LOVING your existing customers and understanding how differently business will operate in the future are two key factors in dealing with the post-coronavirus world.

That's the view of former trade minister and boss of Waitrose Lord Mark Price who lives in North Dorset and now runs a global business advice and support service, Engaging Works.

He said: “Through all this, you have really got to love the customers you have. I have often feel in times like this that marketing teams concentrate disproportionately on getting new customers.

“Now more than ever you have to focus on existing customers and ensuring as much as you can that they engage with you post-lockdown.”

There are numerous examples of this already - phone companies giving additional services and airtime to help people keep in touch with each other is one. Loyal customers are unlikely to forget such gestures.

Lord Price continued: “It is also really crucial to understand how the virus crisis will change how business works.

“Will companies think the same way about travelling to meetings now that they have used a plethora of platforms to communicate? What will that mean for meetings in the UK, what will it mean for flying to meetings?

“So in my view, the professionalisation of your home as part of the office is going to continue.

“Before Coronavirus around 1.5m people worked from home and my instinct is that is going to increase considerably. We were on an upward trajectory with that anyway. There has been a big move in that direction since the early 2000s.”

“Overall, this about understanding the psyche of the customer, understanding how employees feel about work. Now is an opportunity to start thinking about how to remodel your business.

“My view is that people will change. They will be more concerned with their work life balance, they will have spent more time at home with their families probably thinking, you know what, I am not missing the commute.

“I think some people will be reflecting, am I in the right job?”

He said: “There is going to be awful lot going on that is fundamentally different to how things were two or three months ago.”

Lord Price said he feared many businesses would go to the wall.

“It has been a very difficult balancing act for the government. They have instituted the lockdown to try to control the spread of the virus but of course that has had a devastating impact on the economy and the truth is that many businesses are operating from month to month and for them it is going to be hard.

Engaging Works provides research, surveys and data for companies as well as career advice for individuals.

“We have already been contacted by a number of clients including some in Hampshire and Dorset who want us to conduct a working from home survey for them.

“We have very quickly been able to develop a platform relevant to workforces operating out of the office to measure happiness and the level of staff engagement.

“Do they have the tools they need to perform effectively, are their views being heard, are they being communicated with effectively?”

The platform can also provide detailed help and support for career development in the new environment.

The statistics seem to show that productivity is higher when workers operate from home and the majority of people prefer the option of flexible working.

There may be a growing realisation that without the commute, with greater productivity and with lower costs for employees in terms of expensive office space there are some real benefits to doing things differently permanently.