It’s safe to say that most businesses, large or small, have been affected by lockdown in one way or another. Whether you’ve had to take your business online, work remotely or adjust your business strategy, hopefully, it’s also given you a chance to reflect on what has worked well for your company and plan for the better days ahead.
With an end in sight and some sort of normality coming back soon, we wanted to provide you with some helpful tips on reopening your business once lockdown has ended.
Keep in mind your customers
Whilst you will be keen to get back to the ‘normal’ that we were used to over a year ago, many individuals may be apprehensive, and you must keep that in mind.
If you own a physical shop for example, don’t neglect your online presence, as this is what you’ve likely been working hard on over the last 12 months. Some people may not be ready to head out straight away, and it may be slow going whilst people adapt to the changes.
Have COVID-19 practices in place
Something you may not have considered pre-covid was the various ways you can make your clients or customers’ lives a little easier when they interact with you. Some of these include:
- Offering contactless payment options
- Making bookings online easy (or click and collect options)
- Having dedicated spaces set out to continue social distancing when necessary
- Provide hand sanitiser at the front door and around your premises
- Place screens in front of tills
- Asking customers and employees to wear masks
- More regular cleaning and disinfecting
- Limit the number of people who come in at one time (let’s be honest, we’ve all enjoyed the slightly emptier shops!)
Hopefully, you had these in place during the period you were open last year, so it shouldn’t be too hard to refresh everything again.
Don’t neglect your employees
It’s not just your customers you need to think about when reopening your business after lockdown. Some of your employees may have been remote working for over a year now and whether they’ve loved it or loathed it, they might not be aware of the big changes that have happened.
- Make sure you make them feel safe in the workplace (such as the use of hand sanitiser, larger spaces between desks and screens)
- Consider flexible working hours if possible
- Stagger the return of your employees
- Offer remote working to those that want it
- Provide PPE and cleaning equipment
- Allow extra ventilation (it should be getting warmer soon, so you can swing open those windows)
Get organised
Whilst it’s important you have everything ready to re-open, you may find that this brings you extra physical stock that you are struggling to keep tidy and organised.
Consider hiring a business storage unit whilst you get your ducks in a row… this will allow you to:
Keep on top of paperwork and documents – Hiring a business storage unit is a much safer and secure way of keeping everything organised.
Store excess stock – With the likelihood of everyone flooding to the shops after the lockdown, you will want to be prepared. Keeping extra stock in a business storage unit allows you to come back and forth when you need it, rather than having to re-order and await lengthy delivery times.
Be cost effective – Maybe the lockdown has prompted you to solely go online and operate from home and it’s working for you. Well, if that’s the case, save the cost of an office to hold your business equipment and opt for a business storage unit. With various sizes available, it doesn’t need to cost lots of money.
Plan for the future
One thing that the last year has taught us all is that we never know what’s around the corner, but if you can have a plan in place for your business’s future you’ll be able to establish some goals.
Whether this is to expand your physical location, be more savvy online or ramp up your productivity, having a strategy in place is a good place to start.
Follow Hogleaze Storage for more tips
We hope that this article on reopening your business after lockdown will help you. We work with many local businesses in and around Dorchester and Weymouth that require business storage for one reason or another.
Keep an eye on our Facebook for more news, tips, and advice or if you are interested in hiring a business storage unit, get in touch today for a free quote. Call us at Dorchester 01305 889777 or Weymouth on 01305 830000.