What do you do when market research presents you with an unfortunate reality? Perhaps the reality that customers who used to flock to your tables don’t like what you’ve become? If you’re Carraba’s you make lemons into lemonade, and put out a message letting people know they’ve been heard. Any time you fall on the wrong side of stakeholder’s expectations they want to know three things – what happened, that understand why they’re unhappy, and what exactly you’re going to do to set things right. Answer those three and generally you’ll have a solid message that can often serve as the base for a great direct marketing piece as well.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is vice president for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]
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