It feels like Covid19 has plunged the world into a bad fever dream, tossing and turning while everyone’s worst fears threaten to form into a dystopian nightmare.

But when morning arrives, the bad news stories are still there and it seems like they are getting worse as American life starts to shut down.

While we remain hopeful, it becomes harder day by day as the inevitable economic fallout of this pandemic becomes hard to ignore.

Already social media and Reddit are full of threads with small business owners venting their woes as their businesses feel the crunch under the heavyweight of the quarantine measures.

There is no doubt about it. This is a bad time to be a business that solely relies on foot traffic through your doors.

But there is a surprising silver lining to all this.

The Silver Lining

When there is any sort of economic disruption there will always be winners and losers. That’s how many of today’s most successful businesses and investors got to where they are today.

By being bold when everyone else is in retreat, they were able to gain ground rapidly and establish a strong position.

The good news is that no matter how dire things may seem; you do have options to remain in control over your business’s destiny. Rather than be swept under an economic Tsunami, you can ride the wave and get out ahead and on top.

So, what does that mean for businesses like yours today?

Position Yourself on The Winning Side

To get out on top you need to take a survey of the changing landscape and identify the new opportunities worth exploiting.

For example, with workplaces, schools, and travel being shut down due to quarantine requirements people are naturally going to be spending more time at home and online.

While a lucky few will be able to keep working from home, the rest will probably be bored out of their minds after day two!

They are going to want to put their time into something productive and useful – whether it be self-development, education, home improvement or that side project they have been working on.

After all, how often in our incredibly busy lives do we have such an opportunity to focus free from distraction?

This is a BIG opportunity for anybody who can provide resources to help them fill their time productively.

If you are a coach, mentor, education business or even a physical product retailer or B2B services provider you should be putting together a plan to leverage this opportunity.

How to Leverage Opportunity

1) Coaches, Mentors, and Educators
If you are a coach or mentor you will likely have a database of leads who never bought your stuff because of excuses like I’m too busy, now is not the right time or I am not ready to take the plunge and pursue my passion yet.

Now is a great time to reach out to those people, rekindle the relationship and perhaps provide them with a special offer or some added value if they jump on board with you now.  Go through the steps outlined here and re-engage your leads.

Why? Well after they’ve sorted their toilet paper situation and secured some other necessities, they are likely to be thinking about the future, and specifically their future, dreams, and hopes. This is a great time to give them a kickstart in the right direction.

Why not send some nurture emails, start running some Facebook lives or offer a free webinar to re-ignite their interest? Perhaps you could even repackage some of your content into a short 14 day intensive?

2) Physical Products Retailers
Businesses with a physical shopfront and physical product are at the epicenter of the COVID19 fallout. It’s a tough place to be as consumers avoid unnecessary travel or spending on non-essential items.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but in this instance, there may not be much you can do to take control over the immediate situation.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t put your time to good use and plan for the future. If you don’t have one already, this is an excellent opportunity to start putting together an online store.

If you do have an online store, then consider introducing payment plans or value deals to encourage people to buy in a situation where they may be holding onto their money more.

If you have a database or online following of customers, it’s also a great opportunity to double down on content marketing to engage your community and make sure they remember you – and buy from you when life returns to normal!

3) B2B Services Provider
If you provide high-value goods or services to other businesses, this is also going to be a quieter time for you.

Your sales team may find that appointments are being canceled and hot leads have gone cold overnight.

This is a great opportunity for the team to take a step back and evaluate the sales process. Here are a few questions to think about:

• Where are the points of friction in the customer journey and sales process?
• How can marketing and sales work more closely together and bridge the gap?
• What new systems or content would help improve results?

Another thing you can do is invest the extra time running masterclasses or workshops. You can either target existing clients to improve customer satisfaction, retention rates and possibly upselling them to premium services.

Alternatively, you could use technology to host a virtual summit or conference for specific subsets of people around a niche topic or issue. This will help attract new leads to your business while introducing them to your philosophy, company, and solution, giving you a full pipeline of leads once business returns to normal.

So, there you have it. There is always a silver lining and I hope you can see a light in the tunnel. As long as you and your business remain bold in the face of adversity, you can capitalize on the change.