As Coronavirus spreads around the world, countries, businesses, and services are all feeling the effects. Of course, many countries are in lockdown and quarantine, and while many big businesses should be able to cope with everything that’s going on, some industries, especially smaller businesses, are feeling the effects. To ensure your business can survive through this difficult and uncertain time, today, we’re going to explore five ways you can keep your business afloat.

1.    Allow People to Cancel

While this may seem counterproductive to your profit line, there are going to people who will want to cancel appointments they’ve made in the past, perhaps a regular and reoccurring booking that they have, but you should allow this to happen during these strange times.

“Sure, you may charge a cancellation fee, and there’s no law stating you can’t enforce this, but you can bet that charging anyone for cancelling at the moment will mean they’re never coming back. Keep the loyalty high in your business now, and it will pay off in the future” says Misty Broussard, a business writer at Australian help and Paper Fellows.

2.    Think About Hygiene and Sanitation

If you’re remaining open, you’ll want to think long and hard about how you’re going to remain hygienic for your customers. The service industry is quite close-quarters and personal with customers, so if you want to keep going, put some measures in place.

This could include anything from wearing a mask and gloves to anti-bacterial wiping everything down, including your technicians’ hands before and after every customer, and getting your customers to do the same before and as they enter your store.

3.    Think About Your Employees

While you may still want or need your employees to come into work, you’re going to need to think about how this is going to work. If someone is calling in sick, whether they have a doctor’s note or not, you’re going to need to let them go. Of course, you make this decision at your own discretion, but you’ll want to be open and honest about what’s going on.

Some people may have high-risk loved ones at home and won’t want to risk catching it and infecting them themselves, and this is something you’ll need to respect. The Coronavirus outbreak should be taken seriously, and if you’re forcing people to come into work, you’re going to lose a lot of staff members.

4.    Be Creative with Making Money

If you’re like many other businesses, the chances are you’ve probably closed up until the outbreak is over, or you’re running a very limited business. Of course, you still need to make money, so get creative with how you’re doing so.

There are plenty of ways to do this as a salon. You could sell products online or offer a door-to-door delivery service. You can host online raffles for gift baskets and gift cards through your social media profiles. You can create video content for people to follow along at home, perhaps Instagram Live tutorials.

Also, be creative with how you’re spending money. “Try to cut down and be tight, just while the Coronavirus outbreak is taking place. If you can still make money while not spending as much money, the financial impact will be minimized as much as possible”, explains Louis Stallman, a project manager at Boom essays and State of writing.

5.    Consider Government Help

Depending on where you are in the world, there may be schemes and programs in place to help you cover costs, and it’s well worth looking into. The government could help you pay your employees’ wages, in the UK, this is up to the 80% mark, and you can choose to cover the rest.

This is ideal for helping you to stay afloat during these difficult times, and it’s well worth looking into if you need it to ensure that your business survives.

Conclusion

All in all, this is a difficult time for everyone involved, and it doesn’t matter what business you have or what industry you’re in, there are going to challenges we all need to face. Be proactive in what you do, and you’ll be sure to minimize the negative impact to your business as much as possible.

Molly Crockett is a dedicated marketing blogger for UK Writings and Academized who aims to help businesses come up with the most creative ideas possible to help them on the road to success. Molly is also contributing to the Essay Roo online writing service.