Grow your business after this pandemic and during an economic downturn

As we all are aware of the fact that this pandemic has been affecting all the businesses and economies and the after affects will continue to be borne by each and everyone in the society. For the businesses to survive, independent of its size...they need to incorporate some strategic moves and transformations along with a complete transition to a virtual world with all new skill sets.

Large businesses can somewhat survive and cope with this global crisis as they have the benefit of their huge resources, but those who all are into this pothole are the small and medium sized businesses. They are either in lack of sufficient resources or not having extra resources unlike the large companies.

It's clearly visible that the next economic downturn is on its way and we need to gear up for that.
Customers are reluctant to pay that extra and they would just want the standard basic thing that is actually needed and will cut all other added paid benefits in order to minimize the cost.

Now to survive in such a hostile environment, there are some actions that are needed to be taken that are mentioned below.
1. Complete transition to a Digital Era. Growing your business online, engaging existing  customers online, acquiring new customers, turning prospects into new leads and advertising online mostly focussing on SEO rather than paid ones to cut costs.
2. Proper evaluation and take decisions on if outsourcing would be beneficial or not. Assessment of the service providers in case going to outsource.
3. Cutting your costs rather than increasing your price. Focussing mainly on the core offering, for the time being.
4. In addition try to build your supplementary services strong and visible, differentiating your offering from competitors’.
5. It's a fact that you’re not going for new hiring right now, but you can always up-skill your existent people and that would be much cost effective.
6. Focus on retaining the existing customers and increasing the revenue by up-selling and cross-selling.
7. Reduce the cash that's tied up in inventory. Reduce the amount of inventory you're holding and free up much needed cash.
8. Don't go for ‘lowest price' tag as there is always someone willing to lose more money by making deeper price cuts. So change your marketing message to highlight your amazing value.
9. Cutting your working hours is way better than layoffs. This way you can save the amount of cash without compromising on productivity.
10. Lastly you must cut your own salary before you cut your employee's salaries. Otherwise you'll see a reduction in productivity.

Keeping your business afloat during the current situation is really difficult but not impossible. Have realistic goals and plan for the survival.