The new normal posed even more challenges to people we rely on: parents and bosses. Denise Alelis, third-generation owner of Pampanga’s Best can relate.
Denise Alelis helps run a family business that’s a half-century old: Pampanga’s Best, arguably the most recognized brand when it comes to tocino (salty-sweet cured meat), a favorite Filipino dish. While running and sustaining a business has become quite difficult during the pandemic with all the community quarantines, times are especially challenging for mom-entrepreneurs like Denise.
According
to her, months of living in the so-called new normal have been stressful
because of multiple challenges and concerns that she has to face daily.
Her
greatest challenge during the pandemic is the community quarantine. For 53
years, their business depended on transacting with various dealers in cities
and provinces all over the Philippines and nearly all of these transactions
were done face-to-face, with payments made in cash. Their customers would also go to supermarkets
to buy their favorite tocino.
The
lockdowns and quarantines, however, made it very difficult for their sales
agents to travel to dealers. Even customers were unable to go to the
supermarket to buy Pampanga’s Best products. Dealers had difficulty making
payments in cash because of travel restrictions.
The
obvious solution was to shift as many transactions as possible to online but it
was not that easy. “There were dealers who did not welcome this shift right
away, like our dealers in the palengke. They were saying that they didn’t have any
mobile banking or that they didn’t know how to use it. We were able to solve
that by giving them training. There was a learning curve that we had to
hurdle.”
Online selling meant that payments would have
to be made online as well. This meant
shifting more of these transactions to mobile banking.
“We had an incident during the start of the ECQ
where one of our sales agents was unable to trace a cash payment made by one of
our dealers. Hindi namin mahanap yung deposit slip ng payment. So, after that
we decided to shift all payments online through mobile banking because they can
be monitored and tracked more easily,” she said.
Shifting
transactions online began as a response to pandemic restrictions but it turned
into an opportunity, eventually.
“It
was actually during ECQ that we posted our highest sales. By going through
these online channels and transactions, we were able to sell more products,”
she said.
According
to Denise, she and her team have become more dependent on the mobile banking
services by BDO. For their employees,
they now get their salaries through cash debit cards.
“Before
the pandemic, I had to go to the office to release our employees’ salaries. Now
everything is released through their cash debit cards. Going cashless limits
face-to-face contact so that helps prevent transmission of disease: we’re not
holding on to cash that could be contaminated and we’re preventing close-in
physical contact as well.”
Denise
has been with her branch for years. She opened her first savings account when
she worked at her first job (before she joined the family business). She
appreciates how her bank is helping her cope with the challenges of the
pandemic because it spares her from a lot of stress and anxiety.
“Even
though we’re in the middle of a public health crisis, my bank has always been
there for me; very reliable and dependable during these challenging times,” she
said.
BDO
continues to provide products and services that help mompreneurs like Denise
get the relief, ease, and convenience they deserve so that they more easily
attain work-life balance. For more information on how BDO can help keep your
business running in good or bad times, visit www.bdo.com.ph/keepbusinessmoving
You may check the different BDO products and services that have helped mompreneurs like Denise.
BDO Cash Card – https://www.bdo.com.ph/accounts/cash-card BDO Credit Cards – https://www.bdo.com.ph/personal/credit-cards BDO SME Loan – https://www.bdo.com.ph/loans/sme-loan BDO Digital Banking - https://www.bdo.com.ph/mobile/personal/ebanking BDO Savings or Checking Accounts - https://www.bdo.com.ph/personal/accounts Cash Management Services - https://www.bdo.com.ph/business/cash-management-services
Do you have your own story to share on how you were able to find ways in these challenging times? Click here to share your own story.
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