Reopening a business after COVID-19 is your opportunity to get back to work, welcome customers, and start making up for lost time. You’re investing a lot in this reopening, so here’s a tip can help you make it successful.
We’ve all been closed, or partially shut down since March. That’s strained your financial resources to the limit. If you’re lucky enough to have the capital to reopen your doors, you may only have one shot at getting it right. Do it wrong and your business may not survive.
Reopening a business after COVID must be well thought out.
You can find hundreds of tips for disinfecting, protecting, and social distancing that are necessary to both get back to business, but keep consumers safe. The CDC has a long list of guidelines and the US Chamber of Commerce has a complete “Reopening Guide”
Customers won’t come back
But no matter how good a job you do, and how safe you keep your customers, they won’t come back without a good reason. Why?
- 3 months of social distancing has broken old habits, so you have to win over your customers again.
- Even your most loyal customers are hesitant, and unsure about their safety.
Just this weekend we talked with friends. They were having pizza for dinner, and we talked about several of our town’s pizzerias. Sure, they used to have a favorite that they’d order from every weekend, but now they were “shopping.” Their loyalty had disappeared.
Dominos, the world’s largest pizza chain, isn’t taking chances. They’re advertising heavily. They’re introducing new products. They’ve got lots of “deals.”
They’re giving long time customers and new “shoppers” reasons to order.
What about hesitant consumers?
We’ve all worked hard to self-isolate, and stay safe during the pandemic. We’re starting to relax, but we’re still hesitant. Consumers want to know what steps you’re taking to ensure their safety. Some simple steps that businesses are taking are:
- Phone and online ordering
- Touchless payment
- Curbside takeaway
- Touchless delivery
- Sanitizing
- Enforcing social distancing
- Enforcing face masks
- Changing traffic flow in retail stores
- Safe habits signage
These changes are simple but each is an investment of time and money that will add up.
Do your customers know how much you’re doing?
You can do everything perfectly, and consumers will still be hesitant. So what can you do? Simple: tell them. Tell them in every way you can, and every time you’re in contact. Dominos announced that your pizza is “contactless” from the moment it goes into the oven, but you can’t mount a national advertising campaign.
What you can do:
- Signage that reinforces safety
- Send Post Cards with a special offer and educating consumers about the steps you’re taking
- Email blasts to your “opt in” list
- Talk about everything you’re doing on social media. Include photos where possible
- Messages on hold that reinforce your efforts to safeguard consumers health
All those efforts may be wasted if your customers don’t know how you’re protecting them. So tell them, and make your #reopening a success.
