Day: September 10, 2020

How to adapt your marketing to turbulent times

Posted on | by admin

Every business is on a three-step journey: survive, adapt, and thrive. Before COVID-19 hit, many were adapting or had adapted and were thriving, only to be thrown backwards to tread water once it did. With the effects of the pandemic still causing havoc, business owners now need to adapt to move from ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving’ once more. So how do you do that? How does your marketing need to change in turbulent times?

Your clients want to feel supported

One thing is for sure: your clients (and potential clients) are struggling and they have no desire to be sold to.

So what does this mean for you?

While people may not be receptive to the usual marketing efforts and ways of winning business, if you can offer them value and support during this difficult time, you can win some very loyal clients.

Yes, they might not be interested in a pitch, but they’re struggling. Many may be realising that they have been receiving poor service and have been turning to Google and social media to research their needs.

Never before have they been so motivated to do something about these so this is a unique opportunity for you. If you market right, there has never been an easier time to win clients.

Key marketing activities to prioritise right now

  • Invest in ways to quickly update your client base on the changing realities
  • Give your website a COVID-19 refresh
  • Call all of your clients and find out how you can support them
  • Be “there” for them so that you become part of their ‘war cabinet’
  • Help your clients build their strategy to adapt and thrive
  • Reconnect with your old prospects and offer this help
  • Be active on social media and share useful content to boost your credibility
  • Collect the great testimonials that you are receiving throughout the pandemic
  • Plan your clients’ communication and content for the next 1-3 months

Adapt and thrive during the recession

We can all cut costs and budget and prioritise to increase our chances of survival during the recession, but if we want to do more than that, if we want to adapt to the changing times and thrive during the recession, we just need to tweak our marketing.

The recession is an opportunity. It’s a chance to stand out by being credible and being there to support existing clients; it’s a chance to win those clients who are finally realising that they are not getting the type of service that they want. So do that. Use this time to adapt your marketing and you’ll soon see that you start to move from ‘survive’ to ‘thrive’ very quickly.

Re-engaging with and reintroducing furloughed employees

Posted on | by admin

During this global pandemic approximately 7.5 million employees have been furloughed (more than 1 in 5 of the UK’s workforce) and, for many, this has been for a significant period of time. You may have even furloughed some of your own employees.

For employees that have been furloughed, the challenges of returning to work go beyond struggling to remember passwords, trawling through hundreds of emails to identify the three that are of importance and taking a couple of days to get back into ‘work mode’. It’s not the same as if they have been on holiday for 2 weeks!

For many employees, there will be apprehension around returning to the workplace, a potential loss of confidence in their capabilities, feeling ‘out of the loop’ and adapting back to ‘working life’ as well as possible concerns around working from home or returning to the workplace with child care commitments.    In addition to this, some employees may be feeling resentful at being furloughed whilst others may be experiencing guilt that colleagues worked whilst they did not.  Many will also be fearful of the risk of redundancy.

For businesses to successfully survive this current crisis, great care should be taken when reintroducing furloughed employees back into the workplace, whether remotely or physically coming back to their place of work.  Taking an approach similar to that taken when employees return from a long absence e.g. maternity/paternity leave, long term illness or sabbatical.  Key areas to consider are:

  • Giving sufficient time for the individual to settle in
  • Equip your managers with the tools to support their teams
  • Giving reassurance that their safety and wellbeing are a top priority
  • Creating a new sense of belonging
  • Considering changes to working hours and/or practices

Giving sufficient time for the individual to settle in

It takes on average 3 months for a new joiner to start to feel settled within their new role and whilst it is unlikely to take this long for returning furloughed employees, businesses (and managers) should be prepared for individuals to take a number of weeks to become fully productive and comfortable in their role.  To ease the transition ensure your managers:

  • Regularly check in with the individual, giving the individual the opportunity to discuss their wellbeing and ask questions
  • Set realistic, short term objectives/tasks and singular where possible to give both focus and a sense of accomplishment
  • Ask employees what you can do as an employer and/or manager to make the transition easier
  • Make available training (refresher or new) and where possible, it is in a format that can be easily accessed e.g. eLearning, guides, webinars
  • Consider using annual leave to enable a phased return

Equip your managers with the tools to support their teams

Managers will be key to successfully reintroducing furloughed employees at all levels of your business.  Ensuring managers have access to the right information (from Employee Assistance Programmes to business/department objectives), the right technology to manage teams remotely as well as ensuring they understand flexible working options and have access to HR advice when needed is vital in both supporting their needs and helping them support the needs of their teams.

Giving reassurance that their safety and wellbeing are a top priority

A high number of employees will be apprehensive about returning to the workplace and will need reassurance that their safety and wellbeing is your top priority.  The same applies to individuals working from home.  Ensure you have in place:

  • Suitable levels of PPE supplies (from sanitising gel to high vis vests)
  • Risk Assessments from managing interaction in communal areas to returning to use specialist equipment
  • Health & Safety refresher training (where possible, in formats easily accessible remotely)
  • Information Security refresher training (where possible, in formats easily accessible remotely)
  • Guidance on setting up a suitable working environment at home.  This could be a DSE checklist to more detailed guidance or training
  • Easy access to support services such mental health first aiders, employee assistance programmes and HR teams
  • Social distancing and safety measures are clearly communicated to both employees and customers

Creating a new sense of belonging

Re-engaging employees with the business vision, strategy and values as well as helping them re-establish working relationships help create a feeling of belonging that in turn positively impacts commitment and performance.

Careful consideration of internal communication channels to ensure accessibility as well as content that encourages a sense of belonging is just as important as managers enabling employees to re-establish working relationships with colleagues not only within their immediate team but also across the business.

Providing opportunities to feedback to business leaders on how employees are feeling as well as ensuring those identified as high potentials/future leaders in decision making all create a sense of belonging.

Considering changes to working hours and/or practices

Many employees who have been furloughed have established new routines that may not reflect traditional working hours and businesses may need to adapt to stay successful.  From changing working hours, work locations as well as moving from a time based/presentism mindset to an outcome based approach are all becoming a reality that businesses face.  Things businesses could consider include:

  • Introducing core working hours (e.g. 10:00 – 14:00) and enabling individuals to flex their hours around this
  • Consider rotating furloughed workers in similar roles where returning all employees is not an option
  • Consideration of working from home options, even for roles that are operational (perhaps a day a month to catch up on admin or project work?)
  • Short term working to reintroduce employees to the workplace whilst reducing salary costs
  • Subject to government guidance (still to be issued), part furloughing staff so they return in a limited capacity

The effort placed in ensuring furloughed staff return to an environment that gives them time to re-adjust, provides adequate support, keeps them safe and creates a sense of belonging will impact a business’s bottom line and both business leaders and managers are essential in ensuring success.

Getting Started With Outsourcing: the Insider’s Guide

Posted on | by admin

Outsourcing is becoming more popular as technology propels the business world forward. And why wouldn’t it? Outsourcing manual, low-value tasks allows business owners to focus on better client service as well as those areas that will actually grow their business and keep them competitive.

While these points are completely valid, some professionals still have their doubts about outsourcing; will this affect the quality of work? Will this go down horribly with my clients?

To help ease these concerns, we’ve put together a quick outsourcing guide.

Top 8 Outsourcing FAQ’s Answered

1, What actually is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is when you decide to ask someone, who is not directly employed by you, to complete some work for your business that is usually done by someone who is employed directly by you.

2. What is the typical turnaround time for an outsourced job?

This depends on the task that you outsource and the agreement that you make with your outsourced provider. However, expect to compromise on turnaround time if you’re paying less.

3. What will outsourcing cost?

The cost of outsourcing depends on what model you choose (for example, you could be charged on a per hour basis or on a per job basis). Don’t forget to also factor in any potential hidden costs, such as the time it takes for your staff to review the work.

4. Will an outsourcer do as good a job as us?

Quality is a big worry for many business owners who are considering outsourcing. Like any job, there are no guarantees that your chosen outsourced provider will do as good a job as your staff, but then on the flip side, there’s also no guarantee that they won’t do a better job. Outsourcing is all about trial and error and doing the due diligence to find the right person. You can then put the necessary processes in place to ensure quality work (with minimal re-work) every time.

5. What due diligence should I do on my potential outsourcer?

Outsourcing your client work is a big decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly so make sure that you do your due diligence. The best outsourcers come recommended, but if you don’t have this, ask them; how they will guarantee the quality of work, where they are located, what office hours they work, the best way to contact them and when, and check things like their quality of English and their workflows.

6. How do I get started with outsourcing?

Take the time to talk to your outsourcer to make sure you are 100% happy with everything before moving forward. If you’re not confident or you’re having doubts, outsource just a few low-value tasks first. This will give you the chance to iron out any kinks at low risk.

7. Which clients’ work should I start to outsource first?

To test your outsourcer, start with ‘easy work’ with low-risk clients. Which clients do you struggle to make a profit on? Which tasks don’t take long to complete? Which tasks do you dread doing? If you choose the clients that, if things go wrong, you won’t jeopardise a strong client relationship, this is a great place to start.

8. Do we need to tell our clients that we are outsourcing their work?

It’s good practice, and in some cases, you are contractually obliged, to tell your clients that their work may be done by your outsourced team. This is especially true if you’re using staff outside of the EU as their data could be processed outside of the EU. You can do this easily by updating your contracts with ‘we may use a carefully selected contractor to complete your work’ and ‘your data could be processed outside of the EU,’ and also mentioning this when you engage with them.

Try outsourcing and see what you think

Interestingly when you talk about outsourcing, it produces a strong reaction – often one of fear. But before you get caught up in emotion, it’s worth taking a step back and thinking about outsourcing more generally.

You need to at least try it (with some low-value tasks) before making a solid decision. It may take some time and trial and error first, but when you find someone who can produce quality work for you consistently, you can free up the time to concentrate on the higher-value tasks; the tasks that will grow your business and ensure that you remain competitive.