Bullet-Proof Your Business – Don’t damage your reputation
July 21, 2014
By Jerry Bellune
Community relations can make or break you.
Dodging the media is a major mistake.
Don’t even think about doing it.
As an owner, answer the media immediately.
Many are working on deadline.
Stalling only makes you look untrustworthy.
If you have no answers yet, say so.
You might respond to a call about a problem this way:
“Thank you. I appreciate your call.
“We’re working on it. I don’t have all the details yet.
“I’ll get back to you with answers as quickly as I can.”
Note their contact info . . . and get back to them.
Food Lion made this mistake.
Reporters took hidden cameras into a Food Lion store,
Without managers’ knowledge, they took videos.
They filmed meat being picked up off the floor.
It was packaged and put out for sale to customers.
If you saw the videos, you know it was disgusting.
How could you trust butchers who would do this?
When confronted, Food Lion tried to dodge the issue.
It made them only look worse to customers.
It cost the company millions in lost business.
Johnson & Johnson did not make this mistake.
You may recall the Tylenol murders of 1982.
Authorities quickly figured out what had happened.
Someone had tampered with the bottles.
At least seven died from poisoned Tylenol capsules.
Johnson & Johnson immediately went public.
The company pulled the product off the market.
They warned customers not to take the capsules.
They offered to refund everyone’s purchase price.
They offered $100,000 for the killer’s capture.
To this day, no one has been caught and convicted.
But the company showed how to deal with a crisis.
Recommended reading
My new book is “What It Costs to Be the Boss.”
It is all about leadership in business and in life.
It gives you a blueprint for successful leadership.
It shows you how to build loyalty and trust.
It shows how to retain your most valuable clients.
It shows how to foster innovation and productivity.
For a copy, email me at [email protected]
Next: How to become a community leader.
© 2014 The Bellune Company, Inc.
Neither MidlandsBiz.com nor The Bellune Company, Inc. makes any warranty as to the results that may be achieved from using this information. Requests for permission to reprint or circulate may be obtained by emailing [email protected]
