Communicating When A Crisis Strikes
How would you handle communication if your business or practice
got into a crisis situation?
I was pleasantly surprised when my Internet service provider
responded competently and quickly to a technical crisis. And, we
can learn to communicate more effectively by studying its
response.
The crisis occurred when hackers attacked its system at the same
time that the company was upgrading its systems to meet
increased customer demand. And while customers experienced no
dramatic shutdowns, some customers faced delays and difficulty
getting online.
In response, the company quickly sent out a newsletter
containing a single article, an open letter from the president.
First, the president acknowledged there had been a problem. And,
the company took responsibility for the problem. While it
attributed at least some of the problems to malicious hackers,
it nonetheless took responsibility for the system's integrity.
Most of us find it refreshing when a company steps up and does
those two things. It communicates self-confidence and it
communicates sincere concern for customers. All too often,
organizations make poor excuses or point fingers at suppliers
and customers; that just makes customers more dissatisfied.
Second, the company apologized. In the first sentence of the
article, the president said he was sorry for disruptions that
subscribers had experienced over the preceding two weeks.
By doing that he allowed his readers to get through the rest of
the letter with less resistance. They weren't mentally
concocting rebuttals - they were reading what he had to say.
That's crucial any time you want to make an important point.
Third, after taking responsibility and apologizing, the
president explained what the company was doing to fix the system.
His description of the fixes also took the right tack. He made
no attempt to describe the technical nature of the fixes, nor
did he try to impress us with how hard he and his people had
worked. He simply explained that backup and warning systems were
being put into place, and should prevent further outages from
the same sources.
Fourth, he promised that the affected customers would get two
weeks of free service, to compensate for their inconvenience.
That's an excellent way to communicate a company's sincerity.
While the apology and acknowledgment would satisfy many
customers, the offer of compensation underlined a genuine
interest in customer satisfaction.
So, this effective communication strategy had four parts: first,
it acknowledged the problem and took responsibility for it;
second, it offered an apology; third, it explained what it was
doing to fix the problem; and fourth, it offered compensation to
those who had been affected.
Of course, simply communicating in a crisis situation won the
company some recognition. And having communicated well made the
initiative that much effective.
In summary, crisis situations make special communication demands
on organizations. This company rose to the occasion by not only
fixing the problem, but also by communicating effectively with
the people who were affected.