Due to the global pandemic that’s affecting the world, starting a business has become increasingly difficult due to the many new rules and circumstances that change the way we work. Whether it’s the way your staff interact with customers or the layout of your store, retail business owners need to make huge sweeping changes in order to inspire confidence and safety in their customers.
So if you’re thinking of starting a business during this pandemic, what should you expect from running your store?
You need to be vigilant about cleanliness
It’s important to be vigilant about cleanliness during the pandemic. This can include wiping down surfaces more often, cleaning your store every night and disinfecting any machines or surfaces that a customer has touched after they leave.
This should be a fairly standard practice that all stores adopt. In fact, it should’ve been more common even before the pandemic!
You have to start offering masks and sanitiser to customers
While many people travel with masks and pocket sanitiser, you’ll attract more customers if you’re willing to distribute masks and offer sanitiser to customers and clients. You can buy bulk hand sanitiser for a relatively cheap price and place it at the entrance to your store to ensure that customers don’t accidentally spread the virus around your store.
Masks don’t necessarily need to be given. You can just refuse entry to anyone that doesn’t wear a mask. However, you’ll want to give out masks if you operate a salon or similar business where you’re face-to-face with clients.
Your staff may need to get confrontational with customers
Most customers are perfectly fine with rules around wearing masks and sanitising their hands. They understand that it’s for their own safety so they’ll usually abide by the rules. However, every now and then, you may get a customer that refuses to wear a mask or sanitise their hands before they enter.
In a situation like this, you’ll need to train your staff to be respectful when confronting the customer. You’ll need to refuse entry into your store or else you’ll lose the confidence of your other customers. This can lead to some loud and often aggressive verbal exchanges, but it’s becoming a vital skill to have when running a business during a pandemic.
You need to show that you care about customer safety
There are a number of ways to show that you care about the safety of your customers. Whether it’s being vigilant about cleanliness, offering masks and sanitiser or even kicking out unruly customers, these all show that you care about the customer’s safety.
However, you can also go an extra step further and let your customers know what else you’re doing to protect them as well as your staff. You can use your in-store advertisements and change the messages on them to explain what you’re doing to adapt to the conditions caused by the pandemic. Alternatively, you can put up signs and notices to explain what changes you’ve made and how long they’ll be active for.
