The world been shaken so much during the coronavirus pandemic. Who would have ever conceived that every single business and person on the planet would have been rocked to its core and…at the same time. I realise the Spanish Flu was devastating, and SARS had its go at the world too – but this pandemic will hit the record books for a modern consumeristic world.

There’s no doubt in my mind that when this all blows over (and it will) – people and businesses will be thinking very differently about things. This blog post, is to give you a plan to get through the months while you are in lockdown and the months getting back to ‘new normal’. My ideas is to support you, so that you can:

1. Focus on the things that will make you stronger
2. Put a positive mindset back into your workforce and workspace

I’ve spent a good few hours putting this together for you. Strategy, planning and big picture thinking are my go-to skills, so this is where I can be of most value to you – my blog reader and friend in business.

How to use this plan

My premise for putting this together:

I have plotted out a four month plan as a guide for your actions to detail some focus points for you. I have related the actions to keeping you visible to your existing and prospective customer/client audiences and working on the things that you should already have to hand– but might have left on the shelf to do “when it’s important”.

It’s important now – so now you need to do it.

I have created a Google Sheet with templates in there for you – to help you get cracking. You will see a link for that below.

I know that you may be still be scared, rocked even – but I’m imploring you to take the time you need to get your head on, then tackle these tasks I have set for you.

By tackling them – you will remember:

1. Who you are again
2. What it is that you do (and that you are good at), and
3. That you have value to give (and not for free)

Month 1

This is the first month where your business and life has gone into lock down. Your Government has more than likely closed down much of non-essential business. This month – you need to be kind to yourself and your team, but also find a way to move forward with a new “normal” (at least for the next 6 to 9months).

The theme for this month is: CONFIDENCE. Regaining it and displaying it.

MINDSET FIX:

This is the “head work” for this month.

1. Find your new norm – what is it? Which parts of the day will you work (it may be different for each day of the week, you may have kids at home or partners who aren’t normally home too)
2. Mark out in your calendar which are the hours that you can work and have to use productively (do not beat yourself up if this is not 6 to 8 hours, it may be closer to 3 to 4 hours at best at the moment)
3. Find a playlist or something in your office that will lift your soul. Get it going during your work hours. Speak to your partner and family and set some boundaries around these ‘lockdown’ hours where you want to focus.
4. If you can continue business in some shape: you will have to make some decisions about what is is that you physically can deliver to your customers or clients and how you are able to carry on taking enquiries or working on leads – then settle on the best way to communicate this.
5. If you have to stop selling completely (i.e. you cannot deliver your service or product AT ALL or even take enquiries) – then you still need to work out what you can do in terms of keeping communication channels open.

 * Caveat – emotionally you may have some days that are just plain crappy, so allow for that and don’t beat yourself up. Call a friend, book a Zoom call with someone to air it out and get your grip back.

TASKS:

Here are your to-do’s for this month:

1. Draft a COVID-19 operational update for your customers and audiences. This is a statement that reflects your working practices during the pandemic and lets them know that you are still safe to work with (if you are, see above) and how best to communicate with you. Be sure to include email, telephone numbers and any other ways to contact you.
2. Go through your emails, your website, Google Reviews, TripAdvisor listing, TrustAdvisor or Facebook Reviews – scrape through these and pull off the testimonials or reviews where your customers/clients have been quite detailed in their feedback
3. If you don’t have any testimonials – now is the time to work on these and gather them
4. Put these into an excel doc (template included below for you) called: Testimonial Bank. Tidy up the grammar/spelling in them. If there are cracking short phrases in there – create a column for these to separate them out
5. Once they are all in the doc – make a hot drink, get out a pen and paper. I want you to read through them and bask in the glory that is hearing how magical you are.
6. Pull out the keywords and ways in which people have described what it is like working with you or using your product/service – write these out as a Benefit List.
7. Now take your Benefit List and put them into a mini-table called “How I Serve” (template in download below for you) – so on the left is the list and on the right I want you to try and write what the pain is that person was experiencing that you solved.
8. Next write in the third and last column on “How I Serve” table > how you solved the pain (what actions did you take, how exactly did you help the client/customer?)
9. Look at the “How I Serve” table and see if you can see a pattern in what you are doing right.

CONTENT CREATION:

Here are some tasks for you to create content to share on your social media and in email campaigns:

1. Create content for your operational update

• A graphic with an eye-catching image and text overlay “COVID-19 Operational Update”.
• Text explaining how you are going to work over this period – in formats for your social media accounts (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
• Text explaining the same detail that can go on your website (Contact Page, and possibly Home Page – depending on what you want to make fully public).
• Post these to your social media (pin them to the top of the feed if possible and relevant). Update your Website and Google My Business Page (where relevant).

2. Video creation: Record at least 3 videos on your mobile which are each under 2-3 mins long. Use the pains you have identified in your Fabulous Me table. Template to use:

• Keep it short and get straight to the point
• Use same intro for each one: “I am [NAME], I am a [role / skill] & I help [XX] to [XX]
• Name the pain simply and to the point
• Share the solution you have or what you do to solve the pain your customers have

3. Story creation: Take short pictures and videos that you can share on Stories on Facebook and/or Instagram. Tips:

• Use what you get up to in the day-to-day to snap behind the scenes collateral.
• Try and align them with the videos you have recorded about how you solve pains.
• Keep them honest and upbeat.
• Avoid being patronising (even by a smidge) – many people are in varying degrees of pain at the moment, which is heightened by the personal lockdown as well. So tread carefully.

MONTH 1 WINS

You will no doubt feel that you have achieved at least two (if not all) of these things:

• Feel mildly “normal” by being more productive.
• Proactively communicated with your audiences. (Letting them know that you are well and that you are welcoming new and continued business.)
• You now remember who you are and what it is that you are good at.
• Your customers/clients have reminded you that they do love you (but they are just as scared as you are).