Tips and Tools for Small Business Leaders

We hope that by sharing the innovations and successes arising out of the midst of crisis, you’ll get ideas for your business…

Inspire Results Business Coaching client Megan Ritz, cake curator and owner of Classic Cakes, was coming out of her slow season and ready to ramp up for wedding season when the pandemic hit.
Forced to close her storefront, she revised her company’s vision and determined to sell cakes in other ways… and donate some too in the process. She even gave the innovative programs clever names:

The Cake Fairy—customers can order a cake for a loved one or community health-care worker.
Cake It Yourself—kits that come with an 8” cake, various frostings, and decorations you, or your kids, can do at home.
Online cake decorating videos
Donate a Cake—donate online via Paypal from Classic Cake’s website and have a cake delivered to community support and emergency workers. Megan secured donations from two suppliers, General Foods and McFarling Foods, to kickstart this program.

Megan says, “I’ve been talking to a lot of other business owners who are frustrated by being forced to close. I’ve recommended they focus on building their brand & keeping the conversation going with their clients. You will never have more time than you do right now.”

She’s doing live Facebook meetings to grow social media presence now. According to Collective Alternative, Inspire Results’ go-to marketing experts, social distancing has increased social media traffic. Megan’s plan—grow a large and loyal following now so they’ll be there post-pandemic.

Oh, yeah… she’s got the new offerings, and “temporary hours” on her website. This is important—customers still want to go online to see what you’re offering and how you’re offering it.

The sense that you don’t know anything, that things are changing every day, can cause business owners to stop functioning altogether. Especially if you’re business isn’t driving everything everyday like it used to.

As business owners, we’re accustomed to the day-to-day flow of work driving us, dictating how we spend our day. Without that, you have to find other ways to drive yourself. Set deadlines for yourself. “I’m going to have this reviewed by 2pm tomorrow.” Block out specific time for specific things (use your default calendar). Use your Quarterly Action Plan to drive your activities. Now’s the time to create new routines for yourself.

What activities can you be doing now?

Create a stellar sales plan to prepare for when business picks up. Develop policies you needed but never had time to develop. Create your Single Sheet Business Plan, or refine it, so you’re ready to hit the ground running.

Stay in touch with your customers, especially your good customers. Now’s a great time to connect with your clients in unique ways. Hold a webinar, a Zoom meeting, with your favorite clients, find a reason to schedule a virtual lunch and have food delivered to each participant (support a restaurant).

Improve your processes. The time to test your processes is in the busiest time. A veterinary clinic was forced to operate at capacity after some workers left, and the remaining team members found innovative ways to accomplish the same amount of work. The experience has told them things about their business they would’ve never known before.

The time to learn the lessons of this new world we just entered is now. What is it teaching you about your businesses and your vulnerabilities? One of our manufacturing clients identified that they need to cross-train their people because if someone gets sick, the business would come to a halt. So they’re furiously cross-training not only workers but management too.

You might find some strengths you didn’t know your business had. Restaurants doing curbside and delivery are finding out who they’re really loyal patrons are. Stay in touch, find ways to communicate with them. The changes you make now could very well be things you continue post-pandemic. Zydeco's in Mooresville, IN is not only selling their hurricane mix carryout, they’ve begun to sell the 3 bottles of rum with it. Patrons who eat at the restaurant in the future will likely continue buying hurricanes to take home. Changes you’re forced to make now could very well improve how you do business in the future.

This crisis has forced many of us to get pretty good with videoconferencing. Consulting companies, accounting firms, and counselors can see better how they can have clients all over the world now.

It’s hard to stay motivated but if you do, you’ll be better, your team will be better, and your business will be better… maybe better than ever.

Join Roger and all the Inspire Results business coaches…for our Friday morning Crisis Leadership for Small Business Webinar.

Attendee numbers are growing, people are sharing their very latest issues and solutions, and we’ll kick it off with a 15 minute presentation on the most up-to-date issues.

Things are moving fast and so are we… to get the best advice and answers for small business owners.

Crisis Leadership for Small Business webinars occur every Friday from 9-10 a.m. EST.

Emailto be added to the webinar invitation.

Just read a Facebook exchange between some people we love. They were arguing, and not too politely, whether more people will die from the shutdowns than from the virus.

Yesterday the guy running the quality inspection room at a manufacturer posted a sign that no one was allowed into “his room.” Instead they were to put all items on a chair outside his door. This caused a backlash from his co-workers.

Beginning to notice people getting irritated a little more quickly? These are not uncommon behaviors. In fact, they’re predictable.

We’ve moved from the 1st stage of crisis reaction, Denial, in which we are shocked and hope the crisis goes away. We’re well into the 2nd stage, Anger. In the Anger stage we’ll see more, well, anger. This is when people become openly frustrated and confused. They question leadership’s wisdom more than ever, become territorial, over-complicate things, and worse, start questioning themselves… “Can I do this? Can I make it through this?”

Join Us to Update or Create Your Small Business Plan

June 25, 2020 9-3 pm

Discover the potential in your business by completing a 1-Page Strategic Plan. Then break it into quarterly, monthly, weekly,& daily goals, getting a line-of-sight from daily tasks to your 10-30 year purpose. Step out of the day-to-day business for just 1 day, get organized, complete a prescribed planning process, and walk away with an action plan that leads to greater profits and free time back.

Get more out of your business in the next 90 days than you ever thought possible!

Holiday Inn Indianapolis Airport
8555 Stansted Road,
Indianapolis 46241

Geared toward owners & leaders of small to medium sized businesses. Bring your 2nd-in-command or your whole leadership team!