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It’s Only Common Sense: Seven Things Your Company Can Do About Coronavirus

We have heard all the bad things about the coronavirus and the COVID-19 outbreak—including the statistics, dangers, risks, precautions, varied political opinions, and damaged sales of Corona beer—but it’s up to us to come up with ways to operate our companies in these hard times and conduct business even while there are still concerns.

Here are seven things that your company can do about the coronavirus, besides washing your hands while singing the happy birthday song three times, not touching your face, covering your sneezes and coughs, avoiding crowds, and minimizing travel as necessary.

1. Write and Share a Company Coronavirus Policy

Write a company policy statement on what you are doing about the virus. This is the mandatory first rule of order. Every company should have a statement. Write a simple, humble, and virtuous statement on your company’s official coronavirus policy and share it with employees.

2. Make Phone Calls

I heard from a client that most of the state of Washington is shut down. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and many other high-tech companies in that area have told their associates to work from home. This is happening in other parts of the U.S. as well. You will have to develop another steady means of regular communication with your coworkers and your employer. Guess what? Using your phone to make a phone call (gasp) is back! Your customers will finally take your phone calls. If this is what you have been complaining about for the last few years, then this is your time. If people are working from home, they will have more time to take your calls. They will be more willing to talk to you about their needs and what you can do to help them.

3. Take Advantage of Texting

Texting has a legitimate business use and is a great way to communicate with your customers. Bone up on your understanding of acronyms and emojis because you can use that knowledge to take care of old business and solicit new business.

4. Communicate Through Email

We have all been complaining about how our customers do everything by email, but this is now a vital communication tool. Work on your email skills; make sure that your communication is short and to the point. Also, remember that emails speak louder than words, so temper your tone when writing messages.

5. Send Newsletters

Emailing newsletters is a key method for keeping your customers abreast of what is happening not only in your company but also in your region and industry. For once, newsletters will be used for what they were meant for—conveying news. I’d recommend that your newsletters be concise and frequent. It would not hurt to start a weekly or even daily newsletter bulletin, telling your customers what is going on at your company and letting them know about your capacity and capabilities. The more you reach out to them during these hard times, the better it will be, as long as your messages are pertinent and deliver valuable information.

6. Increase Your Sales

By using all of the previously mentioned communication tools, you could actually increase your sales. Think about it. Asia and Europe are virtually closed to the U.S., as is pretty much the rest of the world. Sure, there is still some global trading going on in the PCB world, for example, but that has been reduced for the time being. For the first time in a long time, buying U.S. domestic is more appealing than ever. This is a great time; use your communication tools, remind your customers that you are still open and operating (if you indeed are), and make them offers they can’t refuse.

7. Work on Your Marketing

Take this time to work on your marketing. Develop and implement a new marketing, branding, and social media plan. You should take advantage of this forced hiatus, which has caused everyone to slow down a bit. While other companies—your competitors—are hunkered down, waiting for this to pass, be proactive and set yourself up for success once the virus is gone, doors are open again, travel resumes, and life gets back to normal.

And here’s one more tip, in the spirit of under-promising and over-delivering. Remain cool, calm, and collected. You can only control our own thoughts, decisions, and actions. These are scary and serious times, but the best thing you can do is keep your head about you and keep your sense of humor. This too shall pass.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.