Nobody and no company is perfect.
Being perfect in the eyes of your customers deals with the courage of admitting a mistake and doing any means to protect your customers from further inconvenience and damages.
Being perfect in the eyes of your customers deals with the courage of admitting a mistake and doing any means to protect your customers from further inconvenience and damages.
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As long as you are genuine in dealing with the problem, your customers will help you survive through it.
1. Do
the product recall in good fate with the help of the proper department- let the Customer Service Department do the job. Communicate
internally, and try to control the mouth of your own people so the government would not
step in and rescue your ass, leaving your reputation more ruined.
Once external parties like government agencies, consumer groups, media, and non-profit organizations get into the problem believing they can help, expect a
bigger damage. Have private meetings with resellers and distributors and be
open about the problem. If you need to reimburse people, do it. Do this as a quick "band-aid".
2. Try
to have a person-to-person communication with involved customers if you can trace them. Thus, you need to have a research to identify the people, who might be affected with the mistake.
Do all
means to reach out to concerned people, especially if your case is
contaminated food. However if you think that more than a thousand people are
affected, call for an immediate press conference.
3. During
the press conference, make sure that you have done things due you as the party that did commit the mistake.
a. Explain
why the products are being recalled. If you need to present your company doctor
or any other specialists, who could add to the credibility of the data you
show, do it.
b. Admit
that there was a mistake without blaming anyone. Do not call names or single
out a department. The worst you could do is to badmouth someone due to emotional stress. Now is not the time for that type of behavior.
c. Apologize
to everyone who has been affected. This must be strategic; speak the dramatic
language of your customers. Use someone who is known by your customers. The truth is that a motherly woman associated with the company can do this job.
d. Focus
on this: explain the steps your company is doing to recall the products and protect your customers. Share your strategies with the press.
e. List down the steps on how your customers could help with the recall. Say
for instance, you tell them to voluntarily bring the product to any of your
stores for refund. Mention that they are a priority.
f. Make
sure that the press gets your story so they would also be your partner in
managing the crisis. Thank them for disseminating the information.
4. Once
the crisis is over and everything is back in proper position, have another campaign that
would thank your customers for cooperating and staying loyal to your company.
This makes your company more humane and people would love it better.
Treat the disaster as a test on the relationship of the company and its customers.
Do not listen to your sales figures; it is expected that all your products are now a flop in the market. It is normal and get ready to re-invent your company through the help of your Public Relations Department. Just assume everything is okay, and the public will be conditioned that everything is indeed okay.
5. Move
on with another campaign to introduce new products and other
concepts from the company. This is crucial to divert the attention of the
public to something new and exciting.
When PR crises occur, you must be ready to give up some
of your resources. Try working things out with your internal PR department, then
hire an external PR agency to do other tasks that are more tricky and
tough.
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