Is your business getting back to normal? Let’s hope not. You say, “What? Are you insensitive?” No, quite the opposite.
I am very sensitive to the customers that 2020 didn’t deliver to your doorstep. But if your customers weren’t at your business during Covid, what were they doing? Where were they buying? Did they stop buying what you sell? What did you provide that either they didn’t need this year or went to find elsewhere?
Does that sound pretty harsh? It’s not; it’s reality.
One of the most often heard phrases in 2020 was the idea of “getting back to normal.” Will we ever get back to normal? Maybe we should start with, what does normal mean?
Normal - Noun . the usual, average, or typical state or condition.
Adjective. conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.
Perhaps the one thing we learned in 2020 is that there are some typical things in our lives that we might have taken for granted. The routines, habits and doing things that provide us comfort and community. It’s the person walking into their frequented local diner and the waiter calls out “Do you want the usual?” Sometimes, it’s the usual that feeds our soul. The usual provides the sense of place and the comfort we crave. It’s where we find our selves because the place, the experience, and the products we buy express who we are.
There is comfort in knowing the usual and the typical. Having that one place where you get the expected - it’s exactly what McDonalds was founded on. The idea that anywhere you traveled, you could expect the same flavor and taste of the hamburger and fries. With the franchise business model, there is high assurances that the experience, the food and the flavor, will be the same typical meal you have at your local McDonalds. This normalcy is exactly what you want and crave. You don’t have to think twice to make a decision.
So there is success to be found in the typical or normal way you make your product or deliver your service. Just make sure you don’t assume that all things have said the same. Look around, observe behaviors and ask some questions.
Moving forward from a year of disruption (like never defined before), the question you must ask yourself is, “How has my customer’s normal routines and behaviors changed? Has my customers usual beliefs and values stayed the same or changed? Is my typical offering still relevant?”
To help reflect on these questions, also consider the following:
Know your neighbors.
Here’s an example. If your business is located in a downtown area or near an industrial park that relies on the business neighborhood for your customers, make sure you are watching what each company is planning post Covid. Are they allowing workers to continue to work remotely? Are work schedules changing and being staggered? Make a list of every business in your proximity and know exactly how they are moving forward. These businesses may be creating a new normal which may have critical impact on your business.
Talk to your customers.
Who is your customer moving into 2021 and what problem does she have? Form some important questions that will help you understand your customer, how they may have changed, how their living habits have changed and how this might affect your service to them. Is your typical offering still relevant? Be ready to ask these questions when you see them or use the phone or email to connect with them.
As an example, the family dinner table has always been valued by my family. A daily home cooked meal where we can share our day, talk about current events and future plans. With my new job, there were some weeks where we were all too busy; takeout and curbside delivery became a great option. When there were no visiting restrictions, my mom and I had a weekly dinner and a movie night. Each week I would pick up dinner on my way. Conclusion - my household spent more on restaurant food this past year than groceries. And yet, our household, based on past behavior, was probably the least likely to do so. We like to cook and we know how to cook. It was the shift in responsibilities and use of time that changed our normal dinner routine during 2020.
I love the curbside pickups and on line ordering platforms that have emerged in the restaurant industry. I can see how they fit into our lives today; I hope they never go away because they have created an easy way to get dinner on the table. It is a shift in our behavior that will likely continue.
Know every other small business near you.
There is nothing better than a crisis to pull us all together. So hopefully, you’ve been having a lot of conversations during the past year with the business owners who work near you. Continue those conversations with focusing on 2021. Talk with them, share what you know, work together to be the best at what each of you you do. Find ways to collaborate in serving customers. Helping each other helps us all thrive.
In conclusion, what typical offering did your business have last year that will continue to be relevant to your customer? Do you need to make a change to your typical offering in order to get your business back to normal? It’s important to ask questions before assuming all things will be as normal as before. Keep these questions in mind: “How has my customer’s normal routines and behaviors changed? Has my customers usual beliefs and values stayed the same or changed? Is my typical offering still relevant?”
I do believe we will get back to normal. Going out to a bar or restaurant, spending the afternoon with your best friend and taking in some retail therapy, buying tickets to concerts and local theater, and more. It’s what we all want. Let’s get there together.