The contagiousness of COVID-19 combined with its mortality rate has made it more worrisome than recent pandemics.
Reducing direct contact between people is a fundamental way to control a viral outbreak which, I am sure, everyone knows at this point.
In practical terms, unless the virus runs its course and disappears, any sort of personal contact is a risk.
Having said that, as an industry group we’re recommending that membersshift more sessions to their TPAPT web tutoring platform. For others, we recommend using any web-conferencing software with which you are comfortable.
For those still hesitant to embrace web-delivery, it is squarely time to shift frames. Beyond the public health piece of this, we are months away from the ACT going digital with SAT set to follow.
But I digress…beyond using web-based delivery, here are some practical recommendations for leading your team in the weeks and months ahead:
1. Shift from a “revenue generating” paradigm to a “revenue retention” paradigm. If COVID-19 is as pervasive as it is projected to be, refund requests are likely to mount and a refund is more costly than a lost sale. Think about that.
2. Get ahead of client concerns. Create multiple options for clients to freeze, postpone, reschedule or shift their tutoring to web-sessions.
3. Although refunding unused sessions or worse yet, pre-paid sessions can be deflating, it may be necessary. You have to be okay with that and immediately create a plan to manage your cash-flow and accounts payable.
4. If you cannot reschedule or deliver sessions via web and clients insist on money back, give it to them and set a future consultation date in the calendar to revisit the original education plan.
5. Communicate honestly and openly with your team, solicit their ideas noting that public health is the number one priority and actively managing the impact to the business, number two.
Remember, managers do things right; leaders do the right things.
6. Let your clients know what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what the plan is.
