Mike Clark's Business Bites: Navigating traffic lights and customers

There are now legal requirements in New Zealand to treat vaccinated people differently to unvaccinated people. Photo / Unsplash

How are you managing the Covid-19 traffic light system? Have you considered how it affects your clients? What will you do differently?

Ochre Arts lies somewhat hidden in Shop 2 The Gap 101, along Broadway Ave. During an engaging conversation with Ochre owner Carla Woollaston, she shared an idea I found so innovative I asked to share it.

"In the midst of challenge lies opportunity" is an oft-quoted statement when one's world devolves into chaos. With this logic, one can only reason this current landscape must be strewn with opportunities, considering the many challenges Covid has presented.

I have written a lot about having market segments and segmenting your clients through the creation of target client profiles/client personas. This enables marketing calendars to then be drawn up to reflect how you will manage your ABC clients, sometimes called gold, silver, bronze clients.

The purpose of doing this is to help companies allocate their resources, particularly their financial and time resources. Ideally, a business wants to balance its investment of resources into clients to align with the focus of investing in current clients and securing new clients.

The challenge the new traffic-light system creates is it potentially adds new layers of division to a company's client base. There are now legal requirements in New Zealand to treat vaccinated people differently to unvaccinated people - reinforced with fines of up to $15,000 for non-conforming businesses.

This is where Carla saw an opportunity within a challenge you might be able to draw inspiration from. The law lays out parameters for vaxxed and non-vaxxed, clearly allowing for organisations to accommodate their people, for example our church does an 8.30am service that does not require a vaccine pass and then does a thorough clean before the next service open to those with vaccine passes.

Upon reflection, Carla realised that within her client base there are three groups - the third being people who are vaccinated but vulnerable. She realised she needed to do something for them. Her solution, which we were discussing, was around having an early opening by appointment for vaccinated and vulnerable clients who would be able to shop knowing the shop was open only for them.

Later in the day, segments could then be designated to accommodate clients who only wanted to shop in places they felt safe (i.e. with other vaccinated people) and lastly be open for all including the unvaccinated.

There are a lot of different ideas, views, opinions and beliefs. As business owners, our job is not to judge people whose views might be different but to serve them. There is an opportunity to contact your clients and let them know what you can do for them. Co-create ideas and solutions with your team, suppliers, customers and wider community (e.g. city councils, business groups, social groups, NGOs) How could you use this time to serve your people better?

• Mike Clark is director and lead trainer and facilitator at Think Right business training company.