3 Steps to Increase Business Resilience and Plan for the Future
Resilience can be defined as being able to respond and grow despite setbacks, barriers or limited resources. COVID-19, amongst other things, certainly does continue to test our resilience.
With so much going on, it’s hard to know what to do. When we talk about recovery we often envision getting back to normal, the way things were. But so much of what we have already seen tells us that predicting what the new normal will be is quite the challenge. Nevertheless, there are plenty of things businesses can do right now to build the resilience needed to weather the storm and create a position for the new realities of the future.
1. Know where you stand
The ATO have created an app that easily lets you compare your business’s performance against similar businesses in the same industry. The results of this check may give you some insight on areas you can improve or focus on.
Doing some business finance checks will help you predict the potential success, failure or progress of your business. The Business Victoria website has made these easy with a list of financial ratios to assess the health of your business, determine whether you are profitable, calculate if you are getting high enough returns from your business and work out if you have the funds to pay the bills when they are due.
2. Focus and strengthen your brand
Listen to customer needs. It’s time to cut through the noise, get clear on who your customers are, what their needs are and how they have changed to help you better meet those needs. This article on Hubspot has some clear step-by-step processes you can follow and useful templates that you can download for free.
You can also check out the tutorial in the members section of the Venture Melton Business Network. In the session Know Thy Customer, Claire Radbourne from The Xword talks about the benefits of researching your clients through journey mapping and provides a simple 4 step process.
3. Seek specialist advice
There is plenty of free business advice available at the moment, and now is the time to utilise it. There is value in reaching out to experienced business advisors in a 1 on 1 appointment to discuss you and your business.
What you discuss with your business advisor is entirely up to you and completely confidential. You can share ideas and problems with your business advisor and they can act as a sounding board to help you make decisions with more confidence. Some may choose to use this to discuss strategy and planning while others will use it to debrief on what has been an exhausting year. However you decide to use this advice, it is a currently a free resource and here for you to make the most of.
If you are a VMBN member, you can access it through our website for free as part of the business support package through Business Victoria.
Want to dig deeper?
Deloitte have created an excellent manual, Small Business Roadmap for Recovery & Beyond: Workbook, a practical tool intended for small business owners to work through what is required to manage business continuity, and to look for opportunities to reflect, restart and revitalise your business through your ‘Recover’ phase.
Randi Wagner
Place Engagement & Activation Officer