The last 11 months have made one thing very clear: Behind every struggling business are struggling people. If your entire organization shows compassion for clients, the message that “we are here for you” will have real meaning and create lasting results.
Compassion can work
Companies focused on compassionate approaches are discovering that it makes a critical difference as the pandemic continues. As your customers struggle, are there ways you can lend a helping hand?
At Brigade, we took the lead to administer a form of triage for small businesses and implemented a “survival of the fittest” mindset to keep businesses afloat. In March of last year, some clients reached out to say that they either wanted to eliminate our services or drastically reduce them because they no longer had any paying clients or customers. My response to them was, “You’re already paid through the entire month of March, and it is only the middle of March. Let us work for you for the remaining two weeks at least.” During that time, we revamped our service offerings to help businesses stay afloat.
Then, for all of our followers, not just our clients, we created the Small Business Support and Resource Library. It is still active and includes resource links to available aid, like PPP, EIDL, and other loans and grants. The information is in both English and Spanish.
It starts with your own people
Compassion should extend to your employees. Working with them to make sure they are stabilized is the first step in ensuring compassion flows through to your customers. For example, working from home may not be going well for some. What can your organization do to help make it better for them? When your staff personally experiences compassion from the top, companies can then find genuine, creative ways to show empathy and emotionally connect with their customers.
Put compassion into action
It is time to consider: Does your company have a product the world needs right now? Or can you rapidly adapt the product portfolio to provide goods that are urgently needed? Additionally, consider providing flexible solutions to those with financial challenges. How can you help clients who cannot meet their financial obligations to you? Doing so is a huge long-term driver of trusted relationships.
In what ways is your business getting involved and supporting your customers and communities? What have you found to be effective, and how is it impacting the values of your organization? I would love to hear from you so I can share stories of strategies that work.
Additional source:
Connecting with customers in times of crisis
