BUSINESS
Recovery
GETTING YOUR BUSINESS BACK ON ITS FEET AFTER LOCKDOWN
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Elizabeth Ashley provides some advice on business recovery…
HERE is an old saying that though we might be in the same storm, we are not all in the same boat. I whole heartedly believe that to be true. All businesses are not alike, because all business owners are not alike. Every business owner has qualities, skills, tools and equipment that can be utilised to help business recovery... Your first tool is your client database. Don’t wait until the government tells you it’s safe to go back in the practice room. If you’re not already keeping in contact with your clients, now’s the time to start. It’s the simplest and most effective way to ensure your clients walk straight back in when you are allowed to reopen.
DON’T CANVAS FOR SALES. ASK THEM OPEN QUESTIONS. Closed questions elicit a yes/ no answer. They often start with, “Do you? Are you?” Open questions begin with who, why, what, where, when, which. Powerful questions elicit helpful answers. Try questions like, “How are you coping? How have you been feeling? What are you finding most difficult?” This is a four-tiered call. 1. To genuinely show compassion and understanding for another human in this time of crisis. 2.
To understand if your current treatment list still has relevance and that you are still offering services people will want to buy.
3.
To gauge how they feel about visiting your practice room when things will still be precarious
4.
To educate your client on extra services they may not have considered.
CALL YOUR CUSTOMERS AND SEE HOW THEY ARE Your clients trust you to take care of them in “health-time” (as opposed to war-time or peace-time). You have seen them at their most vulnerable and they will appreciate hearing from you now when there is no ulterior motive.
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Part two of the call, requires a pen and paper and an open, listening ear. Draw them into your confidence that you need help understanding what your clients want you to be available to offer when you open, and you want to prioritise what people need over what people want. Will a cellulite treatment be top of their agenda or has tension in their back or anxiety taken its place? Can you still afford to be blocking 90-minute spots for intensive treatments if most people want their nails done or an express massage and facial? This is a time of unique market research. Be candid. Ask them to rate from 1-10 how comfortable they would feel having a massage versus a less hands on treatment. Be brave. Don’t try to second guess what everyone will say. One thing’s for certain, there will be a mixed bag of replies, but armed with knowledge, you then have power. Potentially, there may never have been a time where your client will be so unrestrained in their views.
DISCUSS SAFETY The government has put guidelines into place about how businesses should operate,
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