Sometimes things go extremely fast…
Two weeks ago full of dismay I listened to a pair of entrepreneurs who saw their revenue decline with seventy percent due to a stationary factory in Wuhan. Now I experience the ultimate free fall with my own company: from hundred till zero. And despite this zero, which is seemingly the absolute bottom, everyday there is more bad news from countries that close their borders. Which, of course, makes it even harder for the travel industry to bounce back.
How do I deal with this corona crisis? With the sudden standstill?
In the face of this extreme shock, from hundred till zero, it would have been logical to recover for a while. Or to burst into anger. Or to be paralyzed. But despite the dramatic news I kept myself in the working mode. As in a classical sword duel I fully turned myself towards the ‘enemy’, the corona crisis, and with unabated energy I gulped the last available data. Result? Not much later I had drawn six scenarios for the immediate future of Doets Reizen.
Top priority in all these scenarios was contacting our customers that were about to go on holiday and bringing home safely the customers abroad who were threatened to be locked up by fresh, government corona restrictions. From the 9/11 crisis I learned that the base of my company, and perhaps that of every company, is the trust your customers have in you. And that money, revenue and the accounting balance sheet are simply the translation of that trust. So together with my great team we bit the bullit and began to contact our customers as soon as possible. At first that was a big blow for them, but eventually almost everyone was very appreciative about our action. You can find a heartwarming response below:
As an entrepreneur in the travel industry the corona crisis of course has given me stress and frustration. Due to the dazzling dynamics of the virus some of my scenarios were obsolete the moment I finished them. But constantly knowing where your company is all about – treat your customers with the best imaginable holiday and creating wonderful memories for them – and noticing that your customers recognize and appreciate your passion and effort, is a huge gift. Perhaps it’s the most beautiful ‘capital’ with which we passionately can rebuilt our company in the post-corona-era, although may be in a slimmed-down shape.
If the corona crisis teaches us one thing it’s how the world is in need for honest care and looking after each other, instead of big-bigger-biggest.