COVID-19 has been a show stopper – no doubt about it!
Stress levels are high, more so for businesses like ours because we’re worried about our families, our clients, our friends, and our businesses.
If you’re feeling fragile, not knowing if your business will be around this time next year, you’re not alone.
Experts were forecasting the unemployment rate would rise to a staggering 15% by year-end 2020. It didn’t. 😉
Regardless of what’s happening in the job market, as businesses, we have overhead. And, some of us have staff that relies on us.
So, what can we do to keep our revenue in the green (and growing still) while there are so many job seekers hitting the unemployment lines?
There’s a lot that can be done, not just for this pandemic, but for the next recession and zombie apocalypse alike.
Let’s start by looking at three positives amongst all this mess. Pandemics (and recessions) are temporary and are generally followed by strong recoveries.
1. Once doable, people will go back to their old spending habits.
Behaviorists are speculating that consumers will binge on activities, such as eating out, shopping, and going to the movies once they’re able, which is good for those businesses who are struggling — as long as they can hold on until the recovery.
2. Another positive from this mess is that, as much as we hate them, pattern interruptions that force us from our complacency are critical to our personal and professional growth.
There’s the adage, “With necessity comes innovation.”
As your resume business goes from a peak to a valley (or, maybe you’re just as busy as ever!), you’ll begin producing new products, services, giveaways, and resources for your clients.
These innovations will help your business be stronger and more profitable during the economic recovery.
3. At times, we need to be reminded just how prosperous our country has been.
The annual median income for U.S. households in 2018 was $63,179, making our salaries some of the highest in the world.
We sometimes wish our businesses had 100 employees and brought in a cool $1M-$5M annually.
Yet, do we really want or need that?
Pandemics and recessions show us EXACTLY how good we had it before things started falling down around us.
Right?
If history has taught us anything it’s that well-run businesses exit pandemics with leaner, stronger, smarter, and more agile focus.
GEICO is one of those businesses that started during the Great Depression and somehow survived when so many other insurance companies were filing for bankruptcy.
The success of GEICO was due in part to whom they focused on as their targeted customer. If you’re interested in learning more about GEICO’s story, click the above link.
As consumers tighten their belts during this pandemic, there are steps you can take to help clients while keeping your business moving onward and upward too.
Let’s talk about those…
First, be free with your time and resources.
Being free with your time and resources is a great way to build your brand and generate goodwill towards your business – and can attract clients too!
Spread your expertise around.
Once you write fresh articles or update those old ones in your blog, promote them on free sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, write for other career sites too. Remember, you’re not an island.
Be timely with your advice.
For example, answer questions that people need to be answered now, such as:
- “Top 10 Employers Who Are Hiring Now”
- “How Do I Address Being Laid Off Due to COVID-19?”
- “New COVID-19 Questions to Ask Employers During Job Interviews”
- “How to Pitch Telecommuting to Your Boss”
In addition to writing articles, have you considered writing a book?
Anytime there’s a lull in business, whether it’s caused by a pandemic, recession, holiday, or whenever, the goal is to make the best use of your time.
You can optimize your time by writing articles and books now that will elevate your business in the near future.
[Additional Resources: How to Write Great Blog (Article) Titles and How to Create Profitable Referral Partnerships With Recruiters]
Second, look into Facebook and Google Ads.
People are online now more than ever.
Businesses have cut their PPC advertising budgets, which has created a huge opportunity for you and me.
You see, fewer advertisers mean paid ads have become more affordable.
If you’ve put paid advertising on Facebook and Google on the back burner up until now, rethink that.
Paid advertising may be the best move for helping your resume writing business thrive.
Third, website conversions are on the decline, yet people are still buying.
If we want to learn more about people’s buying patterns, we only need to look at what happened between the 1918 pandemic and the Great Depression.
A lot of people still spent money during those times, however, they were more selective and purchased more affordable “get by” options.
This created a whole new market for cheaper goods and services.
Now is the ideal time for you to offer lower-priced items (or expand those you already have).
I’m not saying to abandon your higher-priced services. Absolutely not. You’ll still close clients within your ideal price point, yet you’ll open yourself up to small and mid-sized sales as well.
Smaller offerings could include downloads (e.g., ebooks and paid webinars) and middle-of-the-road services, such as career and resume coaching.
Fourth, offer clients a monthly payment option for higher ticket purchases.
For long-timers in this industry, it’s been instilled in us to “get the money upfront.”
This is still solid business advice.
Yet, we can’t ignore the needs of our clients and must be open-minded about budgets — and that means offering payment options to those who need them.
Additional Resources:
“The Upside of Stress: Why stress is good for you (and how to get good at it)“ written by Kelly McGonigal
“Virus-Proof Your Small Business — 50 Ways to Survive the COVID-19 Crisis” by Douglas Kruger
https://resumebiz.com/lead-magnets/
Fifth, audit and improve your processes and systems.
When’s the last time you dusted off those tools that keep your business ticking?
Or, updated your client forms and questionnaires?
When we’re busy, we take our existing processes and systems for granted and don’t realize that they may have become outdated and lackluster over time.
Some of the best uses of your time during times like these is to OVERHAUL and IMPROVE every component of your business, from the emails and forms you send clients to the accounting and cloud storage options.
Here are questions to help you identify where you can make improvements:
1. Are you using an online calendar, such as AcuityScheduling, that sends leads from your website form to your calendar to schedule a free consultation?
Having this setup will save you gobs of time and headache.
No more back and forth emails trying to pin down a day and time to chat about their project.
Online calendars such as AcuityScheduling also send text messages to prospects, which will boost your call success rates.
2. Do you have canned content that you can use to respond to prospect questions quickly?
For example, when someone on LinkedIn asks you for help with their resume, do you have some stock content for that or do you always write your responses from scratch?
If from scratch, check out the #2 suggestion in this post:
Tips to Save Time & Attract More Sales to Your Business Using Outlook
3. Do you have an upsell and cross-sell system in place?
One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is NOT offering clients additional help once the initial service is finished.
For example, clients who purchased a resume and cover letter are ideal candidates for selling a LinkedIn profile.
If you don’t have a system in place to make upselling easy, what are you waiting for? Create some brief content that you can use during the project closeout call, or as part of an email follow-up.
Either way, anything you put together now will go a long way to generating new sales.
