General Recommendations, Tips, & Insight:
The SBA is administering $50 billion of disaster recovery loans that were just authorized by the federal government for businesses impacted by CoVid-19. See more detail on the program here.
If your small business has been impacted by CoVid-19, fill out this survey so the mayor’s office and county judges can aggregate the data and report to the governor. By understanding the impact the governor can make the disaster recovery funds available.
COVID-19 General Information and Resources:
• CDC: Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers
• Federal Government: Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Your Health
• Economic Insights from global consulting firm McKinsey & Company: Implications for business
• FDIC: Encourageing financial institutions to take prudent steps to assist customers and communities
• CFO Network: Recession Readiness
From the State
On 3/18, Gov. Hutchinson announced plans to allocate $12 million from the Community Development Block Grant fund and $4 million of the Quick Action Closing Fund to aid affected businesses during this time of crisis.
For questions about Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the Quick Action Loan Program, and other business assistance, contact us by email or phone:
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Phone: 501-682-1121 or toll-free: 1-800-ARKANSAS
ALL BUSINESSES: Publish immediately on your website home page and on your social media platforms (pinning the post to the top) information about your current business’ operations continuing and the manner and days and hours, and if you are a brick and mortar public business what cleaning processes and delivery processes you are offering or implementing to keep your environment safe to reassure customers. Also, post direct methods for customers to contact you quickly via phone or email.
If you plan to start using non-company titled vehicles for customer deliveries (such as owner or employee personal vehicles) be sure that you contact your insurance provider for coverage confirmation.
Tips for Restaurants:
• Highly consider utilizing EasyBins, Luncher, UberEats, GrubHub, Waitr, and/or DoorDash for home delivery of meals.
• EasyBins is an incredible company local to NWA and Central Arkansas. They have already built great relationships with some of Arkansas’ most respected local food brands, like Wrights Barbeque. Check them out here.
• Another incredible and trusted local delivery option is Luncher, reach out to them here.
• Consider offering delivery of items to customers’ cars in the parking lot to them from staff wearing sterile gloves to ease their worries. Show them posts of staff wearing gloves and list on your social media and website measures you are taking to ensure safe practices in your establishment, such as constant cleaning practices.
• Consider removing some dining tables and chairs and spacing dining tables further apart from one another and publicizing this. Less seating yes, but this may encourage more people to venture out to restaurants if they can be spaced away from others.
• Have sanitizing, disposable wipes on all the tables customers to clean utensils with themselves if they wish.
• Have sanitizing, disposable wipes out in the bathrooms for customers to use opening, locking and closing doors and to use when touching sink handles and toilets.
• Publicize on social media with photos of customers in the restaurant, of you implementing new safe practices, and you and your staff smiling and operating the business on social media to remind people you are open.
• Refer to the digital marketing tips below!
Tips for Retail Companies:
• Consider offering delivery of items to customers’ cars in the parking lot, or home delivery of items from staff wearing sterile gloves to ease their worries. Show them posts of staff wearing gloves and list on your social media and website measures you are taking to ensure safe practices in your establishment, such as constant cleaning practices.
• If you don’t have an online ecommerce presence, it’s not too late. We highly recommend Shopify. You do not need to have coding skills; it’s simply drag and drop. Additional options include SquareSpace, Wix, and Weebly. Upwork is a great resource for finding assistance with building your online presence (website, digital marketing, etc). For certain less complicated tasks, Fiverr can also be helpful.
• Have sanitizing, disposable wipes on all the tables customers to clean utensils with themselves if they wish.
• Have sanitizing, disposable wipes out in the bathrooms for customers to use opening, locking and closing doors and to use when touching sink handles and toilets.
• Publicize on social media with photos of customers in the store, of you implementing new safe practices, and you and your staff smiling and operating the business on social media to remind people you are open.
• Refer to the digital marketing tips below!
Tips for Professional Service Providers (insurance agents, attorneys, consultants, accountants, etc.):
• Consider bringing on extra staff to help contact customers for helping them set up video conferencing at their homes and rescheduling their meetings with you to assist you with your calendar changes.
• Offer to meet customers in the parking lot of your office to retrieve required signed documents.
• Post on your social media outlets you and your staff conducting these phone and video conferences and that you are continuing to “do business”.
Tips for Home Care Providers (house cleaning, painting, construction, yard services, etc.)
• Consider contacting customers to confirm that they still will allow you to come to their homes for regularly scheduled appointments and offer to be flexible to change the schedules to times when they can be away from the home while you are there, evidence to them that you will be wearing gloves and are willing to wear lightweight surgical masks while performing duties in their homes if they wish.
• Publicize on your social media these offerings of new flexible options.
Consider these Tools & Tips for Communications:
• Slack
Now is not the time to stop digital marketing. Here are some resources:
• How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan
Need no-cost advisory support?
In NWA, schedule a meeting here.
In Central Arkansas, schedule a meeting here.
We are still meeting with clients over conference calls and Zoom
Proximity
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Engage with your customer from a social distance of six-feet away;
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Reduce occupancy so customers can spread out;
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Ask people to wait outside if lines are long;
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Offer drive-thru, pick-up, or curbside service.
Remove self-service items from tables and to-go stations. Examples below. Offer these upon customer request:
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Salt/pepper shakers;
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Condiment bottles;
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Napkins;
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Unwrapped straws;
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Stir sticks;
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Utensils, tongs;
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Stacks of to-go cups and lids;
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Bar nuts and pretzels;
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To-go breath mints;
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Toothpick dispensers.
Extra cleaning and sanitizing:
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Do not reuse towels to wipe down tables or clean;
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Sanitize handheld and shared back-of-house items such as pitcher handles, beer taps, espresso machine handles and knobs, soda buttons, spigots, etc.;
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Sanitize all handles and knobs in front-of-house and back-of-house areas;
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Sanitize and wipe both customer and staff payment and ordering screens/buttons;
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Wipe down table, booths, seat arms and backs, etc., after each customer;
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Ask customers if they would like a menu and then sanitize after each use or use paper menus and recycle;
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Don’t use bill presenter folders or trays;
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Keep a limited number of pens available and sanitize after each use;
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Constantly sanitize doors (entrances, walk-ins, etc.).
Witnessing price gouging?
Understand Arkansas’s Price Gouging Law
Report Price Gouging/File a Consumer Complaint with the Attorney General’s Office
