(0)
image of woman smiling

Nine tips to help your product-based business survive and thrive during COVID-19

During a time of uncertainty it’s important not to get overwhelmed or stressed out. I know that’s easy to say, so having a plan of action really helps.
Below is a list of actions you can take to help you continue to make sales, gain new customers, clear overstocks and plan ahead. They will help to strengthen and improve your business in the long term and help you survive now.

1. Take your business online?

This may sound obvious, but if you have a shop and you’ve had to close it, your website sales are going to be vital. (If you don’t have a website, keep reading as I have some quick tips for you too!)

Already have a website? now’s the time to make sure everything is working well.

  • Make sure all the links work.
  • Is there anything you could add, tweak or should remove?
  • Invest a bit more money on Google and/or Facebook ads.
  • Be present online on social media and in groups where your target audience hang out.
  • Offer free postage and packaging for online orders.
  • Offer a free gift for large spend values.
  • Let customers know if delivery times are likely to be affected.
  • Do you have a best selling product that you have lots of stock of? Could you offer it at a special price or make a bundle/set of products for a value saving? You could then share this on socials media asking potential customers to sign up to your mailing list to get the discount code.  This will help you to gain new people to your mailing list and make sales, although at a lower margin. You need to remind your customers that you are still here and encourage them to shop with you.

 

No website yet? Now is the time to think creatively

  • If you have a Facebook page, use it to sell your products. you could have a live sale once or twice a week, Ask a trusted friend to help you answer all the comments as the sale is happening. They can DM customers a link to your PayPal so payment can be made for each lot (product) before you process orders.
  • Start setting up your Website ASAP, It doesn’t have to be perfect and you can continually improve it, it just needs to work.
  • Even if you are getting someone else to make you website you will still need each product to have a product description, Price, 1-5 photos (Resize the images to the suggested sizes of the website), Product care instructions.
  • You don’t need to launch with every product, start with you best sellers then add more products each day.
  • You should add an about page, an (FAQ) frequently asked questions page, size guides if relevant.
  • Mailing list, if you don’t have one, you need to set one up. The free versions of Mailerlite or Mailchimp will do to start.
  • Contact your customers let them know you are starting a website and ask them if they want to join your mailing list to get a discount as soon as you have launched.

2. Get in touch with existing customers

The best customers are the ones you already have. Send out an extra email or two, let them know if you are launching new products, if you are doing a live sale or even a live chat on Facebook or Instagram.

3. Ask people to join your mailing list

You probably already do this, but do it more.

4. Down-sell. Yes you heard right!

We always talk about up-selling or link selling and making more money. During this period of uncertainty, people are more likely to be watching their wallets. Can you down-sell a product? Do you sell something in travel or deluxe size?

image of Camille Johnson, product-based business expert
Camille Johnson

5. Spring clean

There has never been a better time to do a stock count. It’s a great time to clear overstocks and end of lines, run a promotion, sell bundles with value savings.

6. Complete your to-do list.

Now is a great time to get on with those tasks you have putting off for age.? Look at your list and prioritise the things that will help you make more money.

7. Work on your business.

Often we are so busy working in our business we don’t have time to work on our business.  Take a step back and analyse how things have been going.
What has been working well, can you do more of that?
What hasn’t been working, can you tweak it or stop doing it all together?

8. Invest in your business

Is your business struggling in an area? Is there a skill set that you need to improve on? Now is the perfect time to look at taking online masterclasses, webinars or courses. There will be some really good offers on at the moment.  As a product based business expert I offer Free mini social media audits  for one social media platform for businesses who want to improve their engagement and sales conversion rates.

9. Plan ahead

Before the Pandemic what did you have planned for your business over the next six-nine months? Start working on that now! It might seem strange, but if sales have slowed, then working ahead will gain you so much more time when thing start getting back to normal.
If you still think you need more help in your product based business then get in touch with me and book a ‘Power Hour’ use the code PRECIOUS to save 50% off before July 30th 2020.

 

Camille Johnson is a product-based business expert and the founder of two businesses. She has a background in buying and merchandising and operations management within the beauty and retail industry. In her 20 years of experience she has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands while working for leading UK high street retailers within head office teams and for niche skincare brands. You can find Camille on Instagram @misscamillejohnson, Facebook @MCJ Consultancy and her website is www.mcjconsultancy.com

Leave a Reply