By: Shepard Dunn, TPP Consultant, and Best Practice Group Facilitator
I woke the other day to a bright ray of sunshine beaming down through my bedroom window. It’s definitely Spring — rain tonight/tomorrow — then sunshine for a couple of days. Nature has already shown recovery from the Winter months of dormancy. Some of you are just now experiencing that Spring effect as well. Even with the stay at home orders of recent, my little town in SW Indiana does not appear to have heard that message. Lowe’s, Tractor Supply Chain, and Rural King are all extremely busy with those attempting to start or finish Spring to-do lists and new projects. Seems like a normal Spring to me, maybe with some new thrown in too. I have a hunch that those three big box brands have seen a significant increase in revenue in the last 30 days or so.
Much like Spring, as we all recover from the Winter Blues, so too are your businesses recovering from the COVID crisis. Many states are allowing business to get back to “normal” now, even if the new normal is different. My sense in talking with dozens of trucking companies, is that many have been working at close to normal Pre-COVID19 (PC19) levels. Although there of course are exceptions to normal. But what is normal in a Post-COVID19 world?
Many of you are truckload companies, whether small, medium, or large; you have your niches and that model has fed many families over the years. But what I have learned is that the more diverse your company is, the better your recovery is/will be. If you are in a niche market with little diversity, then “normal” may be good or not so good depending on the day. Is it time to find a new normal? That depends on what you want for your business. But I believe the successful companies now and into the future will have a new normal. Whether the new normal consists of remote workers, flexible schedules, flexible PTO time, Zoom meetings, Microsoft Team collaborations, diversity in freight, diversity in mode, hand sanitizer stations, masks, more trust in your people, accountability, and the list continues. The successful companies are the ones that have adapted, been flexible, had out of the box thinking in creating their new normal. What will your new normal be?
Stay safe,
Shepard Dunn
shepard@tcaingauge.com
812-887-9600