Countless businesses have struggled with lockdown, perhaps most notably those in the travel industry. Corporate Traveller Australia General Manager Tom Walley has shared what practices his company is currently putting in place to ensure a smooth recovery post-lockdown and how you can implement that into your own business.
Corporate Traveller Australia General Manager Tom Walley said every business should be developing plans now to capitalise on opportunities that arise when they can trade freely.
“At Corporate Traveller, despite the lockdowns and the short-term downturn in the travel industry, we’ve continued innovating, releasing new capabilities to improve the customer experience now and into the future,” Mr Walley said.
“Likewise, other industries can expect demand for their products and services to return and shouldn’t shy away from using this unprecedented time to take stock and make decisions to re-invent parts of their business to better serve their customers.
“They should see it as a genuine opportunity to flourish and get ahead of competitors during the early bounceback.”
Have a marketing and sales strategy to launch post-lockdown
Mr Walley noted businesses often cut marketing budgets during economic downturns.
However, he said marketing helps to not only build your future customer base but is also a critical function for retaining customers with brand touch points and retention offers.
“Now can be a good time for businesses to review their marketing and sales resource ratio mix,” Mr Walley suggested.
“Look to drive operational effectiveness through the existing technology to automate the sales and marketing process and it might be an opportunity to bolster marketing capability and develop a more optimised post-lockdown strategy.”
Innovate through existing technology
Innovation can help your business stay competitive and be profitable over the long term.
Mr Walley said it is critical in these times that “your innovation is laser-focused, meets the changing needs of your customers, leverages existing technology wherever possible, and is supported by a culture of innovation”.
He went on to share that Corporate Traveller enhanced their digital travel booking platform to include new health and safety policies, as well as creating a way to utilise ticket credits.
In the real estate industry, this may translate to improving your digital offerings on your website and offering alternatives for in-person inspections and physical contracts.
Create a cashflow-positive strategy
“Now is the time to negotiate better terms with suppliers and revise any processes and systems preventing you from managing cashflow,” Mr Walley said.
“For example, if you have a monthly invoicing model, consider sending invoices as you complete certain work to encourage consistent cashflow. Reviewing the pricing of your services, if you haven’t done so for some time, could also help.”
Don’t forget to check your subscriptions as well. In the real estate industry, where shiny new software or other innovations are released frequently, agencies often forget to cancel those they no longer use.
Strengthen your customer service function to retain customers
Good customer experience is key to building customer loyalty and increasing referrals, and Mr Walley said businesses need to maintain a balance between digital and human support.
“Customer service should ultimately be human-centred, with technology as a support,” he said.
“If your budget allows, consider investing in AI (for instance, a chat function) to improve efficiencies and address smaller issues, while retaining customer service people for higher level support.
“At the end of the day, customers want to be able to speak to a person and know their issue or feedback has been heard.
“Now is the time to also focus on training customer service staff. Ensure they are educated, are well-trained to resolve issues, communicate professionally and empathetically, and respond well to disgruntled customers.”
Improve your business reporting to provide a full picture of performance, strengths and weaknesses
“This is the time where your pre-COVID business model’s weaknesses and or strengths will be amplified, it’s critical that what you measured pre-COVID is still applicable now, if not, re-establish your new baseline,” Mr Walley said.
“You and your management team will want the important numbers and metrics to provide a full picture of your business’ position and performance, strengths, and weaknesses.”
Creating more frequent reports enables your colleagues or team to address the issues and opportunities in a timely manner, which will place the business in a better position after lockdown.
Involve a human resources professional in your business
The human resources function in your business or agency is a critical component of your business during lockdown.
“HR directs every living resource of your business and is responsible for cultivating a healthy and productive environment. However, HR can also be used strategically,” Mr Walley said.
“Empower HR to use available data to ask and answer strategic questions about the future of your business, providing you with crucial information on outsourcing and cost management, allowing you to better control your finances and direct growth.”
