Companies like Wal-Mart or GE need to lay out detailed coronavirus response plans. They have tons of employees and shareholders and probably some legal requirements. For a company like ours, it’s totally optional. Really, this is more for me, to keep my mind focused on what’s important. I also know friends and professional acquaintances and clients read this blog, so maybe this will be beneficial for them as well.
How we’ve changed internally (and how we haven’t)
We all started working from home around the first or second week of March. When the national order to social distance came out on March 13th, we cancelled all face-to-face meetings, travel and visitors. That’s pretty standard. We could always do our jobs from home. It stinks not seeing each other in person, but we can at least keep working.
Beyond that, things are as normal as they can get. The team is still here. Everyone has stayed safe and healthy and all that matters is it stays that way.
How things have changed for our clients
We have clients that saw their revenue literally drop to zero. It’s horrific but not uncommon. On the other hand, we have clients who have managed to pretty much operate like normal because they’re either essential businesses or were 100% online to begin with. I’ve already written a bit on some of the strategic changes we’ve made, but more than that it’s been pausing billing where needed, reducing hours/fees, just trying to do what we can to make it work. As long as our clients are still operating and trying to work through this, we’re going to be there.
Trying to help future clients
We’ve had some new companies come along during this whole mess. And we’re hoping to help some more. I’m sure some agencies are trying to roll out with their usual pricing and contracts, but probably not many. It’s weird to think of offering specials or sales, but basically we know it’s unrealistic to expect companies to just commit to a big contract for a year right now. Here’s what we’re trying right now:
- Projects and plans starting at $500/mo – doing a reduced rate for a limited time, but we’re letting people lock into this price for up to 6 months.
- First month FREE on contracts 6 months or longer.
- No up-front costs. No setup fees. We bill at the end of each month or after a project is complete.
- You can cancel your contract for any reason within the first 90 days.*
- Flexible pricing for the first 6 months (e.g. if you want to cut back on hours for a few months or completely pause one month then resume the next)*
*Retainers only
It’s something. If you’re reading this and can think of anything else we could be doing to help your business get through this, just ask.
We’ll get through this.
