{"id":33340,"date":"2020-06-19T11:42:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=33340"},"modified":"2020-06-19T11:51:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:51:23","slug":"business-report-what-you-must-do-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: What You Must Do Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_33341\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33341\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33341\" src=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/06\/cruz-vc-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/06\/cruz-vc-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/06\/cruz-vc.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33341\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Cruz, president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC in Queensbury.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Michael Cruz<br \/>\nAs we re-open our local economy, we can\u2019t quickly go back to normal. It is important to re-examine all aspects of your business. What you were doing before COVID is not necessarily what you should do next. Examine your business plan. I often say that a plan is like a road map.<br \/>\nThe only time you don\u2019t need a map is when you are going where you have already been. Or, when you don\u2019t care where you are going.<br \/>\nThings are not going to be the same for quite a while. You need to figure out how to rekindle sales. You need to make sure your product pipeline is solid.<br \/>\nYour customers are having the same challenges you are. Everyone will be a little more cautious as to where they spend their money. Each of us needs to reassess our priorities. We need to figure out which expenditures are required. And, which purchases we can delay until we are sure of the recovery.<!--more--><br \/>\nWhen given the all clear, quickly notify customers that you are back. Use social media. Use ads. Most importantly, call them. Make sure your sales teams are armed with your adjusted plan and reach out to as many customers as possible. It is critical that you re-establish relationships.<br \/>\nIf you want to be on their priority purchase list, the secret is in value creation. Value creation is having your product or service provide more value to your customer\u2019s business than its actual cost purchased elsewhere. Understanding your value will force you to have customer empathy. You need to know what keeps your customer awake at night. To the extent that you help solve that problem, you will have more success.<br \/>\nIf you have a solid purpose that helps them, you can offer solutions that make sense to get their business up and running faster. And, with better results. Don\u2019t allow yourself to have \u201chead trash.\u201d That is that nagging doubt you hear in your mind telling you why they won\u2019t buy from you. Be sure that your proposition is focused to help them succeed.<br \/>\nSome customers will genuinely be cash poor. All of them will tell you that they don\u2019t have any money. Be assured that they have cash to help themselves if the value is right. If they really don\u2019t have any cash, help them find third-party financing. You need to preserve your own cash. Resist financing them through terms. You are not, and should not, be a bank.<br \/>\nMost businesses have opportunities to secure financial assistance through programs provided by federal, state, and local institutions. Don\u2019t offer unreasonable terms as a means to justify sales.<br \/>\nFocus and be ready to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Michael Cruz As we re-open our local economy, we can\u2019t quickly go back to normal. It is important to re-examine all aspects of your business. What you were doing before COVID is not necessarily what you should do next. Examine your business plan. I often say that a plan is like a road map. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":33341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Business Report: What You Must Do Now - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Report: What You Must Do Now - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Michael Cruz As we re-open our local economy, we can\u2019t quickly go back to normal. It is important to re-examine all aspects of your business. What you were doing before COVID is not necessarily what you should do next. Examine your business plan. I often say that a plan is like a road map. [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-19T15:42:06+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-19T15:51:23+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/06\/cruz-vc.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"432\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"648\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/\",\"name\":\"Business Report: What You Must Do Now - Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-19T15:42:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-19T15:51:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Business Report: What You Must Do Now\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae\",\"name\":\"jessewinters\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jessewinters\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jessewinters\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Business Report: What You Must Do Now - Glens Falls Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business Report: What You Must Do Now - Glens Falls Business Journal","og_description":"By Michael Cruz As we re-open our local economy, we can\u2019t quickly go back to normal. It is important to re-examine all aspects of your business. What you were doing before COVID is not necessarily what you should do next. Examine your business plan. I often say that a plan is like a road map. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/","og_site_name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","article_published_time":"2020-06-19T15:42:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-19T15:51:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":432,"height":648,"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/06\/cruz-vc.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jessewinters","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jessewinters","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/","name":"Business Report: What You Must Do Now - Glens Falls Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-06-19T15:42:06+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-19T15:51:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/06\/business-report-what-you-must-do-now\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Business Report: What You Must Do Now"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/","name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae","name":"jessewinters","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jessewinters"},"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jessewinters\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33342,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33340\/revisions\/33342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}