It’s now a couple of weeks since businesses across New South Wales were given the green flag to start our road to recovery.
Every business will have been affected by the Covid lockdowns in different ways and will recover at different paces depending on their location and industry. The one thing all business owners have in common though is that we are all embarking on a journey to get our business back on track.
We recommend the following steps to help kick your business back into gear and set your path towards a successful future.
Reflect
The first stage of your business recovery should be understanding where you are now.
- Determine your current financial position and financial health. Before beginning your recovery, you will need to determine your current business position which will require up-to-date numbers.
- Reconsider your motivations for being in business. Look at this as your reality check – do you still want to be in business, does it align with your personal goals? Are options like exiting, restructuring, or acquisition on the horizon?
- Consider what went well and what didn’t during COVID lockdown. How will this change the way you do things?
- What have you learned about your business, your industry, and your competitors?
- Review your customers’ needs – how have expectations changed, and how do you communicate with them?
Restart
Once you know where you are at the moment, determine some immediate steps you can take to get your business into action.
- Determine your cash flow position. Wage subsidies will finish soon and deferred payments such as taxes, loans, and rent will fall due. Forecast your cashflow for the upcoming months.
(There may be options available if you think you will have difficulty meeting your obligations.) - Evaluate the state of your business – consider whether your customers will come back, what staff you will need, how you can improve business efficiency, do you have the right technology to move forward?
- Have your products and services change, or do they need to change to ensure your future success? Do you have the right resources, humans, and others, to get back to work?
Renew
Having determined what your business needs to begin the recovery, you need to consider where you want your business to be. This is an opportunity to shape your future.
- Review your business and personal long-term goals. Do you want your business to be bigger, smaller, or something very different? Do a SWOT analysis. What opportunities are out there?
- Review your business strategies and establish a new business plan. How are you going to deliver to your customer in light of the impact on COVID?
- Consider your human resources and the impact of COVID. Has this affected the capacity, capability, and affordability of your workforce?
- How can your business make use of technology to increase growth and achieve your goals?
- Consider your supply chain and how it needs to change based on your changes in customers, products, and services.
I understand that’s a huge amount of information to take in however I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a business plan that reflects the current circumstances. Break it down into manageable blocks. Build on the lessons learned through the crisis to improve business performance and make sure you are heading towards your goals.
As always, the team at MBC is here to help. Call 6362 0988.
