I’ve just come off a call with a friend who is worried about the impact to his wife’s business of the slowdown surrounding Covid 19. Already his wife and her business partner have witnessed previously enthusiastic prospects slow down their interest because of the uncertainty. He said to me that they were looking to this year to be the breakthrough year for the business but perhaps they will have to reframe their expectations.

Maybe he’s right but I’m not so sure.

I’ve been watching the craziness surrounding panic buying and stockpiling in the shops with interest and I think it provides us with a useful metaphor for the impact on business.

Over the last few days a substantial minority of people around the world have been clearing supermarket shelves of toilet roll, dried pasta, tinned food and other long-term staples. The actions of a few has driven the response of many as people fear missing out.

In the meantime I’ve just been placing my usual grocery orders. I don’t see the need to panic. I’m working on the premise that if somebody has stacked every nook and cranny in their home with enough toilet roll to last them for a year, it’s not likely that they will feel the need to repeat the behaviour next week.

In the meantime, the supermarkets will restock and I’ll be able to shop as normal when I need to. And my home decor will be far more tasteful than theirs!

I think that business will be the same, things will calm down and normal activity will resume. Some of our clients, potential clients, suppliers and key contacts may be hard to pin down at the moment. People may be backing off from placing key orders because of uncertainty or be neck deep in crisis planning with little scope for other conversations.

But the uncertainty and frantic activity will, hopefully, be finite. In a week or two most businesses will have made good progress with adapting to the change in circumstances. Time will be freed up while face to face meetings and external events are reduced in number. Those key stakeholders may actually have more time to focus on new opportunities – and that could be an opportunity for you.

Those key stakeholders may actually have more time to focus on new opportunities – and that could be an opportunity for you

Of course, this is all speculation but in unheralded times that is all we can do. It’s far better to speculate positively and look at how to adapt to this challenge in a way that will keep you on track and help you to still achieve your goals rather than panic.

As somebody who works in an industry that is seriously impacted by the slowdown of training and conferences, this is certainly what I need to do.