Transcript: Wells Fargo Small Business Webinar: Solutions to Help Boost Business in 2021

March 3, 2021 and presented by Wells Fargo

Learn more with our companion webinar content guide.

[Meet your host: Nina Easton. Co-CEO of SellersEaston Media; Chair of Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women International”; Author, Gang of Five]

NINA EASTON

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Small Business Webinar presented by Wells Fargo. I’m Nina Easton and I’ll be your host. We’re a little over a year out from when the first COVID-19 cases became apparent in the United States. And with the prospect of vaccines coming online, we are getting a glimpse of what it might look like in a post-COVID world.

When I look out over the past many months, one of the things that really strikes me is the incredible ingenuity and grit of our American small businesses. We’ve been hearing firsthand from so many of you and we know what a struggle it is. And we also know that even with a vaccine and even with some local economies beginning to reopen, there’s still going to be a lot of challenges. So as we come up on that one-year mark, we’re going to talk to business owners who will share their own journeys and give you some lessons on what worked and what didn’t.

Our panel today is made up of two small business owners and a small business coach and mentor. Chandra Hammer is the owner of ProMed Apparel, which primarily sells medical scrubs. But as you’re going to see, she got pretty creative about what she sells during the pandemic. She joins us from Mesa, Arizona. Welcome, Chandra.

CHANDRA HAMMER

Thank you, Nina. It’s great to be here.

NINA

Our second business owner is Efrain Mejorada, Jr. He runs one of three Los Tres Pollos Restaurant locations in Los Angeles. He’ll be sharing his insights about running a restaurant through the pandemic, but also doing it as part of a family business. Welcome.

EFRAIN MEJORADA JR.

Hi, Nina. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much. And it’s a pleasure to be here.

NINA

And finally, we’re joined by Ian Altman. He’s a business coach and mentor, and he’s been working with a wide range of businesses throughout this difficult year. Ian is also author of Same Side Selling, which aims to help owners boost their sales, even during a crisis or rebuilding afterward. Ian is here to provide some high-level expertise and takeaways, especially for business to business kinds of enterprises. Ian, welcome.

IAN ALTMAN

Nina, thanks for having me here. And I really look forward to hearing the stories from these talented entrepreneurs.

NINA

And so do I, Ian. So let’s dive right in. One focus of the Wells Fargo Small Business Resource Center is to make sure that small businesses have the information they need to operate effectively.

So Chandra, I wanted to start with you on this question about information. So I happen to know that you were a firefighter who became an emergency room technician. So when the crisis started surging last March in New York City, you had a lot of contacts there who were reaching out to you and providing some insights into that crisis as it was unfolding. How did you weigh what you were hearing against news reports and social media and other sources of information?

CHANDRA

Yeah. You know, most of our clientele is nurses and many of them were taking travel assignments in New York and other places that they were really having a big surge. We were getting calls from those nurses to get scrubs because they couldn’t access them where they were at. So we were trying to talk with them a little bit about what they needed. We were talking with them about what they were going through because Arizona got hit so much later with a surge.

NINA

I think, I would imagine that hearing fear in those voices really drove home to you how serious and dire the situation was.

CHANDRA

I immediately, I think we were ahead of the eight ball on it. We immediately closed the doors to the business and I did a little bit more assessing as to what we could do and how we could function as a business in the environment that I knew was headed our way. And so they gave me some information that I think gave us a little step ahead of many other businesses. We started making masks, we started sanitizing, we started researching, “Is this virus something that will live on clothing?” You know, because that’s what we’re selling. So I think it gave us a huge advantage, right out the gate.

NINA

Efrain, you are the son of an immigrant from Mexico. You’ve been working in your father’s restaurant since you were in high school. And it sounds like business was going really well, you had just opened your third location in Long Beach, and then five months later COVID hit. How did you find the kind of information that you needed to move forward?

EFRAIN

Well, most of the information that we got was actually from watching the news, but thankfully we happened to have a really great relationship with our health department inspector. And so I was definitely able to reach out to her and speak to her about what were the new requirements that we had to have as a business. And also what were the new rules that we had to implement, not only on the employees, but also the customers as well.

NINA

Wow. You had a health inspector really giving you great information. Exactly what did she tell you guys about how to operate a restaurant in this environment?

EFRAIN

Well, at first it was mostly just to be safe and pretty much not just focus on what the news were telling us, because it wasn’t necessarily true and it wasn’t necessarily the same for every kind of business. So like for us being a restaurant, we had certain requirements and certain rules that we had to follow as opposed to other stores or other places that were still able to remain open.

NINA

Like close down the salsa bar and space tables apart. That kind of thing?

EFRAIN

Yes. Well, at first it was just more shut everything down completely. The dining area was just closed down and then we had to get rid of what the customers were doing for themselves, whether it be served drinks or salsa, sit down at the tables. Everything had to be closed off completely. But everything that we were doing was it came from her, like from her new rules that were coming out, but she wouldn’t tell us it’s not the same for every city. So what you have to do in your business is one thing, but maybe your brother being at a different city or a different county, it’s not going to be the same for them. So it was very confusing.

NINA

There was a source of expert information right there, right at hand. And that happened to be the health inspector. So, Ian, what do you tell your clients when it comes to sources of information, how do you get the information you need and the information you trust so that you can operate effectively moving forward in these kinds of conditions?

IAN

Well, so in the case of Efrain and Chandra, both of them relied on what is often the best source of information, which is your clients and listening to them in terms of what’s most important to them. Having said that, sometimes our clients will just repeat what they heard elsewhere. So you need to have trusted sources you can go to, to get reliable information. And that way that not only are you listening to your clients, but you’re validating. It’s that old “trust but verify” model. So when your clients say they have a need for something or they’ve heard about something, we can initially trust that, we want to verify it before we start repeating it elsewhere.

NINA

Ian, that’s such an important point to keep in mind as we move from this kind of crisis situation to eventually a growth mode and where we end up, frankly, is going to be a new normal, it’s still not going to look like it did it a year ago. So keeping those kinds of tips in mind about information and relying on relationships that you have is really important. Efrain, you relied on the health inspector, and Chandra, what was the big theme in your business this year? Can you tell us a bit about your connections and how that helped you through some really tough times?

CHANDRA

Well, like you said, I did build my business on connections. I was in the medical field, I was a firefighter, I was an emergency room tech. So I had years of relationships with people who needed the products that I wanted to sell, which was scrubs. Those people are the reason I built the business and the reason that they continue to come to the business is because of those relationships that we have. And those relationships became important in this transition that we made, because I had to go back to them and show them that we were doing business differently, but it still was going to be in their best interest.

NINA

And Chandra, there’s a great story you’ve told us about a UPS delivery driver who delivered supplies to you and the relationship you built with him. Tell us about that.

CHANDRA

So our UPS driver, he’s been our UPS drivers since we opened the business and his name’s George, and he is just the best guy in the world. And we started building a relationship just over the years of him delivering packages. He saw the transition we had made into making masks. And when he inquired if he can get a couple of masks and I said, “Sure, you know, we can make you a couple of masks.” He said, “Can you put the UPS logo on there?” I said, “Well, if you get permission for me to do that, I can definitely do that.” And he did. He went back to work a couple days later, he reached out to me and said, “So my whole hub, which is about 600 people, would like these masks made for them.” So we started making masks for UPS, and that order paid our bills and basically paid our rent to make it another month because we were still shut down at that point.

NINA

Wow. That’s an incredible story about a relationship that’s in your circle and turns out to be really helpful.

CHANDRA

I think that’s the most important thing is, I don’t know that people understand that every relationship they have is important to their business. It can be something that they wouldn’t, just like George. He’s not my customer per se, but he ended up being a customer. He needed something and I was able to fulfill that need. So, that’s important.

NINA

Efrain, you also built your business on relations, especially customer relations. Tell us how that changed during the crisis?

EFRAIN

Well, I remember it was the second week of March, we usually had our lunch rush that started to between 11:00 to 2:00. And I remember there were days before that, that all the people across the street would just come on in and eat at the same time. It was at least like 25, 30 people that would always go at the same time. And so that particular Monday, it was March 16th to be exact, we saw all the people from the company line up and cross the street. So we were thinking, we were about to have the biggest rush of the month, about 100 people coming in. And they did come in, but unfortunately it wasn’t to buy food, they had actually come in to ask if we could let them borrow our phones because they wanted to call their ride because they had just been laid off. Their companies have shut down and they didn’t know if they were going to be going back to work anytime soon.

NINA

So Efrain, we’ve heard a lot from you and Chandra about having these good relationships and how they pay off in the least expected ways. That must’ve been magnified in a family business. Can you talk about that and the kind of culture that you kept alive during these difficult times?

EFRAIN

Yes, actually that same day, that same Monday, we all got together at my parents’ house and we talked about what was going to be the plan moving forward. And it was actually my mom that said that “No, it’s a family business and we’re all a family.” But she didn’t mean us at the table. She meant all of our employees and all of our staff as well. So the first thing that she pointed out was we’re all going to get through it together. And we’re not laying anybody off, we’re not cutting anybody’s hours, we’re going to move forward as a whole. We’re going to get through it together.

NINA

And so I would imagine that creates a great sense of loyalty with employees, Ian. And Ian what advice would you give to your clients about how to network, which is almost the wrong word here? It’s more about building relationships. Can you talk about that?

IAN

Yeah, Nina, the key is that you can show up in one of two ways. You can either show up as somebody who is there to sell or you can show up as somebody who was there to solve. And in both cases, what Chandra and Efrain did is they showed up in a way, not only to solve issues for their clients and customers, but also for their employees. And that’s an important distinction that a lot of businesses overlook, which is very often, we get very good at telling stories about what it is that we do, which is in essence, what we’re selling. But instead what we want to do is pivot and talk more about the problems that we solve, the challenges we help people overcome. And that’s where you can truly stand out in any type of business.

NINA

So Ian talks about the importance of showing up with a solution, sometimes where you least expect to find that. Efrain, you have a good example of that, can you share that story with us?

EFRAIN

Yes, actually where we are located, we’re located in an industrial area. So when most of the companies shut down, they said three months, but who knows for how long that that was going to take? There were no people going to work. And so that definitely led to a lot of crime happening because people knew that the businesses were empty and the police weren’t able to do much because of the pandemic. So it was constant, it was almost every day that there was somebody’s business being broken into. And so we got to a point where we all as a business, like the business owner association, that we ended up creating along the whole industrial area. We ended up having a meeting with the police sergeant.

And that’s when I really got a chance to meet everybody that had never met, they didn’t know who we were, we didn’t know who they were. And so that gave us a chance to interact with everybody and introduce myself. I let them know what we do and we let them know, “Hey, we’re the only restaurant around here. So if you guys are experiencing a hard time trying to figure out what to eat, because there’s no food trucks coming along, well, we’re right down the street, we’d be more than happy to help you guys.”

NINA

Let’s talk about how businesses have had to pivot over this past year. Pivot is a word we’ve heard a lot, and I’m so fascinated and impressed by the survey of small business owners in June. And so keep in mind that that was at the worst point in the pandemic. Sixty-seven percent of small business owners reported they were trying a new approach and that was either shifting to more e-commerce or doing more business online or doing curbside delivery or deliveries. That, to me, shows the ingenuity and spirit of the small businesses going through this. And I want to hear more specifics about how you shifted, Chandra. Tell us about your journey.

CHANDRA

You know, we had the retail space and we were doing that for eight years. About two years ago, we bought a shuttle bus, and we transformed that into a retail space that we can take out to the facilities or the offices. And I really thought that was a great idea. I thought, hands down, this is a good idea. People are going to love that we come to them. But that two years that we had the bus and the retail store, it never really got off the ground. We didn’t have enough staff to keep it going.

Well, when the pandemic kind of shut us down, it was an opportunity to, to re-look at that option and get it out there and see if I could make what I thought would happen, happen. And it did. So at that point, we started doing the mobile unit in April and probably … well, our lease was coming due November, whether we are going to renew or not. So all that timing, everything worked out perfectly. The bus was up and running. We had gone back to the people we started our business with and reached out to them and said, “Hey, we’re doing business like this. What do you guys think? Do you want us to come out?” And they were like, “Sure.” And then once we got there, they were super excited because they didn’t have to leave work. They didn’t have to come to the store. They could try everything on in the bus. So it was real convenient, and I think it exceeded my expectation of what my business was and what it is now.

NINA

Efrain, how would you say that your business changed?

EFRAIN

Well, our business changed in a lot of ways, there was like an invisible barrier now between us and the customers. You can’t even see a smile on their face because they’re wearing a mask. So what we ended up doing as a business, like you said about the e-commerce, we didn’t do any of that. We tried our best to not have any third party involved as far as the delivery services went, because we just didn’t feel comfortable having them be a form of representation for us and our food.

NINA

So it sounds like you kind of like drilled down on personal service?

EFRAIN

Yeah. The simple fact that we’re a family business, we wanted people to still come in and interact with us. Most of our business has always been take out, about 80% of it. Regardless of the pandemic and how bad it was, we were still going to be there to serve them. We didn’t want them to feel like we were gone. We wanted to see them.

NINA

I love that spirit of loyalty. And Ian, what’s your takeaway here? Chandra pretty much remade her business to some extent with the mobile form and Efrain’s family business went back to basics, but there’s a lot of commonality here, it seems like.

IAN

There is. And though it seems different for Chandra and Efrain, they both did something really smart, which is they listened first and foremost to their customers and responded by immediately addressing their needs and concerns. And so sometimes when we pivot what happens is, we’re pivoting and it feels like we’re pitching stuff to our clients. And instead, what you may want to do is actually solicit input from them. That says, “Here’s what it looks like people need right now. I’d love to get your feedback as to how this might serve the market, how this might serve the industry, how this might serve other people.” And once you get that feedback, now you’re having a dialogue. You get to refine the message.

And then at the end you can say, “So can you think of one or two people who might really benefit from that?” And guess what, they might say, “Yeah, me, I could really benefit from that.” Or they might refer you to somebody else. But once again, it gets back to that notion of being on the same side and showing up as someone who’s there to solve, not just someone who’s there to sell, which both of them did an amazing job with that.

NINA

Yeah. And it seems like a lot of small business owners struggle with that idea of marketing, and you’re looking at it a little bit differently, it sounds like.

IAN

Yeah. So one of the things we want to do is we want to ask yourself, so how have my client’s needs changed? And how can you meet their needs uniquely? And then how would you describe the problem in their words, which isn’t to be confused with what you’re selling, we refer to as a concept called an elevator rant. So instead of an elevator pitch that describes what it is that you do, you describe, “Here’s the kind of things that people are coming to me struggling with.” So if let’s say you were an IT services company serving law firms, you might say, “See, a lot of firms are coming to us right now because they’re concerned with how they can securely support their staff, who’s working remotely.” You’ll say, “Oh, we have that same problem.” But if you just reached out and said, “Oh, we have this new service for remote workers.” That’s not quite as interesting as when you’re conveying that you’re actually listening to and hearing what’s going on in their worlds.

NINA

Chandra, you didn’t really engage in formal marketing, but you did use social media, which is a form of marketing and quite an effective one, it can be. But describe how you use social media?

CHANDRA

Okay. Yeah. So our social media, basically Facebook, I would talk to my customers. Throughout the years we used it to play games and to give away free stuff but I realized that that form of communication I had with them, they were watching every video I put out. I think one of our first videos that we put out was like, “Hey, we closed the store, guys. We’re here,” because we were physically in the store and we wanted to help them get whatever they needed, but we didn’t want them to bring us a virus either. We’re working with a target-rich environment of nurses that are working with these patients that have this scary virus.

So I would get on there periodically and tell them what I had heard from New York and share with them a little bit about the seriousness of what we were seeing, but still being available to them. And their responses were important. If it was a feed in a video or a comment on a post, it gave us more information as to how to meet the needs that they were struggling with.

NINA

So I love that idea, Chandra, that you’re not only using social media as so-called marketing, you’re bringing your customers into your journey. You’re making them part of your circle as you move forward. And that’s incredibly effective. And Efrain, you guys took a little bit of a different approach, it sounds like your dad went back to basics. Tell us about that.

EFRAIN

Yeah. Well my dad, he’s more old school and that he instilled that mentality into all of us. So for us, to be honest with you, social media wasn’t really key for us, we just went back to basics, which was standing on the corner with an arrow, pointing to where the location was at, going to businesses, going to residential streets, putting flyers on their cars, putting menus, just getting out there and letting people know, “We’re still here for you, whenever you guys are more than happy to come by. Whenever you guys are willing to go and give us a shot, we’re right down the street, we’re waiting for you guys to come back in.”

NINA

And did you do that more than you had done before the pandemic? Did you get out there more to remind people? I know I had to be reminded what restaurants were open.

EFRAIN

We did. At first we targeted newer areas like cities and streets than we probably had never even heard of ourselves. But then we went back to, like you said, back to basics, you went to the businesses that were already open and just would drop off our menus, our flyers, and just let them know, “Whenever you guys are hungry, we’re right down the street. And we’re here waiting for you guys to come on in.”

NINA

So Ian, both Chandra and Efrain are in consumer businesses. And I don’t want to forget the business to business, small businesses and small business owners. And you work directly with a lot of them. What’s your advice on marketing, if you’re not a consumer-facing business, if you’re a service-based firm or a manufacturer working with other companies?

IAN

So from a marketing standpoint, what you may want to consider is on your website, a page titled, “Problems We Solve” or “Issues We Address.” And that way people can quickly figure out how you can help them. Rather than, “Here are our solutions, now you figure out how it applies to your situation.” Instead, lead with the most common challenges that you’re really great at addressing. What that does is it attracts your ideal client, and it also helps you stay narrowly focused in the areas where you’re most likely to have differentiation.

NINA

Cash flow is always a big focus for small businesses, of course. And during this unprecedented uncertainty of 2020, a lot of owners wondered how they were going to make ends meet. Efrain, how did you and your family deal with that financial strain?

EFRAIN

Well, we were in the fortunate position that we owned the location for two of the three locations that we have. So for us, honestly, paying the rent wasn’t really a big issue for us. So what we just tried to do was either try and save as much money as possible and invest that into the employees and just try to do what we were already doing, just try and do it that much better.

NINA

And Chandra, what about you?

CHANDRA

Yeah. Cash flow is an issue even today. In the beginning, when we closed the store, of course there’s no income coming in or very little. I laid my employees off for about two weeks. I had three that didn’t want to come back, which I understood, but that layoff was temporary because I really didn’t know what was going to happen. And so in my mind, I thought, “Guys, take a couple of weeks, take some time off, let me figure out what we’re going to do.” And the PPP loans and the government loans that were available, I didn’t want to do any of that because I hadn’t ever had to, but I didn’t have a choice. Really, I needed to try to get some cash flow going and get the payroll loan because I wanted these employees to come back, because this mobile unit is going to happen.

We were making masks like crazy, which was taking a ton of time and a ton of my time. So I brought some employees back and we kept going. We’re still looking at being strapped right now, but we’re up and running, and the bills are getting paid.

Some of it’s not in your control. Even now, the breakdown in supplies and demand is huge. We’ve got back order statuses out months just to get scrubs in. I can’t sell what I don’t have. So, it’s a worldwide multifaceted issue that can actually put people out of business, or let them pivot if they can figure a way to pivot. And we were able to do that.

NINA

[diagram titled “Optimism is making a comeback” Wells Fargo/Gallup survey of small businesses on their financial health and optimism. The diagram is showing specific values of Small Business Index: in Q2 2019 the Small Business Index was 129; in Q3 2019 136; in Q4 2019 142; in Q1 2020 132; in Q2 2020 48; in Q3 2020 60; in Q4 2020 72.]

Yeah, I think revenue gaps have been front and center for so many business owners during this past year. So Wells Fargo and Gallup have been serving small business owners about their overall financial situation. And they’ve created an index that gauges the health of small businesses. And in the fourth quarter of 2020, the score was 72, which was up from the lowest point of the pandemic, but it is still less than half the score of the last quarter of 2019. So what we are seeing is that small business owners are feeling better, but they’re a long way from being close to normal. Ian, do those numbers reflect what you’re hearing when you talk to small business owners?

IAN

Well, Nina, of course it’s been a tough year for some businesses, but where I think some of the optimism comes from and is coming from is a realization that there are opportunities to be found out there, if you look for them and you can embrace those pivots. So one of my clients grew their business by fiftyfold. Now, how do they do that? They reacted to market demand before anyone else did. So while other people were sitting there worried about what they were going to do, they said, similar to Chandra, “Here’s an opportunity for PPE. We can adapt and adjust to this.” And landed a huge contract that candidly was outside of an area they would have focused on before.

So since COVID was the tagline for 2020, and will probably be a big part of 2021, I spent some time thinking about how could we reframe the term COVID and what could it stand for in the future. So one that let’s say isn’t entirely negative. So let’s think of it as an acronym for change, opportunity, value, innovation, and dedication. So the change would be, we want to change to meet customer demand. The O would be embrace opportunities that you might not have otherwise had, like Chandra’s mobile resource. The V, focus on value to your clients to ensure that you maintain those relationships. The I, continue to innovate to transform your business, to carve out your niche, and then the D, dedication to keep your chin up, get creative, and overcome obstacles, something that Chandra and Efrain taught us both about. So I’ve had the good fortune to work with inspiring business leaders who have not only pivoted to survive, but really, they’re thriving under challenging circumstances.

NINA

Well, I have to say the two business owners that we have on this panel today are incredibly inspiring, both as innovators and just having that grit and ingenuity that we talked about earlier in the program. Before we wrap up, I’d love to hear advice from both of you to other business owners. Efrain, what would you say to small business owners facing renewed challenge, and even growth around the corner?

EFRAIN

Well, definitely, maybe one of the biggest pieces of advice that I could offer anybody is to just keep in mind that, or just treat everybody, everybody that comes into your business, everybody in your circle, treat them as family and let them know how much they mean to you and how much your business means to them. And like you said, just adapt to what needs to be done. But also don’t try to do things first, just try to do them right.

NINA

I love that. That’s a great line. Are you hopeful for the future?

EFRAIN

Yeah, I’m very hopeful. We’ve definitely received a lot more respect from everybody because they understand, food is essential, you need to eat, but at certain times there were people that they wouldn’t respect you at all, just because you’re not any kind of professional, but as to where we are now, there’s definitely a higher level of respect. So that’s one of the main reasons as to why I’m optimistic to the future, because now we feel people are grateful for our service and for what we do.

NINA

And you’ve even made it onto yard signs. I see a lot of yard signs thanking essential workers. So, Chandra, let’s move on to you in terms of advice, what advice would you give small business owners going forward?

CHANDRA

I’ve talked to so many small business owners that have either struggled because they’re trying to keep doing business the same or they’re trying to change and they just don’t have the intestinal fortitude to do it. That’s tough. I mean, it takes a lot of guts to change a business. And I think I’ve never feared much, so I had all these tools and it took me a little while to realize that these tools were right there. I just had to work them different. I had to employ them differently.

NINA

Sounds like you’re hopeful.

CHANDRA

I am hopeful. I’m optimistic. I know that I have the drive and I have the people and I have the tools to keep going. And we may pivot again. Who knows where we’re going to end up? We’ll keep just evolving with this as it evolves.

NINA

So, Ian, as we move into this new time period, which we might call the new normal, although we’re not even there yet, but it could be a period of growth, but rocky growth, what is your advice?

IAN

Well, the biggest advice is, don’t get caught in “business as usual” in the way you used to do things. Because in any business, it’s easy to think that, “Oh, we couldn’t possibly do it differently.” But not only have businesses adapted, but our clients have adapted as well. So things that your business didn’t think you could do and that your clients would never accept, guess what? The business figured out how to do that, and the clients love it. And so always maintain that optimism and that openness about change.

I will tell you, in my own business, I would have told you a year ago, “Oh, there’s no way that we can be as effective remotely as we can in-person.” And what I’ve actually come to realize is we’re actually more effective remotely because when people are learning concepts, they can learn it at their own pace. And then we get to discuss how to implement and apply those, rather than before, I was assuming that everyone was learning at the same pace, but the truth is they weren’t.

NINA

I think all of our viewers would agree that the one good thing to come out of this year of crisis is this renewed appreciation that we all have for small business owners and what they contribute to our everyday lives. And I hope for all of you watching this, that you’ve learned some lessons from the journeys of Efrain, from Chandra, and from the counsel of Ian.

Everybody as a small business owner, just about everybody is facing really hard financial issues right now and difficult decisions to make. And we hope we’ve given you some sense of ideas and innovations and ways to pivot, to move forward as we move from this crisis into hopefully an economy of growth. You can find a replay of this webinar or additional resources to support your growth as a small business owner at the Wells Fargo Small Business Resource Center. And the website for that is wellsfargo.com/smallbusinessresources. Thank you so much for joining us and best of luck to all of you in 2021.