Surviving After Lockdown

If the original lockdowns of 2020 are an indicator of business after lockdown, the question isn’t “how to survive after lockdown”, but more critically “how to survive the lockdown you currently find yourself in, and inevitably, the next lockdown”.

We are not in a recession as such, we are however in a “restriction”, which means that if you are restricted from trading and sales are down (sometimes catastrophically), once these restrictions ease, we are seeing businesses (especially in our industry) rebound very quickly.

So, I will offer some rules that have served me well over the past several decades from starting, buying, building, and selling businesses, to surviving a global financial crisis, major industry disruptions, fierce competition, debilitating international currency fluctuations, a tornado that destroyed our office & warehouse, and now a pandemic!

Business is like a gladiator sport and invariably we will all face more than one COVID sized calamity in our lifetime and there won’t always be government support. Survival is an obvious prerequisite to facing another day and following are my rules for surviving and thriving during the difficult times, especially when others around you are giving up.

Rule 1

Take Charge! I wanted to say take responsibility but thought that might trigger a negative response in some readers. “I’m not responsible for COVID, I can’t be responsible for the government’s decision to lock us down!” Well to take charge of your business and your life you need to take responsibility for how you respond to any given situation and blaming others doesn’t help you. Remember, nobody ever wins a blame game. So, of course you’re not at fault in this situation and you aren’t responsible for this pandemic, but you are the only one that can respond to the events. If you wait for someone else, wait for government support, or wait until the virus ends, you could be waiting a long time, not to mention, waiting longer than you can afford to wait.

Rule 2

Know your compelling Competitive Advantage. If you want to survive in business, you absolutely need to offer your clients something that nobody else can. This point is critical even when we’re not experiencing a crisis. When times are good and business is flowing in easily, that is when industries can get ultra-competitive, and it is someone else doing it better than you that cripples your business. So really knowing what it is that you can do that none of your competitors can is the key to making your business invincible.

Rule 3

Ensure you have a Profitable Business Model. I am absolutely baffled that so many business owners don’t know how much profit they make on each treatment, on each retail sale or over any given period. They don’t know what their break-even point is, and they haven’t given serious thought to how they should price treatments so that they can actually make some money. Your ability to earn a profit and retain a portion of those earnings so that you can survive tough times is critical. Imagine being profitable enough to weather the invariable storms that arise and being able to take care of the people around you when they do.

Rule 4

Take care of your team. That brings me to my next rule, which is to take good care of your team. This doesn’t necessarily mean paying them when you can’t afford to or putting their needs before your own and/or the customer’s needs, but it does mean understanding their needs and working towards ensuring that you and the workplace are set up to meet their needs. One thing is certain, if you want to attract amazing talent and retain your top employees for many years, you must create an environment that supports them to reach their goals.

Rule 5

Develop Effective Marketing and Sales Processes. This involves testing and measuring what you do and refining your processes. So many salons, spa and clinic owners throw their marketing efforts at the wall and hope something sticks. You cannot approach marketing or sales processes like this and expect to get results, especially during challenging times. If you understand your clients and you know what their top skin concerns are, you should always be addressing those concerns and make it convenient for them to buy from you. Your clients trust and respect your knowledge, so the only thing getting in the way of them buying from you is friction. Ensure you are working on reducing that friction at all times.

Rule 6

Be prepared for tomorrow. Like I said earlier, this isn’t the last time we will be faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Some experts say that this is just a dress rehearsal for the real pandemic! I know that sounds negative, but I like to be prepared, and the next challenge might not be a pandemic but could be equally as damaging. The difference between the businesses that don’t survive and the businesses that thrive will come down to preparation.

There are no magic bullets in the above-mentioned rules for succeeding in business, but skip any one of them and you will struggle more than you need to. If you follow these rules, they will provide you with your best chance at success, no matter what is going on around you.

PBS is a Proud Sponsor of The Cambodia Charitable Trust

The world has well and truly felt the brunt of Covid-19 over the last 18-months. With third-world, developing countries such as Cambodia, where many families already struggle to survive, are feeling the full impact of the pandemic. 

To aid this, PBS is proud to sponsor 5 vulnerable Cambodian girls in rural communities to help provide them with a brighter future. Through this sponsorship, Buth, Chea, Uch, Vannak and Chhorn were supported through the pandemic with education, food for their families and much-needed financial assistance.  

Cambodia Charitable Trust

In partnership with Bestow Beauty, the Cambodia Charitable Trust is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to create a brighter future for vulnerable Cambodian children through education.

The Cambodia Charitable Trust’s top priority is to combat the current negative impacts of human trafficking and crushing poverty on vulnerable children by providing them with quality education. To achieve this they are providing education that is FREE to these Cambodian children, especially girls. PBS is the proud sponsor of 5 Cambodian girls - helping to better their lives daily through:

• A school uniform and essential school stationary,

• Access to health checks,

• Food for her and her family, and

• A monthly contribution to family living costs to cover the loss of the child’s wage. This discourages families from taking children out of school to work.

For as little as $40 a month, you too can sponsor a young Cambodian girl. Learn more here. 

PBS Online Education Portal

We would recommend to use this time for salon owners, managers and therapists who want to take advantage of this quiet period and get up to date on all product knowledge and brand training please click the link below to our education portal link:

Accessible anytime, anywhere, the online video portal is the perfect resource for training new team members, upskilling current team members, and inspiring your team with easy how-to videos. We’re adding new resources all the time, so be sure to check back regularly!

AT-HOME Protocols to share with your clients

We understand how tough it is right now for each and every one of you without being to open your salon & clinic doors, however we wanted to provide you with a way to drive retail sales.

With the help of all the incredible products from Image Skincare, Pure Fiji and ECOCOCO - we have created these easy-to-post treatment protocols for you to share with your clients however you’d like! If your client is hesitant to come in for their regular treatment, you can promote these mini at-home treatments through your social media channels for them to do from the comfort of their own home.

Each protocol has a series of 3-to-4 graphics - making it easy for your to share these in a series of Instagram and Facebook posts or in one Instagram carousel or Facebook album. There is a diverse mix of facial, hair and body protocols to suit your clients needs!

You can also easily email these out to your clients by attaching the graphics or embedding them into your email! To make it even easier, we have also provided an email template which you can simply copy and paste with minimal edits!

It’s our promise that we will do everything we can to continue to provide you with assets and tools to make things a little easier when coping with the effects of COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

TAFE NSW - Free Short Courses

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, TAFE NSW, in conjunction with the NSW Government, is offering a number of fee-free* short courses that can be completed in just days or weeks, offering practical skills and experiences across a range of industries. Courses include:

• eMarketing for Small Business

• Engaging Customers Using Social Media

• Websites for Small Business

• Team Leader Skill Set

• Introduction to Accounting

More here >> https://www.tafensw.edu.au/fee-free-short-courses

Covid-19 Announcement – Wednesday March 25

We want to begin by letting you all know that despite having our services suspended, we are STILL OPEN for business.

This doesn’t have to be lights out for your business, and its definitely not lights out for ours!! If you can trade through this period with retail it could make all the difference to your survival, and the survival of our economy.

We will continue to supply your products for as long as we can, and for as long as we have product, and you should also do the same.

Just because you can’t do treatments, now is not the time to lay down and let your clients shop at Mecca, Sephora, Department Stores, Pharmacies and Supermarkets. The last thing any of us want is to see is our Youngblood clients buying Nude by Nature from Priceline or seeing our Image clients buying Natio or Nivea from their local pharmacy.

Right now, our biggest competitors have the green light to sell inferior ranges to our clients…it is crucial that you don’t just give up and shut down for the next however long.

You need to be more competitive than ever and I don’t mean discounting competitive, I mean compete with your expertise and with your unsurpassed knowledge. Contact your clients and remind them that you are still here for them, offer virtual consultations and home deliver if you have too.

One of my favourite quotes is

"Circumstances don’t make the man (or woman) they reveal them."

The next 30, 60, 90 days will reveal what we are made of as entrepreneurs and as an industry. We have all worked too hard for too long, to let our businesses go without a fight!!!

Below is a graph of what happens if you do nothing. You want to be the blue line, not the red line, so the next steps you take could make all the difference.

Infographic credit to FBZ Financial. www.fbz.com.au

So, here is a list of the things you should be doing right now.

🤜 1. Talk to your team and stand them down

In these unprecedented times, we need to take actions we probably never thought necessary. It’s the most heartbreaking and horrible thing I have ever done, but due to the government shutting us down, you have rights to, and need to, stand your team down. They will need a letter stating this has happened so that they can apply for emergency income support. We will post a link where you can find this below – or I will just post the letter below.

🤜 2. Talk to your customers to let them know you can still supply them with product

Let them know that although you can no longer supply treatments and services, they can still get their products from you.

Retail stores are still allowed to be open, so that is what you should become. A place where people can still purchase their skincare, makeup, tanning, body products and internal beauty products.

If you can’t stay open, give them a way to do this online. Ask them to email you, or Facebook message you, or purchase from your website if you have one. Freight is still operating, so you can ship products, or in some areas, you may want to hand deliver them.

Make sure you stay on Facebook and continue to communicate with them during this time. Video your own home skincare routines. call everyone on your database to discuss designing at home skin care regimes to keep your clients looking and feeling their best during this time.

Make it fun and give them something to focus on while they are in lockdown. Be a source of support and happiness and laughter, and also a source of good healthcare advice (just make sure you only share advice from our Government's Dept of health). Let them know you are there for them and that you are in this with them. The more you do this, the faster you will recover when this is all over.

Do not roll over and hibernate. Now is the time for action and positivity. In fact, you need it now more than ever, so dig deep everyone, we are here with you doing the same.

🤜 3. Call your banks and landlords and request a mortgage or rental deferral

Just having that weight off you will help you to think straight during this time. We have done this today and received a 6 month holiday on our mortgages already. The banks are being very helpful, but you need to call them asap. Do not waste another day.

Your landlord should be receiving holidays from their mortgage too, which means a rent holiday for you. If anyone is being bullied by their landlord, let us know and we will see if we can assist with any advice from our legal team. Everyone is going through the same thing and the government has instructed the banks to be supportive, so make sure you ask for this.

🤜 4. Start planning

Use this time to plan for the next 6 months to take care of yourself, your families and your health, as well as your business. You need to know how you will best ride the wave that comes when we get to the end of this.

This is also where we can help, I will offer FREE online group coaching to any clients that want it over the next 6 months so that when the dust settles you are primed for the best year of your life.

Finally, as we have said before, we are in this together with you. The majority of our team is currently on stand down, and we are experiencing the exact same circumstances that we have outlined for you. However, we do have a small team that is here to process orders, ship orders and answer your questions. Due to a very reduced team, please be patient with our turn around times, your orders may take a little longer to get to you than normal. We may not answer the phones as quickly, so please don’t hesitate to email your orders through if you can’t get us on the phone straight away. We ARE HERE, and we will keep you posted if, and when anything changes.

We want you to know that our hearts are full of gratitude and love for you all. To you and your teams and our team, we will get through this. Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely road sometimes, so we want you to know that we are here to talk if you need it.

All our love, blessings and strength

Matt and Lisa xxx