We’ve all spent the last few months learning new things, whether we’ve wanted to or not. Parents have become teachers, just about everyone I know has taken up bread baking, and we have finally begun to recognize the critical importance of the people who keep food on our store shelves and who care for our loved ones. This has been a season of education by Youtube (although sadly, I still haven’t mastered moonwalking.) For the business community it’s been a time of fear and uncertainty. It’s also been a time of triumph for some businesses who were either in the right place at the right time, or who have created the right place and the right time to do something different and important to help
As the country slowly emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials warn that we are not yet back to normal. In fact, normal may well be a very far way off. That said, provincial governments are announcing strategies to open businesses, get people back to work and breathe some life into some very hurting economies. It’s a balance. Canadians’ health must be top priority, but their livelihoods – and the sustainability of their employers – is also important. So, as businesses slowly get back to business, most taking a staged approach, owners and operators may have a few things to consider in the weeks and months to come. Many employees were laid off in March and April, the blow softened
Face to face networking has become a major part of our day to day interactions. Whether it comes in the form of a location cold call, a lunch or coffee meet up with a client or a business to business networking group, we are all accustomed to shaking hands and getting to know each other quickly by reading facial expressions, social cues and exchanging cards. Sadly, those cues won’t be part of our business or sales toolbox for at least the foreseeable future. So what now? How do we move forward? In the short term most business associations have moved into large format networking zoom-like calls. This allows the participants to at least continue meeting with each other, catching up and connect
