While I know many businesses do this, clients should never be at the top of your planning list! Think about it… even given the events of recent weeks, without a solid business and a supportive team in place the clients would not have access to the support and guidance that they have so desperately needed!
Business and team come before the clients every day of the week!
So, what’s needed when disaster does strike?
The business and those who lead it!
‘Mud’ rolls down hill and if those at the top of the food chain start to lose their nerve in any event the whole thing will fall apart. Confidence and leadership have to come from the top. A strong focus and vision from those who are steering the ship through choppy waters will pay dividends in the long term. This of course assumes that those steering the ship have the skills, abilities and attributes to do so! A focus on the direction of travel and a perfectly designed plan which has been coherently communicated will kick start every business continuity and disaster recovery plan.
A client and friend of mine, David Braithwaite, who runs Citrus Financial in Tonbridge, Kent, was skiing for a friend’s 50th birthday in February 2016.
His first day in Austria was a perfect day for skiing. As he went to put in the first turn of the trip, then the second, he caught an edge. His right ski clipped off, but the left one didn’t. After what can only be described as his best midair ski performance in his life, he found himself spinning one way while his left ski stayed where it was, firmly dug into the snow. Along with his foot in the ski boot that was still attached.
The long and the short of it was David severely broke his leg/ankle, with a spiral fracture to both his tibia and fibia. After two operations he found himself bed bound for nearly nine weeks.
How did he get on? Well as you would expect being a client of mine, he had a great business, a well-structured and awesome team, well-rounded clients who were not obsessed with seeing and speaking only to him, a phone and a laptop! What more could he need?
“I had no choice but to see how good things really were with the business and team. Yet – they took over. They more than managed. They more than coped. They stepped up and as a result they had their best month ever in March 2016 despite me being in bed for most of it!”
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