This post is sponsored by Premera Blue Cross.
Every year at the beginning of Q1 I assess my businesses for areas of improvement and success. A few of the questions I ask myself are where were we successful last year, where can we improve, how can we serve our customers better, and how can we meet the needs of our team members? When taking inventory of 2020, I think there were several positives but also key lessons that we can use to position ourselves to grow fast in 2021. I recently had the opportunity to partner with Premera Blue Cross and read their white paper on the resilience of businesses after 2020. The information provided in the white paper combined with my personal assessment of my business lead me to share 2 ways to grow your business fast in 2021.
2 Ways to Grow Your Business Fast in 2021
1. Adapt or Be Left Behind
At the beginning of the Pandemic, one of our major customers temporarily closed their doors and were no longer placing orders. We were also dealing with increasing stress from our employees about working so closely with each other. With both our customers and our employees we were forced to adapt to be successful. We explored and invested time and money into new vertical markets that allowed us to recoup a portion of the income that we lost. When our existing customers reopened we still had the additional revenue streams that positioned us for exponential growth at the end of 2020. According to the Premera Blue Cross white paper, it is important to support employees with clear expectations and appreciation. It is vital to continue to have open lines of communication in order to better understand new ways to be supportive. Employees are working harder than ever to adapt to an ever-changing work environment and working from home even simple text messages or words of appreciation go a long way to let team members know that they are valued.
2. Find Ways to Alleviate Stress
When I ask myself how can we serve our customers better and how can we meet the needs of our team members a recurring theme in 2020 was ways to manage stress. Many of our customers are frontline workers and their bandwidth was stretched even more thinly than before. We took the time to completely reevaluate our order process to streamline and simplify the customer experience so that we could make our customers' lives easier and alleviate stress. During the height of the pandemic, we worked hard to allow for flexible work schedules, additional paid sick leave even to care for family members or children and being more relaxed with deadlines.
The Premera Blue Cross white paper suggests adding virtual therapy to your benefits package if one is offered. 22% of their respondents said behavioral health was one of their 3 most important health benefits. Affordable therapy with licensed therapists via video, text, and audio can be found through companies like Talkspace. Premera customers pay the same copay amount that they would for in-person sessions and self-service plans are billed monthly on a subscription/no-contract basis as low as $260 a month for therapist interactions up to 5 days a week.
As we start 2021 we realize that more than 20% of workers say they would consider changing jobs for better healthcare benefits. We are evaluating ways to offer better healthcare options to our employees as a way to alleviate the stress associated with their health. It is also great to find ways to help employees improve physical health.
Our company offers an incentive program that we will cover employee health club expenses as long as they use the membership 8 times a month. Premera Blue Cross suggests finding a local or digital fitness partner to offer at-home workouts to employees.
If you would like to check out Premera’s latest white paper about Post-Pandemic Business Resilience to learn how Premera Blue Cross business solutions can make a difference for you and your valued employees, you can find it here. It provides tips and 5 things you can do to support your employees.
Thank you Premera Blue Cross for partnering with me on this post.
Do you have any extra tips on how to grow your business? Let me know in a comment below!
