By now, we all know that social distancing restrictions have become crucial to our efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 – not just in Australia, but in every country around the world. And it’s not surprising that this is having an unprecedented impact on businesses that are trying to keep things running the best they can.
Essentially, now’s the time to quickly rethink the way you do things while ensuring your business stays top of mind for when things return to normal. After all, from cafes and restaurants to general consumer goods, whatever it is you’re selling, your customers are still out there.
Here are some of our tips to help your business perform at its best through these unusual times.
Limit contact between people
Perhaps you hadn’t thought about selling your food or drink to take away, but with the chairs and tables packed away, why not give it a go? Provided you limit the number of people who enter your venue at any time, consider which of your menu items are suitable or adaptable for pick up sales.
Contactless card payments through your Live eftpos device are also a great way to minimise physical contact between you and your customers during a transaction.
Focus on selling from a distance (and tell people about it)
Not having an online store shouldn’t prevent you from continuing to sell, ship or arrange a pick-up for products you usually offer within your bricks and mortar retail store. For example, whether you’re open to receiving orders via a telephone or email, a Live eftpos virtual terminal will help you securely process customer payments in real time and offer email receipts.
Offer promotions and alternatives to help everyone
If your business is affected by social distancing rules, promoting discounts on things like food, drinks or products you might be able sell remotely and deliver, could be an effective way to increase cash flow. Introducing gift cards might also be a smart strategy for maintaining some momentum during closures which make sales harder to achieve.
Keep talking to your customers
If you’re changing the way your business operates, from encouraging phone and email orders to adjusting business hours and offering promotions, it’s important to keep your customers regularly informed. Social media updates or SMS communications, which are super easy to send via the Live sms platform, could be all it takes to stimulate sales and remain at the front of your customers mind for when normality returns.
Take the opportunity to build your digital reputation
With less people engaging with the physical world right now, it’s probably fair to say that your target customers have got more time to spend online consuming information and connecting with online networks. So, think about all the different platforms which might enable you to communicate with people and raise awareness around your business and ongoing updates. Some ideas might include proactively engaging with target customers on social media, ensuring your Google business listing and Facebook location pages are up-to-date and writing some inspirational blogs for your website and social media.
