“Abnormal weather disrupts the operating and financial performance of 70% of businesses worldwide,” according to an article in the Harvard Business Review. In the same article, they also report that “every year, weather variability is estimated to cost $630 billion for the U.S. alone, or 3.5% of GDP.”
From the south to northeast, hurricane season is here, and like years before it promises to interrupt small businesses.
Are you prepared?
Even if your storefront isn’t near a large body of water, it’s likely that someone in your supply chain is. The power outages caused by severe weather can be devastating for businesses: from lost revenue to damaged customer and B2B relationships and unhappy staff.
Although the weather can’t be controlled, you can not only prepare your store and operations for hurricane season and other severe storms, but excel during this season.
Power Outages Can Be Devastating to Business Production
This is largely due to the fact that most small business assets are concentrated in one general location. If something happens to the headquarters, a business will likely be more damaged than a diversified corporation that spans across the United States, or even the globe. To put things simply, small businesses have more to lose.
If you are a business that relies on selling products to survive, a power outage can drastically impact your inventory. When the phones are down and the internet is disconnected, how can you communicate with manufacturers? How can you check inventory? Will you be able to receive shipments?
Manufacturing businesses can completely shut down due to extended power failures. This can create huge issues in product production and negatively impact your B2B relationships.
Having small business stand-by power eliminates the stress and disruption that can be caused by all of the above. It can save your business productivity and relationships during critical times.
Without a Back-Up, You Can Lose Loyal Customers During Severe Weather
When the power is out, you’re likely closed for business. Consistently closing your doors or indefinitely doing so, can severely impact your customer retention and loyalty. Over time, this will have an impact on your overall customer lifetime value.
Having the power out for days impacts your phone lines, internet connection, and other technology hardware.
Not being available for customers when they need you can cause them to have a bad experience. Not to mention that if the power fails suddenly, you can lose valuable customer data. Power outages can impact your digital marketing efforts, forcing you to send newsletters and emails late, creating an endless game of catch-up.
The good news is that having a generator for small business can create more opportunity for you to connect with your customers during a severe weather storm. While your competition is closed for business, you can thrive. Being open during storms while others aren’t not only gives you a competitive sales edge, it establishes you as a reliable company that the community can count on, rain or shine.
Don’t Lose Your Best Talent This Hurricane Season
Severe storms impact your ability to communicate with your employees, it can completely throw off your daily operational communications. Storms can keep employees from their jobs, and make it difficult to communicate schedules and hours.
If a business needs to be closed indefinitely, or your “open” and “closed” dates are inconsistent, you can bet that employees will start seeking new employment.
This can be devastating for any type of business, without employees how will the business function? This can be especially damaging to service-based businesses who rely on their staff to generate foot traffic and sell their skill set.
Most small businesses can’t afford multiple days with no power, which is why having a reliable generator during this season is so important.
Severe Weather Isn’t a Matter of If, But When
“The median cost of downtime for a small business affected by an extreme weather event is $3,000 per day. Small businesses’ physical assets tend to be more concentrated. For instance, a single building or factory could represent most of the book value of a small business whereas large businesses benefit from a greater level of geographic diversification.
Unfortunately, severe weather is only expected to increase in its frequency and severity. Multiple reports, including one from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, promise that climate change will continue to bring destructive weather patterns that will disrupt businesses.
But accepting this and creating an action plan will set your business apart when the storm does strike. Utilizing a small business generator can save you from the problems power outages can cause. They will help you stand out from your competition during times of instability, and will further the life of the company.
When you’re ready to purchase a generator, let us help!
Our full-service approach handles all phases of your project, from consultation and design to final inspection, including the generator unit, electrical, plumbing and permit submissions. Our turnkey approach will get the job done right.
We will continue to service and maintain your generator for as long as you’d like us to. If you ever need to reach us, we’ll pick up, even on holidays. We offer 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a- week service to our customers. Guaranteed.
Give us a call, and you’ll see right away that Greenwich Power Systems offers customer service and quality generators that will put your mind at ease.