With Carbon County going green and the Poconos not too far behind, it’s “off to the races” for business.

The Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corp. recently hosted a webinar of the same name presented by Rick Franzo, CEO of Coach of the Poconos.

Franzo began by saying that whenever there is a crisis, there are three psychological phases most people go through. The first phase is dealing with the emergency, setting clear goals, taking action quickly.

The second phase is regression. The initial shock of the emergency is over, so with the calmness comes a loss of the sense of purpose. A little further down the road, and the mind begins to shift into thoughts of recovery and changes to moving on, he said.

“All of this is a normal reaction,” Franzo said.

In this third phase, business professionals should have been thinking about networking, as well as noting the lessons they’ve learned from the crisis. For instance, now knowing what areas they were not prepared. It’s also a good time to think of new ways to do business and look for opportunities to branch out.

“There’s always something that you can do, whether it is thinking of new strategies, whether it is marketing,” he said. “You’re never helpless, and it’s really never hopeless. That’s really what the message of today is.”

Franzo went on to provide strategies for ramping up after reopening. He said to think about “your unique selling proposition or your unique value proposition.”

“It’s almost like your 30-second commercial,” he said. “It circles back to why you do what you do, how you do what you do, and what it is that you do. It really leads the conversation to engaging people into being interested in the value of the product or service that you offer.”

When the figurative gates open, it’s time for “Ready, Set, Go,” Franzo said. This is when a business puts into action its recovery strategies, plan development, and testing and exercises. It’s important to write down the plans on how to recover and reconstitute the business, assign tasks to leaders in the company, and train employees on new processes.

Next 90 days

Once open, the next 90 days are important for communicating with the public about the business, it’s new products, and new ways of doing business, and for cultivating relationships with customers, vendors and other businesses.

“Relationships are part of the sales process,” he said.

Franzo explained that relationships are like a bank account in that a person puts in time and invests in the relationship, and that investment should help the business to grow.

He also recommends making sure the business has a mission statement and a vision statement, which are not the same thing. Look at the finances - where it was before the crisis and where it is going in the future, and look at key performance indicators. Make a plan for how the business is going to handle the next crisis.

Franzo asked the attendees if their companies are more prepared now due to the crisis.

Jacqueline Gallagher, a staff accountant at Buckno, Lisicky and Co. in Lehighton, said, “I think the transition will be more manageable now that we’ve been through it once. Expectations have already been set.”

She suggested doing a business impact analysis and find out what are the business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Franzo also suggested making sure that employees know how to pickup the slack for other employees. This will enable better change and maintenance of the business’s management plan.

Lessons learned

As the webinar was wrapping up, he asked the attendees what they learned from the COVID-19 crisis.

Kathy Ruff, owner of Total Business Services, said she thinks it really emphasized the importance of not procrastinating and instead prioritizing.

“Define your strength and weaknesses,” said Pamela Arner, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Real Estate, and let someone better at certain tasks take them over. “Focus on what brings in money.”

Ruff summed up the crisis by saying, “I think we’re living in a new world and need to keep some of the changes we’ve incorporated moving forward. This will keep us fluid, prevent additional stress and keeps us productive.”