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Plan ahead to face a crisis
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August 16, 2000: 1:23 p.m. ET
Being well-prepared to handle a disaster is essential to your business
By Jane Applegate
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - When the Air France Concorde crashed in late July, killing 113, airline officials were immediately on the phone, radio and television, explaining, consoling and commenting on the tragedy. They were prepared for the worst and executed a detailed crisis management strategy, including dealing with hysterical relatives and the world press.
But, a few years ago, when a massive shelving unit fell on a woman shopper, crushing her to death, executives at a West Coast home improvement store lost control of the situation.
"It was a nightmare," recalls Christen Brown, a veteran media coach and president of On Camera based in West Los Angeles. "They didn't handle it well because they never anticipated anything like that would happen in their store."
No matter what kind of business you own or manage, and no matter how well things are going, odds are you may face some sort of a crisis. Your stock price can plummet, a terminated employee may return to the office with a gun, your bookkeeper might embezzle, your product could make someone ill, etc.
Have a written plan
Brown and other PR and media consultants recommend that every business -- big and small -- have a written crisis management plan, including designating a company spokesperson, making a list of media contacts and composing a detailed strategy for handling employee, media and community reaction.
"Make a list of all the possible scenarios and all the questions people would ask," advises Brown, a former TV reporter. "Once you know the questions, use role playing to rehearse the answers to those questions with the company spokesperson."
Being well-prepared to handle a disaster is essential to whether or not your company will survive a crisis, Brown said.
"In the case of the shelf collapse, you wouldn't want to say to a reporter, 'Oh my God! I told Joe to fix that last week,'" Brown said.
Robin Cohn, author of the new book, "The PR Crisis Bible" (St. Martin's Press, $24.95, available in October), managed the media after the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.
 "When I was head of PR for the airline, I handled the crash in Washington, D.C., hijackings and financial problems," Cohn said. "It was really a shame what happened to that airline. It was perceived that it went under due to the crash, but it really went under due to fast growth and the fact they couldn't manage the debt."
Cohn said most business owners and executives believe "it can't happen here."
"If I had a dollar for every time an executive said that to me, I'd be a rich woman," she said.
Consultants like Brown and Cohn charge $2,500 to $5,000 a day. A full-blown crisis media training program for a large company can cost up to $80,000.
All sorts of disasters can occur
Cohn said companies must be prepared for all sorts of potential disasters from a sexual harassment case to computer hackers.
 Your plant may burn down, an employee may be arrested for a serious crime or someone could be hurt at your business.
Cohn said she once helped a small restaurant deal with the press during a well-publicized case of alleged food poisoning.
"The restaurant managers invited the media in to see the kitchen and paid all the medical bills for the ill person," she recalled. "They showed compassion and concern for the person with the problem. When it turned out the food hadn't made the person sick, they wound up looking even better."
Look out for employee morale
She warns business owners to be on the lookout for low employee morale.
"Disgruntled employees are more likely to go to the media or go on the Internet to complain," she said. "And, if something has gone wrong, tell employees about it. Don't let them find out by watching TV."
Cohn and other media consultants often play the hostile news reporter when working with executives in their training sessions.
"I ask very, very hard questions," she said. "They have to learn that the press will ask the worst possible questions and they have to come up with an answer ... without losing their temper."
(Jane Applegate, a syndicated columnist and author of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, covers small business for CNNfn. "Succeeding in Small Business" appears on CNNfn.com on Wednesdays.) 
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