Assessing the Outlook for Staff and Clients

For those businesses that are now starting to wake from hibernation after the extended period of lockdowns, and especially for those such as event halls that have a more protracted and drawnout return to full capacity, it is important to carry out an assessment on several important aspects of the business: the staff—how many of them are expected to return to work and how many new staff members will need to be hired; the clients—making sure to keep in close contact with regular clients while working to bring in new ones; and suppliers—retaining close ties with them to ensure a steady and reliable partnership. Establishing these parameters is a vital anchor to ensure stability.

At the same time, it is important to keep a close eye on the cash flow, until it begins to stabilize and orders begin to return to pre-COVID levels. If there are any shortfalls—schedule a meeting with your banker to discuss the needs of your business and to make it up as quickly as possible. Another important tip is to shift to online bookings, so that the client can see exactly when there are free dates in the venue’s website and book them for their event, and as soon as the order comes in, a representative from the venue can call them back to arrange a meeting to finalize the details.

The writer is the branch manager at the Petach Tikva branch of Bank Hapoalim