How will you communicate with your customers in a crisis?

A denial-of-service attack at an online service I use reminded me of how important it is to have -- and follow -- a plan for communicating with customers during a crisis.

In this particular situation, the Web site providing the service was down for hours. With no explanation from the company about what was going on, frustrated customers like me could only make assumptions about the reason for the outage and when service would be restored. The next day -- a full 24 hours later -- the vendor sent an e-mail explaining the situation. The message noted that during the crisis, the company was posting updates to its Twitter account. Oh, so going forward, I can learn what's going on through your Twitter account? And that account name is . . .? Whoops -- you didn't include it!

It's obvious to me -- and by now, to this company, I hope -- that sending this "Yikes! We've been attacked!" message would have been more helpful to puzzled customers while the company was working to fix the problem. It doesn't need to be long -- two or three sentences is enough -- put it does need to be sent. And that message should inform us that we can stay current on the status of the problem by going to the company's Twitter page -- and giving us that complete, clickable URL.

It's likely that customers weren't informed about the cause of the problem until after the fact because the company wasn't prepared for a crisis. Not smart. Regardless of the size of your company, you're probably going to have a crisis of some sort at some point -- and you're going to have to communicate about it. Even sole practitioners are at risk -- what if you were in an accident and incapacitated or had a death in the family and had to leave town (and your projects) quickly? On the other hand, some companies are well-prepared to deal with the media when there's a crisis, but their crisis communications plan overlooks one of their most important audiences -- their customers. They focus on damage control with the press, assuming that it's okay for their clients to learn about it from the news. It's not.

Take the time to write down the procedures you need to follow during a crisis -- and make sure everyone involved in executing those steps has a copy of the plan. Imagine the various problems that could occur, and prepare accordingly. In the situation I've described here with my vendor, there was no need to communicate with the press, but what if the outage had been caused by an angry employee who not only sabotaged the company's operation but took employees hostage and was threatening violence, too? You'll want the police involved and you'll have no choice but to communicate with the press, as well. Do you know today how you would handle that? And does everyone else in the company?

You can find lots of good information about crisis communication planning on the Web. There are also several helpful books available, including Crisis Leadership Now and Keeping the Wolves at Bay. The size and depth of your plan and the level of detailed involved will depend on the nature of your business, potential problems, the size of your company, and so on. You might be able to write it yourself using common sense and logic. However you do it, just do it. And then run your business in a way that makes sure you'll never need it. Don't we all wish BP had done that?

Tiger Woods and Communicating in a Crisis

Whenever there's an awkward celebrity moment making headlines, I go in search of crisis communications expert Jonathan Bernstein's thoughts on the situation. Keeping tabs on Jonathan's perspectives on the crisis of the day -- this time, it's the Tiger Woods fiasco -- helps me learn how to react appropriately and productively in these situations. (It's a skill I hope I never need.)

Jonathan's words of wisdom appear this time in the Toronto Star: "It could be, `I had a fight with my wife. I drove off in a huff and lost control of my car.' If that's what happened, this would be over within 24 hours...."

Just a reminder: I've got some of JB's tips for communicating in a crisis at this link.

Why I Have to Stop Watching TV News

A local high school student committed suicide with a gun in the school bathroom this morning and how is it being handled by one local TV station? The focus is not on the tragedy and the family's loss. The focus is on parental outrage that (a) a student got a gun into school and (b) their children, in lockdown at the school, weren't allowed to use their cell phones to call parents.

Oy.

As a parent, I'm horrified that the news value here is not in the fact that a 17-year-old was so unhappy that he took his own life, or that the principal had to make that horrible call to the young man's parents telling them their son was gone. No. The news angle is that other parents are pissed off by the situation.

My heart goes out to this young man's family. I hope they are getting the hugs and support they need from those who are close to them because the general population sure doesn't seem too moved by the tragedy.

Tips for Talking to the Press in a Crisis

I recently hired crisis communications specialist Jonathan Bernstein to provide crisis media training to clients. We addressed how to handle interviews in general but focused on what to do when it's a bad news situation.

Here's some of what Jonathan shared with the group regarding how to answer questions. Some of it is counter-intuitive to those who haven't done many interviews before:

1. Attempt to get 3 good messages out during any interview. What do you want people to remember from the interview?
2. The goal of any interview is not to answer the reporter’s questions but to use them as opportunities to deliver your message.
3. Remember when answering questions that your ultimate audience is your client or customer.
4. Always answer the question you wish they asked, not the question that was actually asked. “Bridge” to your message by saying, “That’s a good question but it’s important to understand …” or “Before I answer that, I’d like to say…” Use politicians as your role models.
5. Before answering the reporter’s question, state your key message first, then respond to the question. When it's a TV interview, you don’t want the producer to have to dig for your message when editing the piece.
6. Say what you did, not what you didn’t do. Bad: “We did nothing wrong.” Good: “We did everything right.

Sign up for Jonathan's Crisis Manager newsletter at http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/.

When Your Spokesperson Becomes the News

After acknowledging to the media that a preliminary investigation showed the Metrolink engineer ran a red light before crashing into a freight train last week, Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell -- who got permission from the organization's chief executive to share that information -- has become part of the story.

Tyrrell, subjected to criticism from Metrolink leaders and others for sharing too much information too soon, resigned. CEO David Solow said he was "wrong" to give her permission to be frank with the press. And yet, companies are urged to tell the truth and tell it soon when there's a crisis. Isn't this what Tyrell did?

What would you have done in her shoes? And why?