID-19:

1.Track and Prioritize Your Costs

All businesses have fixed and variable costs that must be paid no matter what. However, due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, you need to see if you have enough revenue to meet both your fixed and variable costs. You need to properly assess all your expenses and see how important and necessary they are vis-à-vis your actual revenue. If any costs aren't contributing to revenue or helping business functions, cut them out. Fixed costs still need to be paid, so your focus should be to generate enough monthly income to meet those costs. Analyzing all your expenses like this will give you a good idea of your financial standing. It will also help you plan and meet your expenses better. You need to track your cash flow and ensure that you’re on track consistently.

2. Check the Feasibility of Your Business

As mentioned earlier in the article, people's consumption patterns have seen a complete roundabout during the pandemic. Everybody is making purchases online now in a bid to stay safe. So, you might want to look at the demand for your products/services in this new climate. If you're a restaurant owner, the chances are that you might see a little or even no footfall. If you're a retail brand, now is the time to ramp up your online marketing strategy. You need to examine the numbers (in terms of revenue and cost) and see how long it's going to take before you turn profitable. Suppose you're already on that path, great. If not, you need to see what kind of measures you can take to get there. Should you change your sales strategy? Should you cut marketing costs (or scale them up)? You also need to account for how much debt you have and find out ways to pay them off.

3. Communicate With Your Customers

Now, more than ever, is the time that you need to be continually communicating with your customers. They need to know the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on your business. For example, if you're a salon, you need to inform your customers about your new business hours, along with the safety measures you're putting in place. Tell them what you're doing to make it easier to access and purchase your products and services, especially right now. Ramp up your social media profiles. Work on email newsletters (if you haven't already). Are there any changes your business is going through that will directly affect your customers? If so, tell them. Right now, you need to answer the question of can you still deliver? This is an excellent time to focus on your existing customers and strengthen their faith in you, especially if you’re an essential product/service. If you need to re-assess how you sell and market your offerings because of the pandemic, do so. It's about retaining your customers at all costs.

In Conclusion

During these difficult times, it's important to help yourself and your customers in whatever way you can. Even though it might feel like an uphill battle right now, please remember to be compassionate and to stay safe and healthy. The above points will help you stay afloat as a small business owner during the pandemic. Make sure also to strengthen your financial reserves, as you have no idea when the pandemic will end. If you’re looking for funds to do just that a money loan app like KreditBee can help you out. Just download the KreditBee app from the Google Play Store, complete your profile, and leave it to us to process your application in as little as 10 minutes! To learn more, you can write to us at [email protected] or reach us at +080 44 292 200.