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27 things you can do today to save your business
When I asked my readers if they had any good information about how small businesses can survive during the quarantine, I got a very interesting reply with content from Noah Kagan, the CEO of Sumo.com and AppSumo.com. He shared some ideas of how he had helped to keep a local coffee shop afloat.
I took the ideas he shared and made them applicable to more types of offline businesses. In this article, I’ll detail each of his points and provide additional tips as needed. I broke it down into three categories: Cost Reductions, Generating Revenues, and Goodwill Activities. The sections surrounded by [] are my ideas and they don’t come from Kagan.
Quick aside: not all the points will be applicable to your business but some will. And if your business is online, there are some cues to take from this too to get you thinking outside the box during this uncertain time.
Ready?
Section 1: Cost Reductions
Physical Space
1. Ask your landlord for rent concessions until things stabilize
If you have a physical address where you pay rent, chances are it’s a considerable chunk of your budget. Figure out a win-win situation with your landlord. If you know your business will be back to normal in a few months, you could try asking for deferred payments with interest, for example. Whatever you choose to do, it doesn’t hurt to try and negotiate.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. It’s that simple.
Budget
2. Budget a 40% revenue reduction and the costs necessary to be able to stay profitable or break-even
For many businesses, a 40-percent reduction is probably wishful thinking. But I think that’s the point of this exercise. He wants you to figure out ways to make it so your revenues are *only* down by 40 percent. I’m sharing some of his tips on generating revenues below.
Be optimistic and do everything in your power to reach your goals.
Salary
3. Take salary cuts across the board
I know in the USA and Canada banks have lowered interest rates for loans. It might be worth getting a loan and paying employees from it at a reduced rate.
It’s better to keep great employees at a lower salary than lay them off and never see them again.
Subscriptions
4. Reduce to one-time payments
Some providers allow you to get a big discount for paying upfront. Now more than ever, they’re happy to help you with that.
Essentially, you want to reduce recurring costs.
5. Looks at your subscriptions to see if you can downgrade to more basic plans
Most businesses have more subscriptions than they realize. Look at your accounting to see where your money goes when it comes to subscriptions and see if you can downgrade some of them.
Some providers will even refund you if you pre-paid.
6.Transition your email provider to a one-time payment
The only provider I know that does that is SendFox. For $49, you can send a lifetime of emails to your list (up to 75,000 emails per month). They have different options if you need more, but for an offline business, that’s a lot!
A one-time payment option can save thousands of dollars per year for some businesses.
7.Pause or suspend accounts for the interim until you need them again
Some providers will allow you to pause a subscription for a few months.
If a subscription is irrelevant for you at this time, ask to pause it for a few months.
Advertising
8.Reduce any advertising that’s not 30 days ROI
For most offline businesses, that probably means to stop advertising entirely for now. But I think his point here is to try to figure out ad campaigns that can yield returns within a 30-day timeframe. He suggests pre-selling gift cards (see below), so that could be a way to hit that target. The trick is to ask yourself:
Is there anything I can sell quickly and profit from?
Section 2: Generate Revenues
Go virtual with your expertise and network
9. Create a daily hangout where your customers can meet virtually
Use Zoom, Google Hangout, Hopin or something else to organize meetups with your customers so they can stay in touch.
Give them value by sharing your expertise and answering questions during these meetups.
Share your expertise
10.[Write about it]
Blogging has never been easier thanks to websites like Medium.com. There, you can share your expertise, and the more engagement you get from your posts, the more money you make.
If you can create great content, you can make serious money on Medium.
11.[Host webinars]
Share your expertise at large by hosting a webinar (online seminar). You can choose one from this list or use Zoom. You can even stream from Youtube directly.
Most webinars offer a discounted product at the end and typically convert quite well.
12.[Do DIY online workshops]
Two nice platforms for that are Hopin (beta) and RemoteHQ. Some of your customers or potential customers might be interested in learning some techniques from you.
Online workshops are a great way to share your expertise and even make money.
13.[Vlog about it]
Youtube is more popular than ever. You can record videos or stream live to share your expertise with your audience. If you become big enough, you can make money through ads and sponsorships.
Most importantly, you build trust with your customers.
Pre-sell
14.Pre-sell gift cards to existing customers
If you’re strapped for cash and customers will need your help in the future, pre-sell your products and services.
If they don’t buy because of the tough time, offer an irresistible offer (discount, added value, coaching, etc).
Get moving
15.Deliver your products to your customers instead of them coming to you
If you’re making products and selling at your local store, you can start delivering the products yourself. The restaurant business is surviving on food delivery right now, and so can other products businesses.
Make your phone number public and get your clients to call you for delivery.
16.Transition or provide cars so all current employees can be drivers for Amazon Prime Now, Instacart, DoorDash, GrubHub, etc.
This is a clever one that technically has nothing to do with your business, but it helps keep your people fed, yourself included. Being quarantined myself, I am particularly grateful for people doing that.
If you have extra vehicles, use them in clever ways.
Liquidate
17.Look for things to buy or sell on eBay, Craigslist, Amazon or Facebook Marketplace based on your existing inventory
If you’re in the products business, try to sell as much as you can online. If you’re in the service business, try to sell any equipment you don’t really need anymore.
Evaluate what you have that you can currently live without and try to recoup some money.
Innovate
18.Make other products you can deliver to your customers
Are there new products you can build that are more relevant to the current situation, even if they might not be 100 percent relevant to your business? Create them and deliver them to your customers.
Think value, not profits.
19.Create activities to sell that people can do at home
Your customers likely have more time on their hands. Help them get craftier by recording (text, audio or video) activities they can do at home.
Offer free and paid versions.
20.[Create a network of like-minded people in your field]
Networks are a lot more powerful than a lot of people realize. Surround yourself with people who can exchange ideas and collaborate.
Create a group that meets regularly and make it exclusive (as applicable).
21.[Create a packaged information product]
We discussed blogging and vlogging, but you can also create online courses, books, ebooks, audiobooks, etc.
The information business is booming, and now more than ever, your expertise is worth a lot.
Section 3: Goodwill Activities
In your neighborhood
22.Encourage your customers to stay at home
Social distancing is VERY important.
Help encourage people who are coming to your store by putting up a sign to tell them about your new home delivery service (see above).
Public services
23.Provide your services to the hospitals (as applicable)
This is likely not applicable to many businesses, but if you bake sweets or brew coffee, giving it away to health care workers is one of the best gestures you can do.
Find clever ways to reward those who are fighting for the good of others.
24.Reach out to the fire department for where they need help
Like the above, if there’s anything you can provide the fire department, now’s a great time to do it.
Don’t limit yourself to what your business actually does. Provide your personal help.
Internally
25.Reach out to your providers and other partners to see where you can help
Because business is slower for you right now, it doesn’t mean it’s the same for your providers and other partners. For example, at Forest Co, we’re busier than ever.
Reach out and offer your help and see what happens.
26.Provide whatever stipends you can do your employees
In point #3, I mentioned how bank loans have lower interest currently.
Get a low-interest loan and divide it up as a stipend.
Organize yourself
27.Create a spreadsheet and figure out who needs what and start helping organize it
I mentioned public services, but other local businesses and families have needs currently.
Figure out what these needs are and provide any personal assistance.
There’s no denying that pandemics are bad for businesses. The key to survival — and even thriving — is to brainstorm creative ideas and take action on them.
Take this list and apply what works for in your context. Brainstorm other ideas you can apply for your business and take action. And above all, remain calm. You can do this!
