Author: Jonathan & Erik Bernstein

Late deliveries meant angry customers for the two major package carries

The days surrounding Christmas see, hands down, the most package deliveries of the year, most of which are delivered by the two major carriers – FedEx and UPS. This year, both took a major battering in the reputation department when an overloaded system resulted in some packages “guaranteed” to arrive by Christmas Eve failing to make their destination in time.

Both companies issued ho-hum apologies, with UPS stating:

“We’re terribly sorry, the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network immediately preceding Christmas so some shipments were delayed. We know how hard it is for everyone to receive their holiday packages (Ed: shouldn’t this read “receive their holiday packages late? We don’t think anyone was hating the ones that arrived on time…), and we’re working around the clock to resolve this issue.”

FedEx’s apology was much of the same, also calling the sheer volume of packages being pushed through shipping systems an “extraordinary event.”

While UPS is offering refunds to some customers who were impacted, experts say this crisis may have been beyond their control. Forbes’ Robert Bowman interviewed former shipping industry exec Jerry Hempstead, who laid much of the blame on a severe snowstorm that left UPS’ Lousville hub deadlocked, as well as unrealistic delivery promises from online retailers like Amazon:

“When you have hubs that are affected by weather, trucks can’t get in and out, but the shippers don’t stop shipping,” said Hempstead. “They just keep loading up the network.”

UPS added 55,000 temporary employees to handle the holiday peak, while FedEx took on an additional 25,000 workers. UPS also reportedly chartered 23 more planes and acquired extra trucks to manage the surge.

Consumers blasted the carriers for failing to live up to service commitments, but both suspend their service guarantees between December 17 and 26, Hempstead said. Bad weather also cancels any guarantees that are specified in their tariffs. It was e-tailers such as Amazon.com that unconditionally promised delivery by Christmas, in some cases for orders placed as late as 11 p.m. on December 23.

In fact, that same article reports online sales in the weekend before Christmas being up nearly 40% over 2012, a number that surprised even those tracking the skyrocketing popularity of e-shopping.

What should they have done?

What crisis management steps could UPS and FedEx have taken to reduce the impact of this situation?

First off, simply letting people know what was going on ahead of time would have made a difference. We’re not talking the automated shipping status updates anyone can see when they track a package, but a blog post, YouTube video, open letter, etc. that informed stakeholders regarding the issue, showed compassion, and explained in plain terms what the companies were doing to rectify the mistakes that had been made.

Speaking of plain terms, sentences like, “the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network” are bound to turn people off. Avoid anything that remotely reeks of jargon, especially when it comes to an apology.

Finally, how about showing some competence? From an objective standpoint, the folks at UPS and FedEx do appear to know their business, but their crisis communications failed to show it. Letting stakeholders know that they added 25,000+ workers the moment they spotted a problem would have been smart, and likely reduced the impression of incompetence many were left with. The fact that this figure is mentioned in almost no communications or reporting regarding the story is a major crisis communications fail in and of itself.

In the end, there aren’t a whole lot of other options out there besides UPS and FedEx, meaning they have a loooong way to fall before they’re in any serious trouble. At the same time, there’s no sense in allowing mistakes to result in a paper-thin reputation “shield”, something that every organization should be careful to preserve in case of an incredibly damaging incident.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll absolutely continue to say it in 2014, make sure your crisis communications express the Three C’s – Confidence, Competence and Compassion – if you want to see success.

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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 Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

The park’s PR team is sure to be blubbering after it’s revealed someone tried to tip the scales on an Orlando Business Journal poll

The Orlando Business Journal has busted SeaWorld making a whale of a crisis management mistake – stacking an online poll that asks whether the “Blackfish” documentary has changed reader’s perception of the park!

Reporter Richard Bilbao was surprised when 99% of voters said the film, which already created loads of PR headaches for SeaWorld, has had no impact on their perceptions, and decided to investigate. Here, he shares the results of a simple IP trace:

…imagine our surprise when we noticed that one single Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) accounted for more than 54 percent of the votes, or about 180 of the total 328 votes. IP Addresses are typically unique Internet identifiers given to a computer or series of devices — say a multi-computer network in your office.

And who’s the owner of the domain name and company that address belong to? SeaWorld.com and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.

C’mon SeaWorld, ballot-stuffing? Is that the best you can do? Using underhanded methods only furthers the negative angle pushed by the creators of “Blackfish” – namely that SeaWorld is an uncaring, irresponsible organization.

This story is still developing, and SeaWorld execs have promised Bilbao a response by the end of the day, most likely after a frenzied internal investigation. Of course this could have been done by an overly zealous employee as opposed to anyone actually being ordered by the company, but to say SeaWorld’s got some ‘splainin to do is an understatement.

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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 Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

[Editor’s note: The following post was shared with us by colleague Rene A. Henry, author, journalist, and business expert]

Major banks should thank Congress for replacing them at the bottom of the list the American public least trusts and respects. But it seems whatever they continue to do, most can’t seem to get it right.

The CEOs and governing boards obviously are hoping the American public will forget how many banks altered legal documents, forged signatures, manipulated Libor, piled hidden fees on their customers, deceived borrowers with subprime mortgages, and when they got into financial trouble, asked Congress to use $700 billion of taxpayer money to bail them out.

Just following the rules of basic common sense and good old fashioned common courtesy, it translates into customer service. But customer service is an oxymoron to most in the banking and financial service business.

I did not expect the CEO of a major bank to deliberately mislead or deceive me.

I was concerned whether or not an email was legitimate or a phishing scam and could not find any contact in security at Bank of America so I wrote CEO Brian T. Moynihan and asked that it be forwarded to someone in security. I also wrote him that I was an author and journalist and would like to be in contact with the bank’s public relations department.

I did not expect Moynihan to see my letter but I did expect his gate keeper – they prefer to be called executive assistants – to “listen” and read my letter and forward a copy to security and notify someone in PR. When I finally got a response it was from someone with the title of “customer advocate” who said she worked in the office of the president. This individual was based in Newark, Delaware, some 400 miles from Moynihan’s office in Charlotte, N.C.

Why did Bank of America lie to me? Why not just have the individual who responded just let me know that my letter was forwarded to her and she is responding to help me anyway she could? I would have had more respect for the bank if I had been told the truth and showed it was concerned and wanted to help.

This must be a common practice with bank CEOs who seem to act more like greedy Henry F. Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore, who was George Bailey’s nemesis in the 1946 movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Jimmy Stewart played the role of Bailey. A couple of years ago I wrote John G. Stumpf, president and CEO of Wells Fargo in San Francisco, and had a response from a young man in Des Moines, Iowa who claimed to be in Stumpf’s office. I wonder if the two have even met.

Once I’ve been lied to, I never know when a person or company is ever telling the truth. We do need more bankers like Jimmy Stewart’s Bailey. Where I find such bankers is at the base of the pyramid, my local bank. In my latest book about customer service, I praise my Madison Park branch of Wells Fargo and my mortgage banker and his team, for their extraordinary customer service. Normally customer service leadership starts at the top.

Everyone has a horror story to tell about a bank. One of the most egregious is one told by Seattle Times staff columnist Danny Westneat about Marion Dohoney, an 85-year-old woman who had been a customer of one bank for 62 years, and now was going to be charged $25 a month to continue doing business there. Her first and only checking account was with First National Bank that became Seafirst which was taken over by Bank of America. “Nothing will get you pining for the old days like a form letter from your megalith bank saying they plan to start charging you $300 a year for the privilege of keeping your money there,” was the way Westneat quoted Dohoney in his column.

Maybe to get customer service from some banks these days you need to use the power of social media. My good friend Marvin was given the total runaround by TD Bank in New Jersey – first at the branch, then from their 800 numbers and finally from the TD website. So he then asked for help from his son, a prominent award-winning author and journalist. His son posted this on the bank’s Twitter site: “After receiving inaccurately printed checks from #TD Bank_US, my father was forced to bring in my mother’s death certificate to correct.”

The son immediately received calls from the Bergen County regional manager and the local bank’s manager who corrected the problem. That evening, my friend received a large basket of fruit with the apologies of the branch manager. While very appreciative, Marv said the next time he has a complaint that will be posted on Twitter he’ll let them know he’s in need of caviar and blinis!

CEOs and especially their gate keepers need to spend more time with their employees in local branch offices to truly understand customer service. And we need more George Baileys running our banks.

Rene A. Henry is an author and journalist who lives in Seattle. His latest book, “Customer Service: the cornerstone of success,” should be a must read for any senior executive and his summary of basic rules should be adopted as company policy. He writes on a variety of subjects and many are posted on his website, www.renehenry.com.

Leaving room for confusion is a crisis management mistake

Not having clear policies, and training your employees on what to do when a situation falls “outside the box” can create a need for crisis management. A historic Cincinnati cemetery found itself in a pickle after initially allowing, then removing, a headstone featuring a seven foot tall depiction of SpongeBob SquarePants. PRDaily’s Matt Wilson shared more info on the situation:

The family of Iraq war veteran Kimberly Walker has gone public with its story of the cemetery’s decision to remove her headstone, which depicts her favorite cartoon character, SpongeBob, in an Army uniform with Walker’s name and rank.

The headstone went up Oct. 10, eight months after Walker, 28, was found killed in a Colorado hotel room. A day later, the family says, the cemetery opted to take it down along with one very similar to it, placed for Walker’s living twin sister, despite giving prior approval to the designs.

The cemetery’s president has reportedly told USA Today simply, “We’ve decided that they aren’t appropriate for our historic cemetery and they can’t be displayed here.”

Difficult situation, right? Already in the article comments PRDaily readers are stating they would be upset if they came across this gravestone near the resting place of their loved ones, and if Spring Grove’s reputation really is as a traditional, historic cemetery then they are risking major stakeholder upheaval should they allow SpongeBob to stay. On the other hand, they agreed to the gravestone, and even though reports are Walker’s family will be reimbursed there’s likely a lot of emotional investment that simply can’t be refunded. While we can’t say what the solution will be, either way it’s going to cost the cemetery.

How do you avoid a similar situation? When it comes to policy, be it retail returns or cemetery gravestone styles, you need to have established, written policies which explain exactly what is and is not allowed. Not only that, but your employees also need to be trained (and regularly re-trained) to follow said guidelines. Now, blindly adhering to guidelines without considering situational specifics can be dangerous as well, which is why you need to ensure each and every person who represents your organization understands how to politely pass a stakeholder up the chain should they have an outside-the-box request.

Having a contrast between what an employee says and what the rules actually are is a slippery slope that often leads to crisis. Establish clear guidelines, train religiously, and avoid this pitfall altogether.

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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 Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Failing to protect your constituents isn’t good for the reputation

The FDA can’t figure out what exactly is sending hundreds of dogs and cats to the vet, but they know it’s related to the popular jerky treats sold by many big brands. Unfortunately, that information alone isn’t enough to keep them off store shelves, leaving the FDA between a rock and a hard place.

Exactly how many pets have been affected? NBC News’ JoNel Aleccia reports:

Nearly 600 pets have died and more than 3,600 have been sickened in an ongoing, mysterious outbreak of illnesses tied to jerky treats made in China, federal animal health officials said Tuesday.

Unable to solve the situation alone, the FDA is crowdsourcing its crisis management, sending vets around the country this message asking them to submit information about any suspected jerky pet-treat related illnesses. They’ve also created a website for the public to submit reports and find the latest information on the situation.

This is good, but, as with any crisis situation, there is only so long treating the symptoms will fly. The FDA needs to find a way to stop the problem, or its (let’s face it, already shaky) reputation will accrue more serious damage.

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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 Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]