Get
the Truth From Your Customers
As we get deeper into restart mode, securing old business is
crucial. Your pre-Covid-19 clients may say they missed you, but you really need
them to say "yes" to a purchase order.
As the doors slowly begin to reopen for
business, and notwithstanding what will probably be a long and slow
"L" of a recovery, the process of establishing, agreeing upon,
implementing and understanding the new ground rules for restarting our shops,
stores, schools and other services is going to be almost as challenging as
surviving the last few months has been. And, of course, the riots, looting, and
wanton destruction of property across the country in the last two weeks have
made things that much more difficult - if that were even possible.
We're all going to have to absorb both the
most recent traumatic deaths and the once-in-a-lifetime shock and angst of an
almost instantaneous shutdown of virtually our entire economy as we try to work
closely together to move forward.
Especially for our businesses, it's all
going to come down to a matter of restoring and renewing old relationships,
creating many new and different ones, and relying on the good faith and honesty
of the people we're working with, and for, as well as of those who are working
for us.
Our national crisis has been made even more
difficult by the unsettled and disappointing ways in which our
"leaders" have reacted to and responded. Unfortunately, the
scarcest thing on the national scene right now may be honesty. Our trust in our
traditional institutions to serve and protect us is tenuous at best. And
the only entirely reliable fact of life is that our president will lie to us
about something - however major or minor - every single day. It seems that he
can't resist it or help himself or us. The S&P 500 means much more to this
guy than 100,000 dead in our country ever will.
So, it's up to us to help ourselves and each
other. And it starts with sharing painful truths about where things stand and
where they're headed. For many newer and smaller companies to succeed, it's
going to require a great deal of honesty on the part of their old and new
customers and a scary and precarious amount of trust on the part of these
entrepreneurial owners and operators who are - once more - about to take a
great leap of faith. You don't want to be the party throwing the party that no
one attends, but that's exactly the kind of risk that millions of business
owners will be taking in the next few weeks and months.
Starting over, for all intents and purposes,
even if your business wasn't looted or burned out in the recent riots, is in
some ways going to be even harder than it was when you first started out. The
foolish optimism and naïve ignorance of just how tough it was gonna be are just
dim memories. Everyone these days is a lot smarter, the hurdles are higher, and
so many of us are sadly more cynical as well. Nonetheless, like every good
entrepreneur, you've got to start somewhere, use whatever resources you've got,
and go on from there. And, as you do, always keep in mind that it's not going
to be a question of what you're selling, it's all about what your customers
want, need and are willing to buy that will make all the difference.
Many re-starting companies are going to have
to take steps to front-load their inventories, re-hire their staffs, and
re-launch their operations while they're still holding their breath and hoping
and waiting for the world to show up and their registers to start ringing
again. Online, click-and-collect, and curbside services were Band-Aids in most
cases and did little or nothing for the long-term bottom line. The PPP deal
wasn't much better, especially if it isn't further enhanced and extended.
To do this right, every business is going to
have to research their product/market fit, revise and likely re-price their
offerings, and re-introduce themselves and their products and services to
a newly changed, more cautious, and more critical
marketplace. To do the necessary market research smartly and
swiftly, you're going to need to speak frankly to your customers and they will
need to do the same for you. Success is going to be all about two-way trust - not
lip service, not 'feel good" fantasies -- but hard facts and brutal
honesty. Please don't say "maybe" if you mean to say "no."
You can be certain that a sizable percentage
of the folks who told you they "just can't wait" until you're back in
business will take their own sweet time returning. They're going to make sure
that the coast is clear, that they're not guinea pigs and beta testers for all
the new tricks of the trade, and that they're being safe and smart about
revisiting their old haunts and habits. Promises don't make payroll. A
restaurant that has more reluctant customers with reservations about returning
than it does returning customers making reservations can't remain in business
for very long.
We're all human, and frankly, you just have to
expect this kind of behavior from a bunch of your steady customers-; even the
ones with the best of intentions. And, in a shocking number of cases,
regardless of what business you're in, the most reliable existing customers are
also gonna be your older customers and the ones most likely to be tentative
about the continuing personal risks of contracting the virus. No one has in it
for you, they're just honestly more concerned about taking care of themselves
and their families.
Here are four rules of thumb to keep in mind
in these crucial customer conversations:
(1) Ask for
the sale, not their sympathy. Sales pay the bills.
(2)
Something now is a lot better than a whole bunch of nothing
later.
(3)
Get their commitment in writing - memories fade, but P.O.s persist.
(4)
Better an honest refusal than an insincere promise. Saves time for all.
What we're all going to need is a lot of
patience, some frank and honest conversations, and a willingness to cut
everyone else a little slack. You'll never get anything straighter than from a
customer. But their trying to spare your feelings isn't gonna help save your
business. Listen carefully, take your time, and be open to the inevitable
changes coming down the pike.
This is likely to be a bumpy ride, and
everyone needs to give our people, peers, patrons, partners and the public the
benefit of the doubt because it's certain that business as usual won't be with
us for quite a while.