CEO Tips on business survival during Covid-19 pandemic

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Whether the pandemic ends within a month or two or stretches into the long-term, business owners need to be ready to buckle down and make changes to their business strategy in order to weather the storm and beyond.

Here are a few tips to start implementing and planning form the CEOs.

Mr. Himanshu Bindal, Founder of Biosup (a pioneering company in the area of pharmaceutical and surgical products) shared the tips to plan for future growth.

1. Cost Monitoring: Always monitor your cost and get as lean as possible even when you are not having liquidity challenges. Also, keep an eye on your balance sheet. The better you manage your cash the better your business plans will work out.
2. Contingency Planning: Planning always saves you from the worst case scenarios. Always have Plan B and if possible Plan C also so that if something goes sideways, your company will not be hit hard as it will be saved by your contingency plans.
3. Quick Decision Making: Never delay in making decisive decisions in times of trouble. And never be shy about seeking help from outside.
4. Communicate with Customers: Try to communicate with customers and let them know that they and their reviews on your products matter. Improve and do the changes accordingly, if needed.
5. Internet: Go online as much as possible because it always helps to reach customers who we cannot tap through offline or other forms of marketing.
6. Keep Striving: Keep striving to come on top of the industry of which your company is a part of.

Vikas Chaturvedi CEO of Xanadu Realty a real estate b2b consultancy firm  shared 5 pillars of his strategy which includes

1. Drive Innovation in every aspect of the business
2. Absorb and accept technology in your organization to take your product to the customers
3. Take initiative and bring smarter consumer propositions to take care of worries of a consumer while buying property
4. Reskill your teams for the new scenarios
5. Mitigate risk and judicious cash management. Most importantly stay positive during this time.

The current situation of ‘Stay Home – Stay Safe’ has again reinforced the importance of homeownership. To ensure that the real estate companies are able to participate in this need, they must aim to provide superior ‘Home Buying experience’ via technology interface which is as immersive as face-to-face interaction.

Xanadu Realty has come up with a unique ‘Human-Tech’ interface that is helping customers make their home buying decisions at their own convenience. Firstly it ensures the safety of everyone including employees, partners and customers. Secondly, it also helps the continuation of business by the roll out a slew of new consumer propositions in the market and reduce risk by keeping the businesses salient during the lockdown.

Ms. Roma Priya, Founder of Burgeon Law, India’s leading boutique law firm that provides a one-stop legal shop to emerging companies, incubators, accelerators, angel investors, family offices and venture capital/ private equity funds.

“The difficult times call for us to stand united and help one another in every possible way.

In order to mitigate any risks, it is important for companies to adapt to a new set of rules while being careful with tracking expenses against the revenue status, checking the feasibility of the business model, and planning policies for the next quarter. Hence, there needs to be a diligent revision of sales, revenue goals and product timelines along with a new operating plan in place. Companies should strategize and communicate transparently with the stakeholders and customers to understand their perception of the products/services being offered. Also, to avoid bitterness with the contracted parties, companies should give sufficient notice to the vendors, suppliers and landlords in case of any delay in the payments.

When it comes to the capital, companies should stay patient with fundraising. Considering the criticality of the situation, investors may take longer than usual to make funding decisions after following stringent diligence procedures. Even though there is a dip in VC/HNI funding at present, there are numerous funds with enough capital to deploy for the coming years. For getting the runway extended, companies can even approach existing investors for additional funding. Since, they are more likely to help out during this time.”

Mr. Bharath Sastry, CEO of Vistaprint India, an e-commerce platform for customised printing services for individuals and small business owners

Continue to focus on Brand building which is beneficial in the longer run, while maintaining marketing spend efficiency. Brands that are strong and have an emotional connect with customers can withstand the crisis better.

Innovation: Understand changing customer requirements and incorporating the same in one’s product and offerings is important. For instance, an energy drink can innovate to launch an immunity-building beverage, an e-commerce firm can endeavour to provide solutions to spread awareness of the Covid 19 etc.

Marketing approach: This is an excellent time to relook at the channel marketing approach. Maximizing free channels like SEO and owned media like websites and social media to communicate and engage with the customers. And build further marketing efficiency while starting the channels that require spending.

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