When Bad Things Happen to a Good Company

Crisis communicators are pitching themselves as commentators today due to the big news from Japan. Toyota, one the world’s largest brands, is suffering its first big PR crisis all due to mangled communications. By issuing a recall on two-thirds of their inventory on the road without clearly informing their employees of talking points and the resolution process, Toyota has badly bruised their reputation.

The issue began last fall after an accident involving a sticky gas pedal killed a carload of passengers. Why didn’t they act sooner to solve the problem and then use transparent communications with employees and customers? It’s anyone’s guess.

The current crisis for this company will cost them in the hundreds of millions of dollars and that’s not to mention the loss in reputation. This has left sales teams scratching their heads, angry customers and embarrassed Toyota executives. There is one place that we know consumers are looking for information – the Toyota website. According to Alexa.com, traffic to the Toyota.com site has increased 20% in one day. Just three month ago it was down 3%.

The lesson in this?
• Solve problems as they happen
• Be transparent
• Coordinate both internal and external communications
• Pay close attention to your website information – it’s the front door to the company
• It may cost money to recall product, but reviving a brand is just as costly

“I Solve Problems”

Anyone who has watched the megahit Tarantino movie “Pulp Fiction” will remember the character Harvey Keitel plays in the movie - the enigmatic Winston Wolf. Winston is called in to clean up bad “situations”, has likely seen just about everything there is and can get things done efficiently and quickly. This character has been on my mind over the past few weeks based on discussions with colleagues who have stories about how agencies didn’t work out or unqualified consultants took a client for a long ride only to drop them off in on a deserted plain never to be seen again. Perhaps both client and service provider can learn from these stories, and more importantly learn to identify common issues as they arise and proactively solve for them.

So how can consultants and clients break the cycle and move towards a positive outcome? Answer: Understand the rules of engagement and best practices for professional engagement. What should clients know about their agency or practitioner before starting a professional relationship? How can we, together, produce a positive outcome? Based on my experience, here are my three areas of advice…

- Ask about agency/consultants strengths and you will also gain insight into weaknesses. It’s what they don’t say that will tell you what you need to know. More importantly, can you accept what they have to offer and what they lack? Acceptance is the key.
- Get an understanding of background for the principal’s that will work with your business. Have they walked a mile in your shoes as a client? Finding someone who understands both agency and client-side perspectives can be invaluable (disclaimer: I’m biased).
- Does your organization have the bandwidth to manage the relationship with a PR pro? We can’t go on autopilot and need to be involved in internal conversations (read: learn your business) to the extent that we can help develop a public voice and footprint for you. This means we can’t report to the CEO’s admin on a daily basis – we need to be aligned with an internal champion and professional who can speak our language. By determining how much time you can allocate, it will become clear as to whether or not an agency or a consultant makes sense.

Perhaps these guidelines can get us to a place where Mr. Wolf turns to into Mr. Clean?