As you well know, COVID-19 has thrown every person and every business through a loop. People have had to find a new way to cope and stay sane while staying socially distance, but also how to spend less if they were laid off. A copious amount of businesses has had to close their doors for at least a couple months, some indefinitely. So, we know that people coped through take out and happy hour walks around the neighborhood, but how have businesses coped?
The Food Industry
Restaurants have taken one of the biggest hits from the loss of business. Keeping a restaurant open is extremely expensive and in many cases, take-out orders couldn’t support the business enough to stay open through lockdown. The ones that made it through on the positive end had to get creative. Restaurants started doing curbside pickup, delivery, and utilizing food delivery apps to sustain. Social media allowed for these businesses to communicate with their customers and let them know in real time what they had going on. In many states, restaurants could even offer to go cocktails and other alcoholic beverages. While they were definitely not seeing the same profits they were before COVID, they kept selling.
The Food Truck Generation
Another way restaurants have kept selling throughout the pandemic is with food trucks. Popular restaurants have either taken their existing food truck or purchased a food truck to take to neighborhoods. Customers can request the food truck to come to their neighborhood, for free or for a fee, and patrons can simply walk down their driveway to get food from one of their favorite local restaurants. While this might be a more costly method of maintaining momentum, it is definitely effective. People who typically opted for home cooked meals during this time likely purchased food from the truck because of the convenience. It’s a great way for restaurants to reach their customer base that isn’t willing to drive across town for takeout and might not be familiar with food delivery apps.
COVID in Corporate Settings
On the other side of the spectrum, those working in corporate jobs have kept up through virtual meetings. In many ways, meeting online is much more convenient for the client and the seller. No one has to book a plane ticket or drive several hours on company gas to have one or two meetings, so the company is saving on transportation costs which makes up for some of the loss of sales plus it’s more convenient for their employees. Virtual meetings also allow for a much more flexible schedule as you don’t have to allow travel time between meetings. Communication is an extremely important part of business operations; having virtual meetings has allowed companies to keep up their communication with clients in a more personal way than just emailing.
Keeping Up the Momentum
Conferences are a major aspect of business in just about any industry. Similar to virtual meetings, now online conferences are being held. Teams need to communicate with each other to stay on the same page when it comes to sales, clients, etc. So, even though they can’t meet face to face, teams are able to have those same conference meetings to discuss operations. This allows the employees to keep up their momentum for making sales and effectively communicating with their clients.
During these troubling times, companies have had to get creative to keep selling. The internet is an amazing platform to find ways around the struggles COVID-19 has caused. Don’t stop selling! Utilize online conferences and virtual meeting platforms. Up your social media presence to show customers your business is open and ready to go. There are endless possibilities to combat these hard times. Want to improve your business’s internet presence? Contact us to get started!
