No one knows for certain how sectors and industries will be affected over the coming months, so small businesses must be ready to change and adapt to the needs of their marketplace. (Photo: Shutterstock)
The COVID-19 put a lot of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in very difficult positions. In many cases, entire industries and sectors were forced to close their doors temporarily, while virtually no small business has come away from the experience of going through COVID-19 unchanged.
For many SMEs, the crisis came at a terrible point where they were already in the middle of expansion and growth, which has now had to be scaled back. For others, COVID-19 might actually present an opportunity to re-group and think about what the business actually needs to do to improve its model and achieve growth going forward.
Related: Business continuity plans: The new preparedness for the new normal
As the economy begins to return to normal, there will be a chance for businesses to begin to grow again. Here we take a look at some of the ways that small businesses can accelerate growth in the post-COVID world.
Create a plan
Perhaps the most important thing that any SME needs if they want to accelerate their growth is a plan. This might seem obvious, but many smaller businesses have no plan for where they are going to be in six months time, let alone a plan lists out various points over a number of years. You need to understand not only where you want to be, but also how you're going to get there. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape for businesses dramatically, so now is the right time to begin creating a new plan.
"Before you experience actual business growth, you need to nail down a strategy," says Dominic Monkhouse, a specialist in business growth coaching "when your business has a plan, you can transform your teams and put high-performing members of staff in the right place to succeed, as well as giving them the tools to reflect on their own performance."
Invest in your website
COVID-19 has had a complex and varied effect on eCommerce sites and businesses selling online. However, there can be no doubt that with many brick-and-mortar stores closed, there has been a huge rise in people choosing to shop online and make use of the internet for their buying needs.
This means that if your SME could have online functionality, but currently does not, you could be falling behind the times significantly. Now is the time to invest in your website; it seems obvious that the ongoing effects of COVID-19 will mean that online shopping will continue to grow in popularity and perhaps even a necessity.
Upskill staff
For SMEs to grow, it is absolutely essential to have the right staff in place. Too often businesses expect staff to simply get on with their work without looking at the bigger picture of what they could actually provide to the business. It is often the case that if you offer members of staff the chance to grow, this will actually improve your business enormously.
It is a great idea then, to use the potential slower months during and directly following the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic to upskill staff. Provide your staff with training and courses – and be sure to take the time to understand exactly what they think they could benefit from.
Be adaptive
Now is the time to really be flexible. No one knows for certain how sectors and industries will be affected over the coming months and years with regard to adapting to the "new normal," so small businesses must be ready to change and adapt to the needs of their marketplace. It is necessary to think of COVID-19 as an event that has drastically changed society, and as such it will affect how businesses operate.
Even for small businesses that have operated for a long time, it may be sensible to re-think some of the major details of how you work to adapt to this new environment.
Final thoughts
As the economy begins to return to normal, it may not be the 'normal' that we are used to. If you want your SME to grow and make up for losses during the worst of the pandemic is necessary to approach your industry as having fundamentally changed. This might mean embracing very different areas of your company than you have been used to.
It will also mean operating in a way that works with the new circumstances that we find ourselves in, rather than attempting to fit your previous business model into it.
Dakota Murphey has a wealth of experience in business management, with over 10 years of experience she's worked on a number of successful campaigns. She now enjoys sharing her knowledge through her writing and connecting with like-minded professionals.
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