No matter how many preventative measures are taken, things go wrong in every company at some point. How your company responds in a crisis has a direct bearing on how quickly it will recover consumer confidence and sales.
A couple of posts back I listed the steps to follow when the yoghurt hits the fan. Here is a little more about each of the steps.
1) Investigate immediately
Hopefully you will have cultivated an environment in which employees at all levels are motivated to alert supervisors to problems as soon as they arise.
As soon as the whistle blows, assess the magnitude and specific nature of the problem. Try to determine why the problem has occurred/is occurring, and who is/what departments are responsible so that you can determine the most appropriate remedial action. You need to think “stop the problem, contain the damage and start making things right”. This is not the time to assess blame or point fingers in any way shape or form.
If the problem is a serious one, or has the potential to have a significant impact on the company, ensure that senior execs are alerted immediately. They need to be involved in “next steps”.
2) Activate your response plan according to what has happened (if you don’t have one, read the previous post)
If you did a good job of anticipating what could go wrong, your current problem is likely listed in the Problem Resolution Binder, along with a recommended course of action. Follow the plan… but be flexible enough to make adjustments based on the actual set of circumstances.
There should be contact numbers for key decision makers and department heads in the book. Even when the course to follow is well laid out, make sure seasoned, senior employees are involved in the implementation of "next steps" to ensure that they are indeed the correct ones for the specific problem at hand.
Although you need to respond immediately, do not confuse responding with reacting. Take the time to assess the ramifications of your solution steps before proceeding – those extra minutes of reflection, or extra calculations and discussions, can make the difference between an effective resolution and an escalation of the problem.
3) Be – and be seen to be – sympathetic and pro-active
Nothing annoys customers and average consumers more than corporate executives who appear indifferent to a problem and how it is affecting customers, employees and other stakeholders.
According to research we conducted from March - June 2010, 55% of the general adult population in North America appears to be angered by executives who treat a crisis simply as a problem to be solved, without being cognizant of, or sympathetic to, the personal toll exacted by whatever has transpired. For customers, the figure rises to 87%. The figures were consistent for all types of problems ranging from corporate missteps to more serious problems that resulted in loss of life, across all types of industries.
Of more significance to the bottom line, nearly 40% of people said they would be less likely, or far less likely, to do business in future with companies whose executives appear indifferent to employees and public opinion, especially in times of crisis.
Even though they understand that things go wrong at some point in every company, respondents explained that the way a company responds in times of trouble is a reflection of its ethics and customer service values. As one business buyer put it, “If they can’t be compassionate and caring in times of trouble, I can only imagine how my business is valued and how my people would be treated during the good time. I suspect it would not be with respect.”
Maple Leaf Foods retained its credibility along with the confidence and goodwill of the Canadian consumer when it faced the listeria outbreak in 2008 because it pro actively let people know what was going on and publicly expressed concern for the families involved and its own employees, too.
From long before the time of the Tylenol package tampering though to the BP oil well disaster, there are clear examples that show a correlation between how compassionate and concerned executives appear in the face of a crisis and how future sales have fared.
The message: Be – and be seen to be – sympathetic to the challenges faced by the people affected by the problem at hand.
4) Get the press and social media on your side
Have your media rep let the press know what has happened as soon as possible – and keep them informed about the steps you are taking to resolve matters.
Do not try to cover anything up. Tell them “the good, the bad and the ugly”. The more transparent you are, the more credible you will appear – and the less likely you are to be crucified in the press.
Make sure you keep your employees up to speed on what is happening, too. This is a good time to make use of internal newsletters, discussion boards and other communication forums. If your company employs union members, you will need to keep their reps up-to-date, too.
Don’t forget about social networking sites either. If you don’t already have a social media manager, now would be a good time to bring one in on contract to work with your PR people to monitor and shape the cyber-chat.
Make sure you add a section to your company’s homepage that lets people click though to learn more about the problem and what you are doing to solve it. The addition of video messages from the CEO can be helpful in some cases – and puts a personal face on the solution, which is important for many consumer segments.
5) Apologize as appropriate; be sorry for what happened, even if it’s not your fault.
Don’t think there’s much that needs to be said here, except “Be sincere.”
6) Do not deny culpability at the outset when it is not your fault; get a 3rd party to exonerate you.
According to consumer research expert J. Armstrong, “30% - 55% of North Americans aged 18 – 65 would be less likely to do business with a company in the future if the company’s first response to a problem is denial of culpability.”
Even if the problem is not one your company caused, your response should be something along the lines of, “We are truly sorry that this has occurred and we are doing everything we can to determine exactly what happened and how to make it right.”
With this kind of a response, you appear responsive and caring, yet have neither accepted nor denied responsibility for what transpired. In essence, you have bought your company the time it needs to investigate.
When it turns out that the problem was created by another entity, let the press report this. Disseminate reports from the police, trade associations, government agencies or whoever is appropriate for the situation ,using social media and traditional PR channels.
Add the information to the front page of your website in the same spot where you have been keeping consumers informed about the problem resolution progress.
7) Go the extra yard to make things right… be perceived to be doing the “right thing”
Avoid getting into long, drawn-out lawsuits. Settle up fairly and quickly – and do whatever it takes to make it right. In the long run it will cost you less money, use less time and will help your reputation from being tarnished.
8) Use the ‘incident’ to make improvements, and even become an industry leader in some areas – but do not use this as a PR tool!
Maple Leaf used the knowledge it gained during its eradication of listeria from its plants to improve food handling safety procedures and now willingly shares this intelligence with others in similar industries.
Johnson & Johnson used the Tylenol tamperings as the catalyst for the introduction of tamperproof packaging.
Hotels regularly use “service incidents” as teaching tools and opportunities to put new processes in place – some of which are shared between properties and chains.
As important as it is for the next steps in problem resolution to be future avoidance of similar situations, it is even more important that you not use this to pat yourself on the back. The likelihood of public backlash is huge because most consumers will believe that the processes should already have been in place to have prevented the problem from occurring in the first place.
I hope you found this information useful, but more so, I hope you never have to put any of these suggestions into play.
If you would like clarification on anything, please feel free to contact me: jmc@theQgroup.com.
Until next time, remember to have fun and be prepared to “go out on a limb because that is where the fruit is.”
Jane-Michèle Clark
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