Getting ready to kickstart your export and after the many worldwide lockdowns
This week the UK marked the anniversary of its first complete country lockdown. A situation that has caused big losses for both people and businesses.
Put in a perfect summary by Boris Johnson the UK Prime Minister “A year that can never be forgotten”.
The UK is opening after the third lockdown and businesses are getting re-started, slowly with planned safe re-opening plans. Not forgetting the challenges Brexit has given so many companies with existing export and import activities within the EU zone.
So, what better time to kickstart the business reopening and take the opportunity to think differently, think ‘wrong’ and create a real difference.
Here are three steps as a basic framework, where you assess the situation, while you are preparing for the re-opening and making (realistic) plans for the future.
We will now be publishing some blogs and newsletters/guides on how to re-open.
You can work with this concept in many ways. You can discuss this at a board meeting or you can engage with your customers and/or consumers and get a broader perspective.
Step 1
- Your company and your export before corona – how did it actually look like?
- Think back to the time before March 2020.
- What did your company and your export look like then?
- Were you running well, achieving your goals, budgets and growth?
- Were you engaged with your suppliers, customers, consumers and your staff and generating the income needed?
Did you really attract and retain new customers or consumers? - Were there activities and projects that you didn’t get started because you didn’t have the human resources and motivation required?
Be honest with yourself!
Step 2
- What did you learn about the company’s culture and activities during the lockdown?
- When you look back during the last 12 months what has surprised you most?
- How did your suppliers/customers and consumers respond during the lockdown?
- How did they and your target groups respond?
- How did they and your target groups respond?
- Were there values both amongst your /customers and consumers that were particularly clear during the lockdown?
- What were the behavioural changes of your customers and consumers and the wider community caused by the lockdown and how did you respond to that?
- What have you done to engage with everyone during the lockdown?
- Were there any initiatives that proved especially successful?
And finally, are there any opportunities and/or barriers that could result in permanent changes?
Step 3
- What is the dream scenario for your export?
- Now pull together the points from the discussions from the first two steps. If you could choose freely which experiences/activities do you want to bring with you when you re-open?
- Also, what changes do you want to make based on your experiences from the last 12 months?
- Do you want to change the way operate?
- Should and can develop new ways of operating?
- What the 3 things you should stop doing?
- What the three things you could do better?
- What are the 3 things you should start doing?
In short: How does the re-start look like and how can you make that happen?
From discussions to action’ Making it happen #growexport
Set up some quick working project groups, learn from others, get and seek support with inspiration.
Don’t look back, but learn and improve from the last 12 months
Good luck!