Without daily personal interaction and physical connection, we can often feel unsettled and disconnected. And it’s easy to lose control and direction in your business life when you feel detached from your normal patterns.

Who knew that all those quick on-the-go meetings, lunch breaks, trips to the kitchen, and post-work drinks were actually helpful in sharing news, ideas, feedback, and information?

So, we asked Merlin’s managers for their top tips on how to keep in the loop at this time of global crisis. How to make sure YOU remain connected and in control with what’s happening in your business or department at this time?

Our top tips for keeping in the know

1 Make sure you receive regular KPI reports on your business which will flag up any issues. And make your reports are simple and easy to read.

2 Ensure you have a cash flow projection and keep it updated in order to plan properly.

3 Use this opportunity to think of your business structure, revenue streams and processes. See what you could change in order to adapt to the new reality. Is there a structure that would work better or be more efficient? What new ideas can we come up with to increase revenue, decrease costs and improve the quality of the product or service Provided? Do not be afraid to ask your staff.  They have good ideas too!  

4 Work with your suppliers and customers on debt collection and supplier payments.  It doesn’t help to demand payment from customers and not pay suppliers.  This will simply ruin your reputation. And your suppliers are businesses too with real people working for them.  Not paying them, negatively impacts on them and their staff.  None of this crisis is of our making and we should all work together to help and support each other through this.  Empathy goes a long way.

5 Keep up to date on what assistance there is from the government for your staff and your company.  Some of this information can be very complicated, so help and support your staff by educating them on what is available to them. 

6 Use social media monitoring tools to find out what your customers, competitors, press, and suppliers are saying about you across the different platforms. Reputation is everything at this time and these tools will help you monitor conversations you won’t find by yourself.

7 Check out sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google My Business and Facebook reviews. With more time on their hands, your customers might be heading to their keyboards and you need to be available to answer and manage their comments.

More top tips

8 Ask your owners, guests and employees for their feedback and they will tell you. Send regular, short surveys through email or SMS covering areas of business you need clarity. Learn about their experiences with you.  Are they satisfied?  What are their expectations?  Would they recommend you?  How much effort does it take to deal with you? Then get ready to act on the results.

9 Allocate time for one-on-one chats with team members, sharing good news and new ideas. This builds relationships and helps you and the individual team members get a better understanding of the business strategy.  It also allows you to learn things that don’t necessarily come out in general conversation.

10 Trust your team and allow them to be creative. There are always risks in business, but the biggest risk is not trusting your team. This is a perfect opportunity for management to evaluate their skills and improve where necessary.

11 It seems easy but make the effort to stay in touch with each other by whatever means available. Understand their circumstances, know their focus, and find out what they are able to deliver and then support them. Don’t underestimate the importance of consideration.

12 Keep communicating on a two-way basis and encourage a culture that allows everyone to share new ideas, add their input and participate, especially if you have an intercultural business environment.

13 Take the opportunity to keep yourself informed by reading and updating your skills with online courses. Not only will this improve your performance at work but will help you should the worst happen.

14 Hold a monthly “State of the Union” with stakeholders. Hearing a consistent voice from the CEO, sharing their perspective on the current status and the future is important and keeps everyone moving in the same direction. Celebrate successes, lay out challenges, propose next steps and reinforce the vision.

15 Use the right platforms/apps to keep connected. Use WhatsApp or SMS to send quick messages or voice texts with information. Research shows people are more likely to read or listen to this media than open an email.

How can Merlin Software help?

We hope you found these tips helpful. Now it’s time to act.

Merlin Software provides resorts with a wealth of functionality to listen to their customers, account and monitor their operations and report their activities. This has been built based on years of direct experience working at resorts in every department. To find out more request a demo of our software or contact the team directly.

Have any tips of your own? We’d love to hear them. Just add them to the comments below.