A letter from Gravy CEO, Casey Graham:
Those red arrows the media’s showing on the news are only going to get worse. Bad news abounds.
I'm not a scientist or economist, but I wanted to give you my take on this bad news and how this affects us all.
We’re dealing with 3 separate issues right now. And to make it worse, we’re dealing with them all at once.
1. Pandemic Virus
2. Small Business Crisis
3. Capital Markets Recession
This is unprecedented because of the 3 for 1. Let's take a deeper look at this reality.
The Pandemic will come and go. It's terrible, but it's short-term. If China could get it under control, and Wuhan is back working, we can, too. We are simply on a lagging timeline.
Small Business Crisis
The Small Business Crisis is affecting the business operations of many physical locations. This is clear.
What isn't clear is the mental impact it's having on small businesses in general.
Last week, I put my phone number on LinkedIn, and over 50,000 people read my post. I took phone calls from random small business owners in crisis. The common factor was their industry was affected through people not being able to leave home.
- The headhunter for the construction industry for government projects had zero work.
- The event company that does video production for large scale events is devastated.
The common factor was people aren't going anywhere. This means the small business effect so far is based upon one factor: Industry.
Enter Gravy's market of Online Education and SaaS companies. I've talked with more clients via text and phone call than I have in a long time.
The words I hear from them are: "We haven't seen much difference in sales up or down. They are remaining steady."
They have said, "We’re seeing a small amount of people email in and ask to be released from their payment plan because this affects them."
The customers using COVID-19 as a reason to cancel payment plans and subscriptions are currently localized and not widespread.
I spoke with 7-10 people on our Client Success team yesterday, and they said they’re seeing a little bit of this — but nothing widespread.
I expect this to remain the same.
One of the biggest learnings I can share is to NEVER make reactionary business decisions based on actions of less than 5% of the crowd.
Bottom line: Gravy processed 167,547 customer emails last week, and less than 1% were COVID-19 related.
If you are in the Online Education or SaaS space right now, you are perfectly positioned to keep moving business as usually.
Why does this matter?
You do not need to put out sweeping customer policies of "You get free membership." It's more prudent to handle those situations one-to-one.
And this is where the power of Gravy comes in. We are on top of every single request, every single conversation. Every single time.
We at Gravy are committed to being recession accelerated and an "Ear to the Ground" on your market. We are committed to bubbling our learnings up to you. Every single time.
The Capital Markets
Now, the bigger issue...
The Capital Markets. This is the Macro Economy.
We will tumble further into recession. You will hear, "They cut 200 people," and "They fired 50% of their workforce."
When you hear that, you need to look a little deeper. What does that company do or what do their clients/customers do?
The headlines will show fear without giving you context that a shipping company may cut 100 workers — but that's because they are warehouse workers with nothing to ship because they serve the restaurant industry.
So, suspend your fear when you hear things like that. It doesn't mean it's not real; it's just not always relevant.
Your brain is actually wired for one thing: Your Survival.
So, it will look for any reason to be afraid. The news media will spin your entire existence into survival mode during the recession.
This is not how Gravy will act.
So, What Does This Mean?
In Summary, the recession is here to stay, and we at Gravy will continue to operate off the Recession Acceleration Framework.
We are committed to steady growth through this time. After the panic leaves, we will still be here to help recover payments and retain customers.
We will be here with a message of empathy.
People want humans, not robots, during a crisis.
We are the Revenue Red Cross.
#BuiltForThis
We will be here to help save revenue and customers for businesses — with dignity and respect.
We are #BuiltForThis.
We have the opportunity to be the light in your world.
We have the opportunity to go in for you when everyone is going out.
We have the opportunity to create for you and not complain.
We have the opportunity to be fulfilled through service to you.
We have the opportunity to remain calm for you in the crisis.
I tell my family this: "You get to choose your attitude, energy and effort in any situation. Those are free. Those are a choice."
Who you are will be revealed through this.
Who we are will be revealed.
Gravy is #BuiltForThis because the people of Gravy were built for you.
We are Gravy, and we are here to serve you.
Your friend,
Casey Graham
CEO of Gravy
PS - We want you to know you can accelerate through this recession, too. We are here to help. Book a free Recession Acceleration Call where we will coach you one-on-one through revenue retention and churn prevention in this crisis. #BuiltForThis
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