We are experiencing a momentous moment in public health, with an unprecedented and unexpected pandemic that we know nothing about. Above all, we do not know how long it will last, which is the thing we find most difficult.
This generates tremendous consequences on the economy and labor, given the direct consequences that the spread of the coronavirus has generated: quarantine for all and immediate closure of non-essential and non-goods-related production activities and businesses.
For small business owners, this is a difficult problem to overcome.
To be clear, we now have full knowledge that the impact of the total blockade of this Italy Red Zone will be enormous and will extend for a long, long time.
Restarting will not be entirely easy, especially for all those who work in direct contact with the public and who are now at a standstill because they are unable to perform these activities remotely.
For these realities, there is no “from home” alternative, and this is precisely the case, for example, with VR rooms or playrooms or shopping malls that have arenas inside them used for activities where virtual reality takes center stage. Many of them have been forced to close and we wonder what happened to their owners.
We know that there are mandatory and constant expenses on them, even though they are stationary. We are talking about rent, utility bills, and maybe even salaries for employees. With the small difference that no money goes into the coffers of the business.
And with an added aggravation: entertainment and gathering activities will simply not be able to start over as before.And with an added aggravation: entertainment and gathering activities will simply not be able to start over as before.
In this particular case, we are talking about a target audience of young teenagers, an age group that is already suffering at this particular time from strict but necessary rules of restriction, such as staying at home.
The only good news, if we can call it that, is that we are all in the same boat, just to quote the Pope’s words spent during the outstanding Urbi et Orbi.
Then one can try the path of dialogue and understanding (e.g. negotiating with the tenant for rent payment-if he is a reasonable person, he will understand the situation).
Then, without allowing yourself to become despondent, it is important to stay in touch with your clients and reassure them: to let them know that despite everything we are there, we have taken the situation head-on and are reorganizing according to what has happened.
Social networks are a valuable communication tool that greatly engages adolescents: never disappear completely, or we will be perceived as activities that succumb to emergence.
To reassure parents what we can communicate are the measures and adjustments we are putting in place: sanitization of rooms, reorganization of activities that were planned and skipped due to the closure, preparation of new activities and attractions on virtual reality.
But let’s also look at the other side of the story. Unfortunately, when one is alone, everything seems to be difficult, causing motivation to shut down.
Reorganizing everything by yourself is just too much for anyone. But if you are part of a franchise network, you can count on the parent company.
The latter also finds itself in the position of having to reorganize ideas and activities, but it can certainly do so more quickly than the individual, since it has a firmer and more responsive operational structure has more professionalism and expertise at its disposal.
In Virtual Play, for example, after taking note of the government directives imposing the shutdown of all our locations, we have activated a number of activities to support affiliates and still have many more in store.
From conference calls to Facebook live feeds to the most innovative room sanitizing devices. In fact, we are aware that the emergency is also ours, and we cannot in any way leave local offices to an unhappy fate.
Those who never stopped and continued to work hard will have greater momentum when everything returns to normal.
Indeed, it must be said that after all this one cannot be so naïve as to believe that reopening the doors of the business will mean going back to cashing in as in the old days. Instead, it will turn out that the coronavirus has changed all of us, perhaps forever, and that it will take more than that to win back the trust of clients by confronting and overcoming their new resistance and fears.
In the phase of reopening we should be able to count on all the support of a solid and smart structure, because it will undoubtedly be more incisive, more timely and more prepared than we are for the adjustments that will be necessary.
No self-respecting parent company is standing still, or at least not completely so: in Virtual Play for example, the team is 100 percent operational, albeit in different modes of operation.
We close deals, think about the future by formulating new solutions to make our VR activities even more compelling and immersive. We do all this from home, of course, using a little more of the new technologies that the new millennium has made available to us, but nothing is left to chance.
So when we finally eradicate this new cancer of the country, we will know exactly what to do and how to do it.
Oltre al nostro prezioso Business Plan avrai come BONUS i “5 video di approfondimento” i quali ti faranno fare un viaggio, step by step, dall’idea all’apertura di un centro d’intrattenimento in Realtà Virtuale!