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Preparing to reopen your small business during COVID-19? Heed these tips

Businesses in most parts of Florida – excluding Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach at the moment because of the high numbers of COVID-19 cases – are already beginning to reopen, per an executive order signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you must reopen now – that’s a business decision you need to make, considering the risks.

Brian Van Hook, regional director of Florida SBDC at FIU, the small business development center with the university’s College of Business, been sharing these tips around town to help businesses reopen successfully and put a plan in place to weather future crises. We’ll share them with you. (TIP: Sign up for other helpful webinars at the end of this post.)

PREPARE YOUR PHYSICAL WORKPLACE

Clean, clean, clean. The CDC is recommending routine cleaning of all frequently touched surfaces. You don’t need to get fancy with the cleaning agents; use what you typically use, Van Hook said. Beyond that, provide disposable wipes around the workplace so that employees can wipe surfaces before use, and check your maintenance contracts and cleaning supplies to ensure they can keep up with increased frequency and usage.

PUT A REOPENING PLAN IN PLACE

How will you best protect your company, your employees and your customers? You need to have a good plan in place to reopen, and your plan will differ depending on your unique circumstances.

Here are some best practices to consider:

Particularly for retail and restaurants, limit capacity, use one way aisles and customer spacing at checkout (both can be accomplished with guides in blue tape), install shields at checkout and drive-throughs and provide contact free checkout, provide personal protective equipment for employees, and remove display samples.

For employees, consider setting up a temperature setting station for each time an employee enters into their shift and require they wear facemasks and rubber gloves. Frequently clean and allow hand washing breaks with relief staff to allow for these breaks. Have a protocol for disposing PPE after shifts as well as protocols for infected employees.

Taking proper steps to protect your customers and employees from COVID-19 is one of the most important marketing steps you can take, Van Hook said. You don’t want to get a negative PR hit from not protecting your customers. Negative customer reactions or negative press will hurt your business.

MARKETING IS CRITICAL

Check out Google’s COVID-19 marketing strategy playbook – respond, rebuild and recover/reframe.

For communications with customers, update your website to let customers know you’re open, what safety procedures you are following and procedures that might be impacted. Monitor your competitors’ websites to see what they are doing or pick up best practices. Plan special promotions to raise awareness. You could thank healthcare workers and offer them specials. You might want to do it for the first week or two, to get customers back in the door, Van Hook said.

“I’m encouraging businesses to think about setting up a gift card programs…A lot of businesses were caught flat footed without a gift cared program in place,” Van Hook said. Also, emphasize that you are a small business in your promotions – people want to support local small businesses, especially in times like these, he said.

Make sure your marketing fits the tone of the times. In these times, especially, a one-size fits all marketing strategy does not work, especially if you have multiple locations in different cities with different restrictions and different realities. You need an agile strategy that can be easily changed. Marketing campaigns during COVID-19 have been very empathetic, more focused on brand awareness than in your face sell-sell-sell.

UPDATE YOUR BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN

Like it or not, you need to plan for pandemics. This needs to be part of your business continuity planning moving forward. Your business should now give strong consideration to strengthening your ecommerce offerings. It’s been shown that businesses that had these channels in place, and marketed them, saw sales do well during shelter in place orders, Van Hook said. A business continuity plan can give you a competitive advantage.

For your continuity planning, think about what makes your business run – what functions are critical and what are non-essential? How long can you withstand an interruption and what are some steps you can take now to minimize the downtime.

Update vendor information on all your suppliers – do they have a continuity plan in place?. Make sure you have enough alternative suppliers – and geographic diversity is always good with hurricanes and pandemics like this. Place periodic orders to maintain active status with those suppliers.

Review your insurance coverage. Know what you are covered for and not covered for related to communicable diseases.  After the SARS pandemic, some insurance companies were excluding losses.

Work through with your agent how you improve your policy for business interuption. Might be a good time to shop around.

Listen to SBDC at FIU’s webinar, COVID-19: Small Business Planning for Reopening and Future Success here on all these topics.

SEEK HELP

Navigating this unprecedented time isn’t easy. We hope Growbiz has been a resource for you, bringing you guidance on navigating  relief programs, listings of resources, inspirational stories, and tips on guiding your company through this crisis, marketing  strategies and employee communications.

“We’re here to help you grow but also to weather the pandemic,” said Van Hook, noting that small businesses can consult with Florida SBDC experts at no cost. “I guarantee we will reopen and you need to think through your strategies and put plans in place.”

Register for these future webinars by Florida SBDC at FIU and its partners:

Leading Business Transformation from Within

Date: May 13th, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 9:30AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Concepta Strategies, Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/transform

Trim the Fat: Marketing During COVID-19

Date: May 14th, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Emineo Media, Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/marketing

Business Reinvention Kit

Date: May 19th, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/reinvention

Business Trends in the New Normal

Date: May 26th, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/trends

Creating Strategic Growth

Date: May 27th, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/growth

Get Back on Track

Date: May 28th, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Emineo Media, Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/track

Guerrilla Marketing Right Now

Date: June 2nd, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Emineo Media, Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/guerrilla

The Government is Still Buying

Date: June 4th, 2020
Time: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Location: ONLINE
Presented by: Emineo Media, Florida SBDC at FIU in association with Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center
Registration: go.fiu.edu/buying

Please send GrowBiz topic suggestions and feedback to GrowBiz@FIU.EDU.

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