As a cannabis entrepreneur, you have chosen an industry that’s fighting for (and winning!) legitimacy politically and in consumer markets across the country. You likely followed unconventional methods to get here, so it’s safe to say you think out of the box.

And so it goes that building a great cannabis business is a choice you can make if you’re willing to do things that set you apart from others and capitalize on your uniqueness.

More than “just business”

 
You know the old saying: ‘It’s just business, nothing personal.’ Unfortunately, this mindset has contributed to the heightened state of anxiety in your workforce. Timing is everything for growers, manufacturers, retailers, and producers alike.
 
To build a great cannabusiness, it’s time to start making it personal and let your staff know you care about them, their professional growth, and overall job satisfaction.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cannabis supply chains have been upended, and your workers are dealing with anxiety surrounding what’s ahead, both personally and professionally. Companies who can have shifted to remote work, but many cannabis businesses are not in that group. For those deemed essential businesses or otherwise unable to create a work-from-home environment, we see employees taking on additional responsibilities.

As states and the federal government work to slow the spread of COVID-19, some cannabis businesses have even been forced to shut down temporarily. For those that remained open, it’s anything but business-as-usual.

Cannabis activities have been completely disrupted for reasons that span plant closings, staff shortages, slower production cycles, closed ports, and changes in transportation routes and more, leaving your staff to wonder what’s next.
 

Increase your communication

 
Communicating with your team is critical more now than ever before. Your staff deserves clear communication from their leadership, so the time to understand their professional goals along with their personal circumstances is now. There is a lot of mixed communication outside of work. Whether it’s local restrictions due to the pandemic, ways to protect their family from getting sick, or any of the other flurry of news they’re subject to, don’t let your professional communication be a part of the chaos.

By increasing communication with your staff, you encourage them to do the same with you and the rest of your team. Take this opportunity to empower your employees and promote best practices at work by initiating one-on-one employee development and performance evaluations. Hearing feedback about their performance instills a sense of purpose by identifying their contributions and bringing value to the business.
 

Invest in staff development

 
When you let your employees know you care about their professional development, you create a happy, engaged and more creative culture that pays dividends on the other side in customer satisfaction and service innovation.

While it’s essential to adapt your business to the customer’s needs, it’s equally important to embrace your staff’s diversity and value the individual talents each team member brings to the table. Customer satisfaction almost always brings financial rewards, not to mention a boost in your company’s brand recognition and reputation.
 

Employee satisfaction comes from the right tools

 
It’s not uncommon to see a cannabis business have a seed-to-sale system to manage cannabis tracking, a cannabis point-of-sale (POS) system for retail sales, and then an off-the-shelf accounting solution to work their books. While these accounting packages are easy to install and use, they’re not designed for cannabis accounting.

Instead, these are designed for more traditional businesses and can’t manage a cannabis company’s warehouse operations, HR functions, customer service, and supply and demand planning the way cannabis ERP can.

The resulting headache of trying to make Quickbooks or seed-to-sale solutions work leaves cannabis operators with few features and even fewer integration possibilities. Cannabis employees need a single source of truth to boost overall efficiency, increase productivity, and provide ready-access business insights for decision-making.
 

Stay focused on the future

 
As cannabis industry professionals, we have found ourselves under a tsunami of change, leaving us with a tremendous opportunity to set new standards and leave behind the status quo.

It’s time to meet the moment and build a great cannabis business. To learn more about modern cannabis ERP for your operation, contact one of our experts.