Planning Can Make a Difference When the Worst Happens
This is a very personal post. My home in Horseshoe Beach Florida has been destroyed, as most homes here were, by Hurricane Helene. I learned a lot from the experience, some of which applies to business as well.
People first
First, taking care of people is job one. You can rebuild your business, and as an owner, you may have the resources to do it. But your employees, who are probably reliant on their salary as their sole source of income, may be devastated for months. Helping them prepare for the unexpected by developing an emergency fund, preparing a crisis plan, and building resiliency before a category 4 storm is imminent is one of the most important things you can do.
Even if your business survives, you may not have any customers for a while. It might be months before they begin to rebuild and need your products or services, but you can use the downtime to create a plan for delivering what they need as efficiently as possible. Sourcing supplies and equipment from other parts of the country will be a priority.
Back up your data
It’s hard to sell your business without data to show a buyer. This includes a history of revenue and expenses, vital customer information, vendor contracts, employment and maintenance agreements, and anything else that tells the story of your business and its performance.
Having data to show eases buyer anxiety and increases their comfort level. An act of God can expose your business deficiencies in an instant. Embrace technology and store your data in the cloud. If you don’t know what that is, I’m talking to you!
You have to ask yourself, without your data, do you really have a business to sell?
Make a temporary or redundant office
Our office was without electricity for days, and the roads were blocked. Fortunately, we just needed a Wi-Fi signal and our laptops, and we were back in business. Our team was scattered, but we made it work. It wasn’t without its challenges, but business continued.
Admittedly, that’s harder for an HVAC company with trucks and warehouses, but do the best you can. I know some owners were encouraging their techs to take home their work vans. That’s not a perfect solution, of course, but it’s better than having your whole fleet taken out with one mudslide, like what happened in Western North Carolina.
Even if you can’t do business right now, respond to customers via phone or email if you can. Let them know their business is important, and you’ll get to them as soon as you can. Be honest and forthcoming. I know from personal experience that people genuinely want to help, and they’ll wait for you if they can.
Stay Positive
During a crisis, it’s easy to hang your head, but do yourself a favor and be the bright light others can look to for inspiration. Business is nothing more than filling a void in the market and charging a fair rate for your services. You still have a group of people with skills and experience. Concentrate on getting them back to work.
I recently sold a business in the Panhandle of Florida that was devastated by a hurricane. They picked up the pieces and came back the next year to have the best year in company history because of all the demand in the area.
Be the solution
If you’re fortunate enough to escape disaster when it comes your way, others may not be. Think about what you can do for the community that has supported your business for years, even if it’s simply reaching out to others going through it. Rally your team. See what you can do to use your equipment and connections to be the solution to someone’s problem. Maybe that’s clearing a road with a front-end loader and chainsaws or delivering bottled water. There’s no business reason here (although people will remember); it’s about helping your fellow neighbor and being a good human.
Buyers have short memories
If you are thinking about selling your business in the next year or two and you’re located almost anywhere in the Southeast, this storm will be on every buyer’s mind. Lenders and insurers, as well. Even if you weren’t in the direct path of the storm, the threat of something like this happening again will raise everyone’s risk aversion and might well affect the value of your company. This monster storm had monster implications for almost a third of the country. That said, things will return to normal, and soon.
Even though I’ve lost much, I feel incredibly lucky. My loved ones are all safe and accounted for, and I’m experiencing the kindness of friends and the community members who are selflessly working to help each other through what is probably the worst week of their lives.
If your business has been affected by the storm, here’s a link to the SBA’s guide to business recovery planning. Stay safe and be kind to each other.
About the author: Patrick Lange
Patrick Lange is an experienced HVAC-specific business broker with Business Modification Group based in Madison, Florida. He has a unique background in financial planning and has even owned an HVAC business himself. This makes him well-suited to working with some of the country’s most successful HVAC business owners. He specializes in companies with 1-10 million dollars in revenue and maintains a network of buyers and sellers in the industry. He sells a record number of HVAC businesses every year.
