Fact: Approximately 40% of all businesses that experience a crisis or disaster never re-open.  Almost 30% of those that do re-open, close within 2 years.

I bet it’s safe to say that none of you wishes you were Tiger Woods right now.  He’s grabbed all of the major headlines recently for the wrong reasons.  And here in Indianapolis, there have been several businesses and business owners that suddenly became household names and grabbed a few of those national headlines themselves – again for the wrong reasons.  Marcus Schrenker was a local business man who allegedly scammed several clients out of millions of dollars. When he was about to get caught, he allegedly devised a plan to fake his own death by ditch his personal airplane. He parachuted out, his plane crashed, and he was eventually caught.   It didn’t work out so well.  Like many others, Woods and Schrenker each experienced a crisis of their own doing.

But what happens when YOU suddenly find yourself and/or YOUR business in a crisis?  Maybe you’ve had a few “transgressions” and you’re about to be outed.  Maybe you didn’t handle a customer service issue correctly.  An employee might have done something to cause the public to take an unfavorable view of your company.  Or a product you sell may have caused injury or illness to others.  No matter how minor or major the crisis, if handled the wrong way, it can become financially and personally devastating. 

Personally, I’ve been there.  I owned a local, high-profile business several years ago that failed because  I took a financial risk… and lost.  I had to close that business suddenly for financial reasons.  Customers were upset, employees were angry, investors were disappointed and even a few of my family members were put in the awkward position of fielding questions they couldn’t answer.  I felt horrible.

But what minimized the damage was the fact that I had a crisis communication plan in place.  It was something I learned early on in my career working for other businesses that experienced a crisis.  I documented various scenarios just in case something happened.  So when I knew that I had to close my business over a weekend, I put my plan into place.  I personally called the people that needed to know including employees, investors and my attorney; those weren’t easy calls to make.  Then I called a reporter that I had gotten to know at the local newspaper and told her that I was emailing her a press release that contained the only public comment that I would make.  The next morning, the story about my business closing made the front page and was broadcast on television and radio (they used the newspaper as their source).  And the carefully-crafted statement I issued in the press release ran without edits. 

Instead of the media making up stories about what might have happened and sensationalizing the issue, people got an honest and succinct statement from me. End of story. What could have been a major, burning story simply fizzled out within a day or two. 

Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in other situations where I’ve helped manage the flow of information, issued statements to the media and coached others on how to respond to a list of likely questions.  The coaching is key because I can’t always be in the room or around when a reporter ambushes my client.

I encourage any business owner to have a crisis communication plan in place.  You should have the following documentation ready at all times:

1. Contact List for your crisis management team
Your team should include the CEO, key executives, public relations & marketing leaders, legal department/attorney and security.  Have their personal, home, and cell phone numbers as well as email address and social networking info.

2. Spokesperson
Depending on the crisis, assign an “official” spokesperson and let them do their job. This person should be able to remain calm under pressure and understand the situation so they can provide information as needed.

3. Company Information
Have facts sheets available for your company including history, executives (including biographies), photos, company logos, and scanned signatures of your CEO.

4. Pre-written Scripts and Answers
 Have everyone read the answers and have them available. NEVER say, “No comment”.  If you don’t know, can’t answer, or shouldn’t answer, simply say… “I (we) don’t have that information available at this time.  As soon as it becomes available I (we) will let you know.”

5. Media and Other Contacts
This list is important.  It should include people in the media, your industry, your geographic area, business complex, and government (local, state & national) that you trust.  Notify those people who are on a “need –to-know” basis before they learn from the media or as soon as humanly possible.

Important Tip

As a business owner, it’s not wise for you to become involved in a crisis communication plan as a spokesperson.  Most likely, you are emotionally invested.  In an emotionally charged situation, you may not be able to separate yourself from the situation and could bring more harm to your and your company’s reputation.  It’s okay to be involved, but let your public relations, marketing and legal teams do their jobs.