Whilst none of us know when we will come out of the current lockdown and can reopen our businesses, you need to start thinking about what changes there will be and how you will need to adapt your business to them. It’s important to be ready, have momentum for when we come out of lockdown and not be caught flat footed when it does happen and give your competitors an early advantage. Here are my top 5 things to focus on when planning your reopening:
1. New rules – when we come out of lockdown there will definitely be new rules in place, both short term and potentially long term. The obvious ones of these to consider is social distancing and use of protective equipment, how will you need to change your business to accommodate these changes?
2. Less Contact – people are going to be a lot more reticent about touching things, where it be doors, menus or equipment. How can you make it as easy as possible for customers to interact with your business with fewer physical touch points than before?
3. What changes do you want to keep – most businesses have adopted significant changes to carry on working during the lockdown, consider which ones can benefit your business in the longer term and you can keep in place. Can you use technology more in the future? Can I have more people working from home to save costs? Have you used new ways of marketing?
4. Relaunch your business – when your business re-opens you need to relaunch it and let everyone know you are open again. Look at how you can use marketing for your reopening, making the loudest possible noise and reaching the most people possible.
5. Bringing your people back to work – you are going to have to re-introduce your team back to the business and get them involved again, especially if they have been furloughed and if you have made significant changes to the business during lockdown. It’s also a key time to re-energise your team and get them excited, be the leader, lead with passion and enthusiasm.
Now is the time to start planning for re-opening.
