C-19, Distribution, Improvisation Measures

Turning Disaster into Some Opportunity

The unprecedented, C-19, shut-down economy is here. Minimize downside hits, while maximizing upside opportunities! How exactly? Here are some moves that distributors have shared with me:

Most are rethinking:

1. How to maximize work-from-home activity.
2. Turning field reps into outbound tele-sellers
3. Maximizing social distance for on-site folks and driver deliveries.
4. Upgrading sanitary cleaning protocols.

All good stuff, but where are the innovative edges?

Exceptional Measures:

1. Have a brief, Crisis-Team meeting every morning to brainstorm new emerging – problems, opportunities, questions – and best responses.
2. Constant two-way communication between all employees and the crisis team via a company app (especially for multi-locations).
3. Experiment with each customers’ preferred e-tools? What’s the future for “regular facetime calls” on millennials?
4. Survey the top “X” most-net-profitable customers for what special service accommodations or problems they may have. Disrupted businesses have new needs.
5. Do #4 for the top “Z” most-net-profitable (potential) customers. Find and seize viable-for-you, new opportunities before entrenched competitors wake up. 
6. Guesstimate which customers are “swimming naked”: too much debt with collapsing business. (The Feds will bail out over-indebted big companies. But, they won’t help many small and medium indebted businesses in time, if at all.) To what customers, if any, do you want to offer extended receivables?   
7. Systematically identifying, giving and e-sharing - “Praising Statements”- amongst all employees.

Praising Statements?

Here’s how a long-time client/friend explained it:

“No matter what we do, our financials will take big hits which will add to our overall C-19 stresses. To keep morale and can-do spirit up, we want to recognize all of the individual (beyond-the-normal-call-of-duty) acts our employees are doing during this crisis. Everyone reads the shared praisings. We are seeing a lot of follow up air/text, high-fives. Everyone is on board and striving to make a difference.

My hope is: that as our channel first fades and then revives, our initiatives and can-do spirit will win net-profitable share from competitors who only do the standard herd-stuff. Why let a good crisis opportunity go to waste?”

For more on the entire “praising statement” system, check out my “playlist 5, clips 12-19” on YouTube. The initial clip #12 (all are about 4 minutes in length) is right here.

And, stay tuned for my e-commerce webinar series, launching soon!