With the COVID-19 disruption far from over, we have fortunately seen meaningful movement away from the worst of the restrictions. Depending on your industry and state – it might be time to ramp it up again and get booking.
With social restrictions easing and businesses starting to wind up their gears again, we can hear the grinding of progress.
If you run a booking based business which can safely and legally begin to fill your calendar again, let’s do exactly that.
Keep it above board
As the strangehold on small business relaxes, some of us can begin normality again. But only some of us.
Before you get eager fever, make 100 percent sure, beyond any doubt, that you can begin legal trade again. If you can, there are certainly still social distancing rules in place and limitations on gatherings.
Consult your state website and federal government pages for this advice. Don’t ask Larry on Facebook.
Legal entanglements could occur and our collective health is extremely important, so as we know you will, keep it legit.
Make and communicate business changes
Do you have to socially distance? Are there restrictions on where and how you can offer services?
As you ease back into things, people need reassurance. Make sure you advertise and communicate what your new operating procedures are and put minds at ease by telling people how you are helping tackle COVID-19 through your business practices.
Get promotional
Go on, give them a good deal.
To coax new and existing clients out of their caves and back to your services, you may want to incentivise them.
To get cash flowing again, think up a promotional idea, discount, giveaway or some other carrot to dangle.
Competition to get clients back will be high and clients themselves will be reticent. Kill two birds by giving extra value when you bounce back.
Re-engage!
Your base will need a reminder of you.
Sure, they haven’t forgot your business exists and the fact that they were regular clients, but time takes a toll.
Habits change quickly and you may find your old clients have reformatted their usual week and you no longer feature.
It may be time to shock them out of hibernation!
Think on the above points when you are pondering what your communications look like. Do you have a health message? Are you having a promotion? Do you have new operating procedures? Pepper your comms with this info when you reach out.
Social
Have you been neglecting your social? Probably a little but huh?
Time to get the engine humming again. Start flooding people’s feed with relevant posts indicating you are back!
Remind them of your wonderful services and make sure to champion your brand to get connecting again.
SMS
Using your BetterHQ software, be sure to make good use of the SMS function.
As we know, SMS has an incredible cut through and open rate. Use this to your advantage. Send out a message to all of your loyal customers to remind them you are open for business.
Although SMS has a great read rate, you can also be seen as a bit invasive due to the more personal nature of SMS. We expect spam in our inboxes, not in our personal messages, so ensure you don’t overdo it and never ‘burn’ your client list with overenthusiasm.
Again, use your BetterHQ software for this if you have it.
Make up a newsletter to encourage your clients to return and remind them of your services. Make sure you champion your brand assets and have your booking links nice and central.
In this time of goodwill, a personal letter from you through email may have more cut through and resonance than a marketing focused piece.
We wish you all the best of luck in revving your engines once more and getting those bookings rolling in again.