Get The Good News Out Fast And The Bad News Out Faster
This column is scheduled to run in the Capital Press in the Summer of 2006I have been on the road for most of the summer working out supply-chain problems for one of my clients who produces a perishable product. They are currently doing business with several of the largest players in the food industry. They are a green company and their product is both outstanding and sustainable, and the premium price that they charge reflects both of these facts.
At the beginning of the summer, my client was informed by their primary distributor that they would have to change packers immediately. All of the sudden, their current packing house was no longer approved by the distributor, and they were forced to find a new approved packing house while in the middle of harvest. In this highly time-critical situation there very few choices and even less margin for error. It was definitely a worst case scenario.
Up to this point, my client had done an outstanding job of tailoring their product to meet their customer’s needs. They had essentially let the market dictate what products they should create and this strategy had worked; they had many dedicated customers who were committed to helping them succeed. Unfortunately, my client’s new packer had a difficult time handling their product and their products’ changed significantly. In one fell swoop, a perfect product became a major problem and a year’s worth of good will and outstanding work evaporated. Suddenly, issues that had been resolved long ago, like pricing and product formulations, resurfaced with renewed vigor. Customer relationships were strained and orders were cancelled.
My client and I have scrambled all summer to regain both the credibility and the good will that they had built with their customers. I have had to explain why the product changed without complaining and without blaming the distributor. Herein lies the lesson that I have learned this summer: when your name is on something, any problem that exists with that something is your problem.
In business, as in life, there are always problems. In a situation where your name or your brand is associated with a problem, your reaction and your response to that problem can either sink your brand or save it. Here are a few truths that I have learned the hard way: get the good news out fast and the bad news out faster, deliver the good news anyway you can but always deal with the bad news in person.
When you encounter problems that affect your customers, let your clients know what is happening as soon as poss
Ill will breeds in silence. It can make the smallest of problems colossal and it can resurrect even the deadest of issues. ible. Offer full explanations for your problems and clearly communicate what you are doing to rectify thee situation and to prevent it from happening again,
Ill will breeds in silence and it can make the smallest of problems colossal. Ill will also has the miraculous power to resurrect even the deadest of issues. By dealing with bad news in a swift and decisive manner, you can make things right before they spiral out of control. Good news can be handled casually, but problems demand the most immediate attention.
[+/-] read/hide this post
posted by Brian J. Kenny @ 3:33 PM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home