Business owners are facing this reality now as they cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Closed businesses wonder if they will be able to re-open; the remaining open businesses are dealing with significantly reduced revenue. There are no easy answers.
I had a conversation with my Cousin in Kingston, Jamaica recently. Jamaica is currently in a heavy lock-down: The International airports are closed to all incoming traffic; All the hotels are closed. In a country heavily dependent on tourism, this is catastrophic across the entire economy.
My cousin is a business consultant and I expected the worst. I was pleasantly surprised when she said that local businesses had already adapted to this new reality: Grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants were now delivering direct to their customers. "They adapted quickly because they knew no help was coming".
Here in North America we are not used to that. We're not used to this sudden change in the business landscape. In Jamaica they are used to frequent upheaval. People have to adapt quickly to the changes. It's a lesson we are now learning here in North America. How do we start?
- Stop referring to this as 'living in challenging times'. Life is always challenging...we've been lulled into complacency.
- Adapt now. Aggressively look for ways to satisfy customer's changed needs
- Move your business online, particularly mobile
- Stop waiting for 'new normal'...this is normal
Until next time...
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