Is Your Business Future Human?
Today’s world is very different to yesterdays world of February 2020. Business has changed. Mindsets have changed. Habits have changed. Unless you make changes to your business - post-covid - I predict at some point you will at some point hit a wall.
March 10th 2020 I wrote an article for you called Generation Survival. I spent time thinking about it, observing the world and trying to figure out what the future of business would become and was becoming.
Plastic pollution was a huge influence. Recycling and creating a circular business. Now it seems all of that went out of the window and we spent a full year creating and throwing plastic waste back into the earth at levels never seen before.
But I think and as you can read a lot of that article was spot-on.
It talked about sustainability, zero-emissions, being circular and of course generation Greta.
Generation survival does this daily (this is generation Z and millennials - those 34 and under).
They are spending over 10.5 hours online.
They watch almost 80-100 videos a day.
They decide 8-seconds or less to stay or dump your marketing messages.
They can smell an inauthentic business rat in seconds.
They are spending over 44 billion-plus annually online.
Almost two-thirds of the purchases are now made online (more since COVID).
VIDEO AND FILM has risen four-fold
People are far more emotional
The previous drivers for buying have changed
And then around the same time, we began to receive news reports of a new virus appearing and then of course by March 23rd we entered lockdown 1.0 U.K.
In a year it seems as though everything has changed for business. Months, weeks and endless days being forced to close left a dark stain on the minds of most.
But that was then.
What is the future for business, jobs work and even life?
Lte’s have a look and solve the post-pandemic business problem here.
Are my march 10th ramblings still valid about cleaning the Earth and creating a business that is more sustainable?
This is an outtake from the United Nations on plastic waste since then…
The pandemic has led to a surge in pollution from disposable products like plastic face masks and hand sanitizer bottles. Effective trade rules can help limit the spread of coronavirus waste.
Coronavirus lockdowns around the globe have led to a dramatic 5% drop in greenhouse gas emissions, according to UNCTAD estimates, but not all measures to contain the pandemic have had a positive impact on the environment.
Our streets, beaches and ocean have been hit by a tidal wave of COVID-19 waste including plastic face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer bottles and food packaging.
“Plastic pollution was already one of the greatest threats to our planet before the coronavirus outbreak,” said Pamela Coke-Hamilton, UNCTAD’s director of international trade. “The sudden boom in the daily use of certain products to keep people safe and stop the disease is making things much worse.”
Global sales of disposable face masks alone are set to skyrocket from an estimated $800 million in 2019 to $166 billion in 2020, according to business consulting firm Grand View Research.
But this is only part of the story. Social distancing has also led to a flood of products delivered daily to homes – wrapped in a plethora of packaging – as people turn to online shopping and takeout services. The ensuing plastic waste is enormous.
For instance, during Singapore’s eight-week lockdown that eased on June 1, the island city-state’s 5.7 million residents discarded an additional 1,470 tons of plastic waste from takeout packaging and food delivery alone, according to a survey cited by The Los Angeles Times.
Historical data tell us that about 75% of coronavirus plastic will likely become waste clogging our landfills and floating in our seas. And the costs are staggering.
I think the use of the word staggering is a huge understatement. But … I wasn’t wrong in fact I was very right.
So what is next for our businesses?
Is Your Business Future Human Post Pandemic?
It has become more than clear that world governments are absolutely outdated in the way they solve problems. To grow, increase and explode your business after the pandemic needs a different approach.
To run and hide from a virus is a ridiculous concept whilst at the same time lockdown has created destruction on mass for businesses, jobs and the economy. Whilst those in power go from failed idea to failed solution people like you and me have to make sure we create a future that is sustainable.
Here is what I think.
Like it or not the world of business after the covid pandemic has changed everything. A NEW normal really is here - for the time being. What we know is normal will come back at some point but it won’t be normal like we were being used to.
For example, I read this week Cafe Nero have gone into voluntary IVA to try and avoid liquidation. Who would have thought that a company so huge could fold? Yet I have been writing about companies like those for a long time now. I am sure like most they will blame the pandemic for the loss yet the reality on the street is very different.
I like to go for a takeout coffee after I drop off my son at nursery. I go with my darling wife and we love our mornings having a minute to think and a coffee.
Their coffee and service just got worse and worse. They failed to understand the mind shift of the buyer during and post-covid. That mind shift has created a human that is more sensitive and demands and wants better ‘human’ treatment, better experience and wants to feel human. Just two weeks ago in Cafe Nero, they refused to serve me unless I scanned my phone. She wanted me out of the shop. I had to pretend to scan my phone to get a coffee. Then she looked at me with utter contempt.
Yet it seems to me most of the big companies are enjoying their COVID controls. They have FAILED to grasp the humanness of being human and have turned their businesses into strict robotic systems than can feel as though you are being processed. It’s very un-human.
For example, some of the big shops have now installed traffic light systems. Others have banned the shopping together of a husband and wife. Others have strict one-way systems. And others have encased their people inside large plastic boxes to keep humans at bay.
As you know and have experienced I could go on.
We Are Human - Your Customers Are Human!
The failure of big business (and most business) to make buyers feel human and good about life again is catastrophic for those businesses. They might be laughing now but longterm they will feel the effect.
Business after COVID is one massive opportunity for small businesses probably like never before.
I think it is worth saying that ANY future business post covid absolutely has to be human-focused. That raises the question of what is human?
Human is to be loved, feel wanted and cared for. Human is an emotion that has to be filled. Human is a moment where a business passes or fails. It can be that one moment where the expectation of being human is filled or drained.
The big opportunity for business is to find, source and fill the need of what it is to be human. That means that those that stop pretending to be saviours and keeping people safe and start to actually fill the need of a buyer.
Is it only me that wants to scream at the loudspeakers endlessly telling me how to stay safe whilst buying eggs?
If a buyer wants to feel truly safe they will shop online. Yet many of us still want to go into a shop and be human - interact with other human beings.
So how do you get up close and personal in a business world that is impersonal right now?
The Very Human Future
The future starts right now. You cannot control governments even when they can seem to be frustrating and frankly - just stupid. Yet today is the start of the future. What you do right now is what is coming tomorrow. Just because we are in a mess right now that doesn’t mean tomorrow isn’t coming. It is, and those that focus on the human experience are those that will build a busier stronger business post-pandemic.
How Does Your Post-Covid Business Future Look?
This has been a year where video has really come into its own. Of course, video online has always been a big thing, but 2020 has been a year where video viewing has gone through the roof.
Are you and your business using video and I mean real film in your post-pandemic world? This is an incredible time to film everything and invite your customers into your world.
Did you realise the age group from 34 and below consume over 100 videos per day? They want a video that teaches them or informs them.
That means you can invite them into your world via video right now - today. This will build trust and expertise and a relationship for the future. I have a list of at least 23 ways right in front of me on my wall that video can be used in your business. It’s a smart investment and can put your business on a whole new level when it comes to being human again.
I am so convinced of this as a future tool for the business part of our future here is to create a film studio that creates high-end video and film production. We are currently searching for the perfect location to do just that. In the meantime, our film company write, directed, produced and delivered our first business documentary during the pandemic.
During the pandemic as part of my forward looking business plan my company created a couple of films for clients.
The first was a film about a community pharmacy. The script was put together from the diary of the pharmacy owner. From this, we created a film I called THE OTHER FRONTLINE.
The whole purpose of this film was to show empathy, love and the caring nature of the business. It worked, the reviews were just incredible for the pharmacy. This is a documentary. A documentary for your business takes your audience behind the scenes and allows them to see the real people behind your business.
Here’s the trailer.
Another brilliant post-covid for a business tool is the biopic.
We created an incredible piece I named THE MEXICAN. The reviews and conversations created from this film were mind-blowing. I decided when creating the script to ask a few simple questions like …
What is a Mexican doing running a coffee house in Cheshire, England
Why is he here?
Who is he?
How did life bring him to this place so far from home?
Why is his coffee different?
What his angle?
The results were a ground-breaking biopic that his coffee buyers loved. Why?
Both films revealed that they are also human just like their customers. This is the post COVID world of business in full-bloom, this is the business owners saying we get it, we love you and we will look after you.
Here is the full film called THE MEXICAN. This is what we call a biopic.
Can you do that? Next week we are starting a shoot for another company that is created a biopic for their business. This will put their business into a whole new level.
Why?
It reveals the human and humanity behind the business. That is what you must deliver in the future. More humanity using media is being searched and reached. That media right now is video. But we took it one huge step further. Not just video but as you can see film quality that is good enough for a cinema. (note: we make all of our films from our other website over at Master And Man)
Another interesting statistic to appear is the rise of the need to speak to someone. Businesses have been frustrating their customers by failing to answers phones due to COVID-19. In other words (as you will have experienced) call any business, email any business and the reply is the same. Due to COVID-19, we are unable to answer your enquiry.
The Future For Your Business Must Involve More Human Contact.
Whether you use A.I. bots on your websites (this is grown exponentially) or put more people on the phones or email you MUST put this in place otherwise you will become less human and more part of the problem rather than the solution.
And of course, the volume of pollution that has been thrown back into planet earth is astonishing. Are you creating a circular, full vision, giving back more human business?
Once this period has passed (Covid-19) your customers are looking for more human businesses. This means you need to remove the barriers that are now in place and create a human-feeling business. A business that is an active part of moving society forward not holding society to a set of rules.
This is a time when thinkers will be more valuable than doers. The does are easy to get hold of. The thinkers are less easy to get hold of. The creatives, the ideas people the ones that can help you to refocus and plan the future. Do you have thinkers? Are you reading thinkers? Do you need thinkers?
If you simply carry on doing what you’ve always done you could at some point hit a brick wall. That could mean less. Less could also mean closure.
Yet …
From what I see and know this is one of the most incredible s times in history for any business to take their business to a whole new level. As long as
You look at things different
You do things differently
You tap into the minds of your customers
You focus on becoming a future human business
Your business after covid or post-pandemic can be the greatest business you have ever had. Will you make the changes?
Are Your Ready To Build a Post Covid Future Human Business?
Your businesses future can be its best ever, if you tune in and take time to become a human business you will be loved as you love and flourish as you deserve to flourish.
And yes… the web might be the place to do business, but nothing replaces real humans.
How human is your business or can your business become?
This is an incredible time to start your future today.
Would you like to speak to me about helping to create your future human business today?
Writing, creating, producing, directing and finishing your film.
Putting together a film channel dedicated to your business.
Putting your business story into a business book.
Getting future based ideas based on the human need rather the commercial want.
This is a time to future think about your business, your job and your ideas. This is a time to start your future human thinking.
Should we be working together?
Future Human Business Activist and Thinker.
The Thinking Consultant,
Alan Forrest Smith