Disasters that could ruin the reputation of your business can happen at any time and are sometimes impossible to predict or prevent. When dealing with a crisis, it can be easy for business owners to throw in the towel. However, it is still possible to salvage your brand even in the worst situations. Here are some tips any business can use to recover after a crisis.
Be Transparent about the Nature of the Crisis and make Amends
Depending on the crisis in question, you’ll have to make sure that all the steps necessary to remedy the situation are taken to prevent it from occurring again. If you’re dealing with the loss of data, you should make sure you at least inform your employees of the situation so they understand what is happening. Loss of data could easily be construed as a breach of data, which are completely different issues.
In the case of loss of data, for instance, be sure to inform your customers that none of their data has been compromised. You should also do everything in your power to retrieve the information and work with a data recovery company. Data recovery prices vary from supplier to supplier, but you should work with a reputable team with a track record for results first and foremost.
Once everything has been made to retrieve your clients’ information, make sure that you inform them of what measures you will be taking from now on to prevent this issue from recurring. This might include working with a remote data center or having stricter safeguarding and backup policies. Either way, make sure you are transparent every step of the way.
Take Full Ownership of the Mistake
The worst thing you could do in the face of a crisis is to play the blame game. We’ve all come across someone at one point in our lives who completely refused to take any kind of responsibility for their mistakes. And we all remember the feeling we had working with this type of individual. Now, imagine how the public would react if your business acted in the same manner?
In the long run, you will gain more allies if you own your mistakes up front and don’t shift the blame to divert the negative attention you’re getting. Many workplace studies have shown that the results of being pushed under the bus were far more disastrous than owning up to mistakes up front. The biggest mistake would be to try to strategize and formulate a well-crafted excuse for the incident or go into defensive mode. Admitting your faults up front not only shows commitment but will instill trust that you will do whatever it takes to amend your errors.
Conclusion
As you can see, brands can be saved if disasters are dealt with correctly. First and foremost, identify the nature of the crisis and be completely transparent with your clients. Inform them every step of the way of the procedures taken to resolve the situation and give them a clear rundown on the progress. Also, don’t make the mistakes of shifting the blame if you are at fault, this will ruin any chance of gaining back the trust of your customer base and ruin any genuine effort to rebuild your brand.