Last month, we wrote a series of blogs about crisis communications after a network newscast led people to make angry phone calls to one of our clients. The news report does not mention our client. However, the story discusses another business with a contract with our client. And some of the visuals in the news story reveal that business relationship to viewers.
The crisis appeared to have passed until the network re-aired the story on a different news program. This time, more angry people called than before. Some swore during their voice mails. Others included profanity in their emails. Our client was concerned.
We agreed on a balanced approach. Our client will not overreact and bring unnecessary attention to himself, but he will not bury his head in the sand. While he and his legal representation re-evaluated the contractual relationship with the business in the news story, we recommended he immediately attempt to respond to the callers who were so concerned, they called cursing. We provided him with a series of key points he should consistently make.
Caller ID and email addresses allowed our client to try to respond. Initially, some of our client’s return calls rang and rang and no one answered. But overall, the effort appeared to pay off. Our client spoke with the callers that left messages. They were impressed he called back. One of the callers is in the same industry and actually is interested in helping our client with his business. His opinion turned around.
Even the angriest callers are willing to forgive a perceived wrong if a business communicates with them directly and genuinely tries to explain itself. People usually respect those strong enough to stand up during a storm instead of hiding in a hole. And when these callers share their story with friends, perhaps the plot will change to a positive one.