How To

How to Communicate in a Business Crisis

Contributor
By eHow Contributing Writer
(8 Ratings)

When an unforeseen crisis bruises your business, you can sink or swim, depending on how you communicate with customers and employees.

Difficulty: Challenging
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

    Communicating After the Crisis

  1. Step 1

    To regain trust from customers, make good customer service a priority.

  2. Step 2

    Maintain contact with media, if appropriate.

  3. Step 3

    Put together a plan to rebuild your positive reputation in the community.

  4. Communicating During Crisis

  5. Step 1

    Quickly and cautiously communicate with your employees and customers, as well as the community.

  6. Step 2

    Appoint a spokesperson to communicate with the media. Be clear and consistent with your message.

  7. Step 3

    Communicate about crisis in as many ways as possible - print, telephone, radio, television or mailings. Focus on any positive outcomes.

  8. Step 4

    Assemble a group of employees, if appropriate, to be part of a crisis team.

  9. Step 5

    Put your plan into action - hesitancy and delay will spur rumors and increase anxiety and despair.

  10. Preparing for a Crisis

  11. Step 1

    Create a plan for how you would handle a variety of business crises, such as theft, fire, key employee illness or death, loss of a primary supplier or regional catastrophe.

  12. Step 2

    Talk with others in your industry about how they handle certain business crises.

  13. Step 3

    Work at building a positive relationship with the community and customers, in case you need their support in the future.

Tips & Warnings
  • No one wants to believe that a crisis can happen to him or her, but proper planning can be the difference between a minor setback and disaster.
  • Disasters are always a shock, no matter how prepared you are.

Comments  

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on 5/29/2009 Good points. I would also reach out to peers and experts within industry for an outside opinion on how to resolve the issues at hand as well as have a post mortem after the fact to ensure that the same thing doesn't occur again.

lucyyy said

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on 5/5/2009 When in doubt, just tell the truth. The general public, and most clients, can accept mistakes better than dishonesty.

kp3028 said

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on 2/2/2009 Having a written procedural manual so everyone knows exactly what to do, helps everyone stay focused and calm. "Being prepared" is not just something for Boy Scouts,

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