Premier Flooring Retailer Premier Flooring Retailer Magazine - Covid-19 Busi | Page 12

5
COVID-19
Will Your Business
Survive the Pandemic?
A
Lisbeth Calandrino
Flooring Specialist and
Associate Publisher and
Director of Social Media
for Fabulous Floors
Magazine
s a businessperson, you are always looking for opportunities; ways you can sell
more goods and make more money. That’s part of being in business and an
entrepreneur. However, with the virus, there are so many restrictions that you must
be cautious, or you may not be able to sell at all. If you can sell, this is not the time
to appear as if you are taking advantage of anyone. The national ads have caught on
quickly; lots of ads about caring for their customers. This is not the time for broad-
casting discounts; consumers have bigger problems in their minds.
At the writing of this, it appears that the entire country is basically in quarantine.
Everyone is affected by what’s going on and being hit in their pocketbooks. We will
get out of this but a lot of it will depend on how we view humanity in general. We
must be cautious; we’ve been told we can’t be closer than six feet from another per-
son and yet a couple of restaurants in my city were caught serving dinner and liquor.
It’s scary, and each of us must do our part if we are going to get out of this. Imag-
ine if you don’t heed the warning to stop meeting in large groups, we run the risk
of infecting other people and causing the death of another human. It appears that
not everyone is taking that seriously and inadvertently maybe making someone sick.
What can you do to get through this? Here are my thoughts:
Hunker down
and take
financial stock of
your business.
You will probably
have to make
some difficult
decisions over
the next few
weeks or have
already done so.
1.  Hunker down and take financial stock of your business. You will probably have
to make some difficult decisions over the next few weeks or have already done so.
Decide who you will have to lay off and what you can do fiscally to take care of
them. The World Floor Covering Association has information from the Corona-
virus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act through their lobbyists, https://wfca.
https://wfca.org/page/coronavirus-aid-relief-and-economic-security-act-what-pro-
vided-it-flooring-retailer-and as well as the Covid19 Updates, https://wfca.org/
covid19-updates. The New York Times has a F.A.Q. that answers many of the ques-
tions about the federal monies, https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-stimu-
lus-package-questions-answers.html
2.  Help your employees and yourself with feelings of uncertainty or despair.
Talkspace.com is a group of online counselors volunteering time to talk people
through these difficult times. Don’t underestimate the difficulties that people are
having; limited resources and loss of employment rank as two of the top stressors.
https://www.talkspace.com/blog/coronavirus-talkspace-resources/
For sales and customer service training, connect with Lisbeth’s courses, Success on Fire,
https://successonfire.lisbethcalandrino.com/ or sign up for her blog, https://www.lisbethcalandrino.com/blog.
10 Premier Flooring Retailer | Q1 2020