Developing a Crisis Management Plan
Having a crisis plan is like buying insurance. Nobody wants to spend the money or invest the time until a crisis happens, and then everyone panics because they don’t know what to do. This can kill a company or destroy a brand. Making sure a plan (that outlines exactly what you’re going to do) is in place before something happens is a very worthwhile use of your time and money. The moment the crisis happens is the wrong time to come up with a plan.
You need to know simple things like answers to the following questions:
- Â Who makes the decisions?
- Â How do you get in touch with the CEO at home?
-  Who’s available? What if the crisis occurs at 3 a.m. in the Far East? Three key people — the head of PR, the head of legal, and the CEO — might need to talk in the middle of the night. If you have no plan in place, try to find them all at that hour and then try crafting a response. It’s not easy.
A crisis alert may come from different levels such as customer service, sales, e-commerce, international, and so on.
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