20 Ways to Build & Protect Reputation during COVID-19
20 Ways to Build & Protect Reputation during COVID-19 As we face the localized impact of COVID-19’s global public health crisis, it is vital that leaders recognize that these are times that can either build up or tear down your and your brand’s reputation. It’s your choice and will be dictated by whether a proactive or reactive strategy is implemented. For some leaders, this may be the first major crisis you have faced in your executive post. For others, this may be another notch on your crisis management belt. Regardless of what camp you are in, I can assure you from my more than two decades of crisis management work, that every crisis is its own beast – and must be planned for and addressed in that manner. I have helped many organizations and leaders find reputational opportunity in the face of adversity – and to be clear, that does not mean being opportunistic and taking advantage of people! What I mean is that these are times when leaders have the opportunity to draw closer to their customers and employees. There are opportunities to become more than a service provider, an association organization, or an entertainment destination. These are times when you can become more than the product or service you deliver or provide. You can become a resource of comfort, understanding, healing, inspiration, and solutions, that will deliver huge reputational dividends both during and after a crisis. Many of you have already begun to implement customer and employee Social Distancing protocols. For those that do not have internal systems in place, it’s easy for this to become a follow-the-leader scenario. But remember, your organization is not a follow-the-leader brand, is it? Of course not. Below is a 20-point crisis resource for you and your team to review and use. I’d urge you to consider how you can implement this in your own way to build, protect, and strengthen your reputation and, ultimately, your business. I broke this resource into two key buckets as the majority of crisis work falls within these two areas of work – communication and customer service – and encompass a large percentage of key audiences to address. Communication Never speculate during a crisis situation to your employees or customers; it is acceptable, when questioned, to say that you/your team are gathering information to ensure it is accurate. Then, you must deliver on this as soon as you can. Media training for one, designated representative must be done to ensure that key messages are effectively delivered and best represent the brand and its values. Those messages could include your company’s safety protocols, customer service channels, working with local health authorities, etc. Regular internal employee communication is absolutely critical to snuff out rumors. Remember that speculation breeds in the absence of information. Senior leadership should set up and use internal communications channels and alert your employees that leadership will be providing updates, perhaps daily or weekly. Social Media is a vital channel for communication and should be used to deliver updates for customers or other key stakeholders. Ensure that you have a senior executive reviewing all corporate […]
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2 Critical Components to Rebuild a Reputation
I am often asked if a person or company can recover from a reputation crisis. The simple answer is, “yes”, but the effort and discipline it takes to do so is not that simple and is solely up to the individual or the leadership of an organization to act upon two vital elements – consistency and time. While reputations are fragile, and once cracked can never quite be put exactly back together, recovery can be achieved if there is genuine and transparent acknowledgement of what was done, if there is clear and consistent behavior to make amends, and this is done (again) consistently over time. Robert Downey Jr., comes to mind when I think of a person who rose to prominence, fell, and then repaired his reputation to find success (and work in Hollywood) again. Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol brand is another example of a brand that lost confidence among consumers, but through diligent and consistent efforts, earned that trust back to regain its place as a global category leader, and a product welcomed back in people’s homes. Consistency – the key here is to recognize what actions or behaviors led to the reputation issue, make the proper amends, and then outline the ways in which you or your company will move forward in an authentic way to demonstrate your intent to regain trust and reputation – day in and day out! Downey Jr., took time to rehab his body from the addiction to drugs while also nurturing his mind and spirit to focus on what would be meaningful in his life and surrounding himself with like-minded people. People soon saw that he was consistently working to make amends and move forward in a positive manner. I’m not saying that the Iron Man franchise would not have happened without him, but there’s no question that his involvement and talent made it a blockbuster! Time – people can be skeptical as well as forgiving, so the critical element here is consistent behavior over time. Commitment to a vision of regaining reputation is what will drive the consistent behavior over time. Repetition (not only in how I ended the last two sentences) is the key to turning skeptics into supporters and from supporters to potential advocates. Tylenol’s emergence from the cyanide tampering in the 1980s is an example of not only acting quickly (another form of time – see this story for the power of time), but also how leadership focused on creating a tamper-proof solution that would continue to demonstrate trust and reliability over time. If you or your company have been caught in a reputation crisis, it does not signal the end! However, it will take deliberate planning to outline what must be done differently, clear communication to your family, friends, colleagues, customers or other key constituents as to what will be done differently moving forward, and then ‘walking the walk‘ each and every day! Easier said than done, but your future and your reputation are more than worth the work! Don’t you think?
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“Signs, Signs, Everywhere There’s Signs!”
“Why didn’t I see that coming?” “How’d that happen?” “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?” I was driving the other day and while stopped at a red light I looked over at the car next to me and saw a mother in the driver’s seat showing flash cards to her teenage son. As the mom continued to show him the flash cards, he continued to stare out the passenger seat window at the sky. She began to shake them at him. Fed up and visibly frustrated, she threw the cards in the back of the car by the time the light turned green! Clearly this had been going on for a while and clearly she was angry that the boy was ignoring what she was trying to show him. What struck me about this scene was that this happens to us every day. People try to show us something, tell us something, make us aware of something – and how often do we not listen? The reality is that we more than often hear what we want to hear, or worse yet, aren’t present when the person tells us something that might just help us avert disaster – whether that is to our career, our finances, a relationship or our reputations. I’m not suggesting we take every bit of advice from every person with whom we encounter. However, I do suggest that we identify the core people in our lives whose insight and feedback matter to us. These are the people who will risk telling us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear because they truly care about us. These are the people who will show us the flash cards while we are, perhaps, looking out the passenger seat window. They may even shake them to get our attention. Ok, so here’s your sign … will you be that teenager and eventually have the flash cards thrown to the back of the car? Or, will you stop, be present and see and listen to what signs are being shown to you? As with most things in life, the choice is yours! For some additional thoughts on the power of being present, click here to read one of my favorite stories about my experience with Lenny Kravitz!
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10 Eye-Opening Reputation Statistics For Every Leader and Entrepreneur
10 Eye-Opening Reputation Statistics for Every Leader and Entrepreneur Winning in the Reputation Economy requires leaders, entrepreneurs and any individual looking for success to be vigilant in growing, protecting and leveraging one of their greatest assets – their reputations! Every day we see, hear or read about people who are not paying attention to how their actions and decisions are negatively impacting their business, careers and organizations. A critical key is understanding the ways in which our reputations are tied to every aspect of our lives – and the positive, as well as negative, impact it will have over our ability to succeed. Shakespeare even knew the power of reputations – “Defend your reputation, or say farewell to your good life forever.” My intent in sharing these 10 eye-opening reputation statistics for every leader and entrepreneur is to deliver a catalyst for how you can proactively develop, protect and evolve your reputation to help you achieve your goals. Here they are: 10 eye-opening reputation statistics for every leader and entrepreneur 60% of a company’s market value is tied to its reputation 84% of employees would consider leaving their current job if offered a job by a company with an excellent reputation 69% of job seekers would not take a job with a company that has a bad reputation – even if unemployed 70% of U.S. recruiters and hiring managers have rejected candidates based on information found online 50% of a company’s reputation is tied to the CEO’s reputation 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations; 14% trust advertising 84% of marketers believe that building trust will be the primary focus for marketing efforts in the future (do you trust people with bad reputations?) 58% of executives believe that reputation management should be addressed, but only 15% actually do anything about it 4 out of 5 consumers changed their minds about a recommended purchase solely on negative information they found online 33% decrease in shareholder value of an organization within one year of a crisis situation becoming public Because I am a big believer in over-delivering, here are two additional statistics that need to be on your radar and developed every day! 100% of your referrals are based on reputation 100% of your employees are your reputation ambassadors As a leader, entrepreneur or anyone looking to succeed, here are 6 key takeaways as you digest the data above! 1. Cultivating your customer relationships will not only drive greater life-time value (which according to studies is 10x the value of their initial purchase), but will also increase your referral pipeline 2. It’s not just your behavior (good or bad), but your employees behavior that becomes the reputation of your organization 3. Trust is one of the core components of a strong reputation and is a business accelerator in the Reputation Economy 4. Your reputation (and that of your company) is a market differentiator in attracting and retaining top talent 5. What you post on Social Media channels will be reviewed and can just as easily shut a door to opportunity as it can open one 6. You must know the online conversation/comments […]
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