Some of our clients have been telling us their concerns over the current situation with their businesses closed or working from home. This is totally understandable as the majority of our clients are small to medium sized businesses. Some are even considering cancelling direct debits to their energy suppliers as they have literally no income right now.
There are some things you can do that will help. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but there may be something that will ease your worries.
Firstly, PRIORITIZE. As the title says, patience not panic is the order of the day. Whilst the government has now unveiled an unprecedented range of assistance for businesses, there are many that will fall between the cracks or are worried about the amount of time financial assistance will take to kick in. Whilst I’m not a financial adviser, I am a business owner and understand cash flow is king. I know how stressful it can be when it’s all going out and not coming in. Think calmly and prioritize payments and bills. Some of the big ones – VAT and tax can now be deferred, but everyday bills are still going out. The key here is to ask the advice of your accountant. Many are putting out valuable information that may help. Julia Forrester from TaxAssist Accountants in Ilkley sent me this link a couple of days ago:
I’ve added a link to the latest government help information at the bottom of this article. My field of expertise is energy so I can say this – do not cancel your direct debit! If you are concerned about making a monthly or quarterly energy bill payment talk to your supplier before doing anything else. Cancelling or stopping your payment is a breach of contract and you may invoke some unwanted ramifications. Depending on your supplier this could be anything from losing your contracted rate and resorting to deemed rates for the remainder of your contract term. This could mean you end up paying 30-40% higher rates once everything is back to normal. Worst case scenario is being sued for breach of contract and pursued through the courts. With energy, you should not pay for more than you use, so if your business is closed you should be using less. If you need any help with contacting your supplier let me know, I’m more than happy to help with advice or even contact numbers if needed.
Secondly, ECONOMIZE. This may come under the prioritize heading as well, but now would be a great time to look at your bottom line expenses and see if there’s anything you can do to save some unnecessary expense. Is your energy contract on the best rate available? Are you paying too much in card/merchant services? Have you ever reviewed your water bill? How much are you paying for your waste collections? All of these and more are our daily bread and butter items that we can help with. There’s no charge for what we do so you have literally nothing to loose in sending us over a bill and us taking a look for you to see if a supplier in our network can do the same or a better job for less. You don’t have to use us to do this, just do something about it. Use a comparison site if you have to, just do something!
Make life easier for yourself with those home bills as well, the biggest of which will be your mortgage. Have a free, no-obligation chat with a great mortgage adviser. If you don’t know on I can recommend Helen Krushniak. Click on her name for her Facebook page. As you may expect, we are more than happy to help with your home energy bills and to ensure you are on the best tariff, especially if you are now home working and home schooling! Drop me a line if you want any help but please feel free to visit our free, impartial and Ofgem approved switch site: Energy B2B/Home energy
Thirdly, DIVERSIFY. You might at first think this is impossible, but every business and everybody has transferable skills that may be useful in another role. Could you offer your IT skills to someone in your family or community? Could you offer to help your local essential service provider run deliveries? How about offering your expertise to others via Facebook live or Instagram? It might not be bringing you any income now but genuine good deeds will be remembered long after this is all over.
One great example of this is my good friend Dan Lakin from Bar Events UK. His tipi hire, mobile bar and event business dried up overnight. He and his team are now making deliveries on behalf of ShopAppy.com , a local high street on the web that usually uses centralized collection points.
Fourthly, MARKETING. Now is the perfect time to work on your business, not in it. I don’t mean start an advertising campaign, I mean try a different sort of marketing. If you’ve not used social media very much, have a go. Try Simon Reed of SJR Solutions for some free initial advice on online marketing.
There’s no better or cheaper way, in my opinion, than just sending a friendly ‘How are you?’ email or phone call to all your customers, new and established. Ask them if they or someone they know needs help.
If you’ve not done networking before, have a go. It’s in hard times that established businesses rely on their contacts and networks for referrals and support. My personal offer is to invite you to my weekly networking meeting, Enterprise BNI (Ilkley) – now held over the Zoom video conference platform. This is easy to set up and there’s plenty of help available to get set up if you are a bit of a technophobe. Just contact me directly if you’d like to try it out and virtually meet 25 local business leaders, all of whom are looking out for each other.
Fifthly, HOUSE-KEEPING. Now I don’t mean literally cleaning the house (well you can if you wish), I mean getting round to those jobs that you’ve been putting off doing when you are busy working in your business. Get that email list sorted out, tidy your inventory list, update your website, paint your office – just give yourself a task and do it!
Lastly, RELAX. Bit of a daft thing to say to someone who is genuinely anxious but the key is to try and not worry about things out of your control. Everyone is in the same situation as you are. You only have to reach out and ask and you will be inundated with offers of help, advice, comforting words and virtual hugs. Find those people who are upbeat, positive and willing to help and surround yourself (virtually!) with them.
Stay safe, stay at home.
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