In 31 years in this business, I have not experienced a situation like COVID-19. What an amazing scenario we have found ourselves in. Our economic situation is fragile, both in our own businesses and globally, with many filing for bankruptcy a few weeks into the pandemic. Many fractures were revealed during this health crisis. It may be the new normal.
A Strange Gift
As we forge our path of resiliency forward, we have opportunities to look at life differently. As I contemplate what this effect is long term, I search for the gift in the strange wrapping paper—the gift of slowing down to appreciate the loveliness of life, those that matter and to re-tool. Maybe you were feeling like your life was going 150 miles per hour before the pandemic. Mine sure felt that way. Taking the time to evaluate how to work differently was certainly on my mind during this crisis. Maybe we don’t want to go back to life pre-COVID-19. Perhaps, we want a different way of living. Certainly, working will be different on many, many levels.
Rethinking Business
The pandemic has stirred up lots of thought about how we interact with our clients and our team to help determine how we keep them both healthy and safe. We have to re-think every aspect of the business from booking the appointment (what is your digital platform?) to the point of entrance, point of contact and payment. Limiting all points of contact will be important moving forward. How do we interact during a service, especially since we are one of the industries that has a license to touch people, and we know how beneficial touch can be? Our services can be of an intimate nature, and we work so closely with our clients (much closer than six feet).
We know we will be changing that going forward. We must determine the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for maintaining sanitation with limiting points of access and various touch points throughout the waiting areas and common areas, keeping them well sanitized between clients.
We can expect a shift in the way we operate. We will have less staff and less traffic, due to spaced out appointments and more business online. Online business options can include teleservices, online shopping and even mini training and self help beauty and relaxation videos. I was able to explore what the future will look like, as I spoke to some industry professionals about returning to work and working to ensure we protect our staff and clients.
Check out the Digital Magazine for more tips on figuring out your business post-pandemic...
Elaine Sauer is a licensed esthetician and CIDESCO Diplomate as well as an industry consultant with a specialty in multi-unit management, training and sales. She works with businesses to improve their hiring, service standards, sales and staff development functions, and can be reached at [email protected].
