helping companies in times of crises

We provide specialized services that can help you and your company during this crisis.

As crises are impactful challenges, maybe useful to offer you some insights in what I learnt from crises and wish to share.

– I've learned this the hard way and in practice. My first crisis management experience was in the 1987-1995 crisis. After 9/11 my agencies and I served suffering airline companies, and other travel related industries. During the 2008-2010 crisis, we served clients; small business and corps, in real estate, construction, publishing, travel, food, agricultural industry, medical, retail, animal health and other industries that were hit. Some of them even became industry cornerstones in changed circumstances after the crisis.

I can share at least one aspect in general; act in order to adapt, because when things get worse (hopefully not), you’ll awake in shock and anxiety will take over the steering wheel (and anxiety is quite a dangerous driver). 

There's no such thing as a handbook or user manual 'How to deal with the crisis of today' because every business situation is different, and every crisis has its own characteristics. So be careful when making decisions based on general theories.

With this in the backs of our minds, I felt free to offer some very general guidelines;

• Embrace positive creative thinking. Keen creativity and an open mind are safer than stubborn rules written in a context that is no longer the reality of today. 
• Ask for help, advice, ideas... ‘A wise man asks a wiser man the answer he can’t find’ (Chinese proverb). No questions or requests to anyone of whatever status or position are crazy or dumb (and everyone should be willing to help at least with an answer to the best of his or her abilities). Don't take advice blindly, trust your intuition, not you fears.
• Make basic decisions in an early stage Put all resources you can find in your warchest. When you can’t decide because too many factors are still unknown (which is often the case), decide that change (adapting to new circumstances) is the plan anyway, gather all information you can get, and steer in the new course of change-to-circumstances.
• Communicate diligently (the opposite of making erratic noise); with your markets, customers, personnel, suppliers, financial partners,... 
• Don’t (never) hit the brakes all over sudden and quit. Others will crash into you.

In many cases, the current Covid-19 crisis is the challenge of pivoting your operational business to online, digital and alternative operations. As this can be challenging, we offer advice, ideas and all additional service to stand out within the your specific business personality. To make this affordable we even offer a full 'Help Exponent Life Line' in case you want to do it yourself without losing the marketing power of distinct professionalism.

We Help.

Rik Raats

rik@raats.com

+1 559 280 1448