13/11/2020
Have you ever tried skateboarding in a hurricane? It's not nearly as much fun as you might think. You are constantly blown off-course and you have no idea when or from which direction.
Have you ever tried business planning in a pandemic? Its not nearly as much fun.......OK. You get the picture, but you really don't know what is going to happen.
In March, 80-90% of businesses went into a state of shock and stopped planning. The businesses that didn't stop planning are the survivors.
When a business asks my help in preparing a plan, we sketch something out and then I ask the big question. WHAT IS THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN??? Usually there is one answer and we examine it and prepare a Plan B in case it happens. Right now there are at least six answers to that question. Let's look at a few.
The bank grow impatient and call in the loan
The staff all go and find other jobs
Our main customer sector is closed down for the foreseeable future
Our biggest customer throws in the towel
The pound sinks through the floor
The virus suddenly disappears and I have 3 warehouses full of face-masks
You have to look at every worst case scenario and make a Plan B. Then you have to look at every combination of 2/3/4 or 5 worst case scenarios and prepare plans B/C/D and E. This will take a lot of work - there are no short cuts but in the long run the risk management may save your commercial life. We are in a pandemic but so is everyone else. Get over it! The planners will be the winners.
