Dig Deeper

Dig deeper. It’s how you’ve been dealing with Coronavirus disruptions. You’ve already explored the various loans programs and have teams working remotely. You’ve adapted how updates are shared with your people and adjusted to a work/life balance that is now just… work/life. Your business has responded, but do you have a detailed view of what has fundamentally changed?

What leaders “know” is now far less certain. The new normal isn’t defined but it’s not what it was six weeks ago. To understand where you’re going, you need to deeply understand where you were and where you are now. Now is the time to turn more of your data into information that can help identify what you need to do next.

Dig deeper to understand three critical C’s: Customers, Costs and Cash.

Customers – As events impact all customer purchases, you must understand the impact of their decisions. Focusing on only the largest customers is no longer sufficient.

-Are they buying less of the same range of products, or scaling back to only the most critical items?

-If a customer has stopped all purchases, will they be likely to come back?

-What are the common characteristics of groups of customers, and can you offer creative solutions to help them?

-How have your margins changed as customers sales have changed?

Costs – While trying to protect your people as much as possible, what is happening to other costs? Of the products you are selling, have vendors offered considerations that you can pass along? If your offices are partially closed, what is the impact on office supplies and other consumables? What else can be done to manage expenses and protect profits?

Cash – More than ever, cash flow management is critical. If you do not have a 12-week cash flow forecast, get help building one now. After you have a picture, what can you do to preserve cash?

-Check with larger creditors for extension of payment turns.

-Stay on top of receivables.

-Draw down inventories to match sales.

-Reach out to your bank for financing options.

Completing these prudent analyses will provide new insights to understand where business was before Coronavirus hit, how it’s been affected and what your leadership should consider in the weeks ahead.

At Data2Profit, our passion is helping leaders leverage under-utilized data and expand analysis capability. Getting started may feel challenging, especially if your company hasn’t focused on this before. Don’t let that stop you.

You have the data and the tools. All you need is a guide. We can give you ideas about how to begin, recommend other experts, and of course, work directly with you. And, yes, this too can be done remotely!

So, dig deeper. Into your business relationships and data. And into your phone and email contacts to keep in touch with those you love.

Stay safe,

Lynn Corazzi