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A case study on how to deal with a crisis.
A case study on how to deal with a crisis.
Part of the manager’s role is to deal effectively with crises. This case study looks at how one company dealt with a crises affecting its customer service and identifies important lessons of crisis management.
Chipping Norton,
Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom
(pr4links.com)
14/04/2011
Part of any managers role is dealing with crises. Consider the following scenario, taken from a case study in a management training course. In a small, up-and-coming supply company the telephones are ringing constantly. One of the drivers of the company’s lorries, who was en route delivering an urgent cargo order, has just phoned the office to say that he has broken down on the motorway. Anxious customers are ringing frantically asking what has happened to their deliveries. The customer service staff who are taking the calls are being threatened with compensation claims because of failure to deliver.What would you do in this kind of situation? If you don’t manage the situation your hard-won customers may bale out and decide to do all future business with your competition. Perhaps you could transform this crisis into an image-building exercise?
If you manage to deal effectively with a crisis, it can lead to improved customer relations. A crisis provides you the opportunity to:
Demonstrate your competence and superiority under aggravating circumstances. The client sees that you are able to remedy serious problems and reduce damage with ease. S/he then knows that s/he can rely on you if his/her own company should encounter difficulties or problems.
Get to know the client and their requirements better. In a crisis situation, such as the late or non-delivery of scheduled orders, you are often able to learn more about the workings of the client’s company than you could do in every day dealings. This knowledge helps you to be better able to accommodate his/her requirements in the future.
But what exactly is successful crisis management? Imagine the following response to the above case study. The Customer Service Manager picks up the telephone and contacts several courier services, in order to ascertain which of them can take over the delayed deliveries the fastest. Without considering the price, she charters as many vans as are necessary to continue the deliveries on time or with the minimum delay possible from the company that can assure her that it can take charge of the operation in the shortest period of time. The drivers are commissioned to pick up the orders from the broken-down lorry and take them to their destinations. Time is the most important factor, the cost is immaterial at this stage.
Whilst this is going on the customer service manager calls all the customers with deliveries due that day - even those who have not lodged a complaint. She explains the situation to them, telling them that by commissioning a courier service the amount of time they will have to wait for their order has been reduced. She also listens to any issues the clients may have and discusses compensation for any resulting loss of production.This management training case study is actually based on a real organisation which practised the above strategy. This business did not lose one single customer as a result of the crisis. The personal participation of the management team and the fast reaction to the damage done convinced their clients that the company was reliable. Interestingly, there were no compensation claims either.
After successfully dealing with this crisis the sales management of the supply company decided on taking special action. The sales manager visited all the clients affected by the broken-down lorry incident. He apologised for the breakdown and found out if it had been possible to meet the delivery deadline by calling in the courier service.
The sales manager successfully used this golden opportunity to find out if the clients were happy with his company’s overall service. He also sought suggestions for any improvements they thought could be made. He made a note of all the suggestions and, after completing his customer visitsr, arranged for these suggestions to be investigated.
After a few weeks the clients who had been affected by the lorry breakdown received a letter listing the measures which had been taken based on their suggestions. These included additional mechanical checks of the lorry delivering to them, a new direct dial telephone number specifically for any complaints, suggestions or delivery re-arrangements.
Sometimes the best ideas emerge at times of crisis. If you are faced with a crisis like the one in the example above and you can convey to the client how important he is by doing everything in your power to remedy the situation and fulfil his requirements, then you will have a good chance of being in a better position after the crisis than prior to the incident.
Breakdowns can, and do, happen any time to anyone. By showing your customers that you can come to grips with a crisis and use the opportunity presented to strengthen customer relations, you will emerge stronger from the crisis. You can also help prepare your managers to deal effectively with crises by providing effective management training.
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