Working together in crisis for a successful recovery
I recently found myself reflecting on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and it already feels a little strange to remember what was probably the most difficult period in living memory for most people in the UK, and just how hard it hit industry.
At the beginning of March 2020, we gathered for our People in Glazing Society (PiGs) networking event in Manchester, just as handshakes were being replaced by elbow bumps. On Thursday 26 March, lockdown measures legally came into force.
Our team’s PR training in crisis communications was invaluable from day dot. We set objectives of what we needed to deliver for each of our clients during the lockdown and this included clear, useful information and advice for their customers. It meant staying informed, with the updates from Government and through our industry connections, to get a clearer idea of what was going on throughout the whole supply chain and sharing this with our industry friends and directly with installers.
Comprehensive support
We worked alongside trade fabricators to give installers a comprehensive support package to help them – tips for staying front-of-mind with customers, social media template posts, directing business to the right financial support they could access from Government, plus links to helpful webinars and contacts from legal, finance and HR experts.
The hard work was far from over once we experienced a lockdown lift. Along with our partners, we busily planned on how we to help installers get back to fitting, because we knew that’s how the whole supply chain would recover.
From the work that Certass did with Government to deliver clear guidance on how to work safely in people’s homes after lockdown and creating the documents to deliver this guidance, to special deals on remote selling, online design and quoting software, we clubbed together to help them get back to work.
Working together to survive
The speed of change with COVID-19 was like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before. Government guidelines were issued one day, then superseded the following day, and in some instances complete U-turns made.
So how, as communications experts, could we disseminate information that changed so fast? The answer was social media and email.
But more than that. It wasn’t a time for being precious about information. It was about getting good information to as many people in the supply chain as possible, including system companies, fabricators, component manufacturers and distributors, and installers.
Using PiGs as a platform
That’s why we used PiGs as the platform for sharing this information across the glazing industry. There were also other fantastic organisations doing this, like Certass and Window Fitters Forum, and we liked and shared across the board where we could.
This is the most amazing industry. When we do the face-to-face events, you can see even the fiercest of rivals catching up. We transferred that face-to-face camaraderie to online, with the PiGs social media platforms at the centre. We posted what we could, and asked everyone to pitch in, pose or answer questions.
It was an incredibly tough time for the whole country, but it was simply amazing to see so many people working together as an industry, helping as many as possible to come through the other side.
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