At the beginning of the pandemic, 6% of companies canceled budgeted capital expenditures, 9.7% were postponed, and 8.2% were decreased. While businesses are performing better many years after 2020, there are still plenty of startups that need help rebounding from a difficult time.
In this article, we’ll look at a few ways businesses can recover and restore lost revenue after the pandemic. With the right plan in place, your company can survive and thrive for many years.
7 Ways for Businesses to Recover After the Pandemic
For your business to recover from the pandemic, it’ll have to go through a series of important steps. Here are the 7 things businesses can do to completely recover after the coronavirus.
1. Assess the Financial Damage
Begin by performing a thorough financial assessment of your business to determine the extent of the damage caused by the pandemic. Start by observing any outstanding debts, overdue payments, receivables debtors, or trade credits your business might have on its account.
Gathering accurate information is crucial if you want to see the other end of a difficult financial time, as it gives you a realistic understanding of the extent of your financial troubles. While this process can cause a lot of stress, stay positive. The damage may not be as bad as you think.
2. Reexamine Your Business Plan
Once you’re aware of the financial damage, revisit your current business plan to develop clear strategies that can help you rebuild with few complications. Conduct market research and try new techniques before reapplying old ones. Go with trial-and-error methods if necessary.
If you’re not sure where to begin, know that you’re not alone and that there are plenty of organizations that can help you. For example, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE can give you access to mentors who can offer you guidance during this time.
3. Apply for Grants and Refunds
Look into grants and compensation plans that can help you ward off the consequences of the pandemic consequences. For example, you could sign up for the Employee Retention Credit, which gives qualified businesses up to $26,000 per W-2 employee as a credit, not a loan.
To learn more about this credit and whether or not you qualify, speak to ERC specialists. If you don’t qualify, you still have options. For example, the SBA continues to offer PPP loan forgiveness, shuttered venue grants, COVID-19 EIDLs, and a Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
4. Pursue Traditional Funding
Depending on your situation, it may be a good idea to pressure traditional funding methods, such as bank loans, business lines of credit, or vendor tradelines. While you may worry that this will put you more into debt, you may need to do this to have enough working capital to stay afloat.
Each financial product comes with its pros and cons, and the amount you receive will depend on your credit score, making credit score tracking essential when choosing the right lender. If you don’t have great credit, you can pursue a secured loan. With that said, these types of loans require you to leverage something.
5. Create a New Spending Budget
The old adage “you have to spend money to make money” will set the tone for your rebuilding strategy. After a tough economic period, you’ll still need to spend money on rehiring staff and training them. You’ll likely have to purchase more inventory to start selling more of your products.
Any pandemic recovery strategy should include a budget overhaul because you’re not going to be spending your money as you did before 2020. With that said, you’ll want to examine any inefficiencies and eliminate monetary waste, so you can stay lean while you build up capital.
6. Make a Rebuilding Timeline
It’s obvious that you want to take these necessary steps to rebuild your business, but that won’t be possible if you’re muddy on the timeline. After all, trying to do everything all at once is too unrealistic. Instead, you should create a timeline that prioritizes the most critical tasks first.
When creating your timeline, ask yourself what you need to get the ball rolling. Most businesses will need financing first, so put that at the top of your checklist. Then concentrate on hiring employees, restocking, opening your door, marketing to customers, and staying consistent.
7. Get Ready for the Next Crisis
One thing you can do to make managing your business accounting and finances easier is to prepare for the next crisis. While the pandemic was a one-in-a-lifetime event, recessions happen all the time. In fact, one recession happens every six years and can last one to ten years.
Since an economic downturn is inevitable, preparing for them is the smartest thing to do. If possible, try to build up an emergency fund and insulate your business by investing in stocks. Cut down on unnecessary spending, so you have more money to spend on business growth.
