Thinking outside of the box in lockdown – Ways to adapt your business and become more inventive

Article by Karen J. Gerrard, Founder of SEAMS Beauty

Change is difficult and no more so than for a business, we all get used to the same routine yet we are now having to adapt working from home.

Lockdown does not have to mean lock out for business, in fact it’s the opposite how often do you have ideas you want to work on or implement new systems but they get left on the back burner, well now is the time to make those changes everything is trial and error and  the world is open to new ways of working, customers and clients are understanding of any teething difficulties.

Here are some ideal ways to adapt your business –

1. Get creative! At SEAMS we have a weekly Zoom brain storm, make a list of ideas on your device somewhere where they can be stored and referred back to. I keep a notepad next to my bed and am always jotting down ideas, writing something down is the first step to bringing it to life.
2. One thing Is for sure business is now virtual, records show that 75% more people are engaging in social media every day boost your posts, get story out there but don’t bombard.
3. Look at the positives and expand on them, working remotely saves an incredible amount of time, not running from A-B, going out for a meeting can take away half your day if not all of it, now it’s just a case of turning on skype or zoom.
4. Let your customers know you are still there and offering the same service just in a different way. At SEAMS the first thing we did was to ensure contactless delivery, most couriers now do this we have chosen to use Hermes.
5. Are you in the food service? Don’t just think about offering takeaway not everyone feels comfortable buying cooked food, take it a step further offer your best dishes to be delivered prepared and ready to cook.
6. We have been offering a ‘hand care’ service giving advice on how to care for your hands during this time, and am learning from our customers their needs.
7. Gym instructors are all offering PT on zoom, adapt this strategy to fit in with your customers requirements, are you a hair colourist, sell your customers the colour you usually use in the salon, zoom with them whilst they are applying giving instructions. Get creative.
8. What are your hobbies turn them into a business, Etsy is busier than ever with people selling their hand made creations.
9. Do you run an agency? Adapt your strategy to a different service, move to helping clients in different sectors. The principle is the same just a different commodity.
10. At SEAMS we have just brought out our Silk Touch Hand & Nail Oil which can be used alone for silky soft skin or underneath SEAMS Couturiers Hand Cream at night as a treatment, especially needed now more than ever with all the extra hand washing and dry nails.
11. Hold an event online, consumers are craving contact and entertainment, give an incentive to the first 50 people that stream your event.
12. Offer your clients a rewards option that can be redeemed in the future so you are their first port of call when services are up and running.
13. Connect – make your service personal pick up the phone get to know your customers we all want to chat and pull together.
14. This is a time to slow down, to think and create

Think outside of the box there’s always a solution just make it fun finding it…

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