The
Art of the Learning Opportunity: How to Recover From a Public Relations
Nightmare
Perhaps
the most important thing to keep in mind when operating a business in today's
digital age is that EVERY interaction you have with a customer, regardless of
how private you think it may be, is a public relations disaster waiting to
happen. The internet has brought us together as a society like never before, and
this brings with it both its positives and its negatives for organizations
everywhere. If someone has a great interaction with your business on the
internet, they can easily tell all their friends and family members about it
with a quick tweet or Facebook post. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true -
even a negative interaction with your customer service department on the
telephone can quickly balloon into a PR nightmare in a matter of hours if you're
not careful.
Because of this, it's best just to assume that EVERY
conversation you have with a customer is under public scrutiny at all times
(because it probably is). Even responding to what you believe to be an invalid
negative review of your business has the potential to turn quickly into a
lightning rod of controversy depending on where it falls in the news
cycle.
The Lessons Learned
For the sake of argument, let's say
you've found yourself in the middle of a PR nightmare due to a conversation with
a client that quickly went south. Maybe one of your customer service reps let
emotions get the best of them and what started as a routine call quickly turned
hostile, Now, the whole world seems to know about it. You can't take back what
has already happened, but you CAN use the lessons that you're about to learn as
the foundation of every decision you make moving forward.
For starters,
examine the situation to find out what you did right and, most importantly, what
you did wrong. The fact that you're in the midst of a public relations crisis
itself is not something you did "wrong" since popular opinion isn't necessarily
something you can control. However, look at the steps you had to take as a group
to get there. What problem did the customer call about in the first place? Why
did the conversation with your rep turn so negative so quickly? Why does this
single interaction seem to be capturing the attention of so many people at this
particular moment?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you can
then get started making it right. Note that this does not mean "fix the problem"
as in "make it go away." It means to do what you can to course correct and get
back on the path you want to be. Take the steps to educate your reps on how to
avoid these situations in the future. Take a look at the original problem that
the customer had with your product or service and, if valid, do something to fix
it. If the client took the conversation public on Facebook or Twitter, respond
the same way. Remember - all eyes are on you and customers who see a business
that is willing to own up to its "mistakes" and make them right are more likely
to show sympathy and compassion than if you try to take care of everything
behind closed doors.
For many businesses, a public relations nightmare is
not a question of "if" but "when." The key thing to take away from this
situation is that you have a unique opportunity that you can use to improve your
operations across the board. Even if you think you're in the right, there are
likely things that you could have done better, or you wouldn't be in this
situation in the first place. If you DON'T take this as a chance to learn some
very valuable lessons, you're wasting an opportunity to turn lemons into
lemonade from a business perspective.
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