The concept of "Mystery Shoppers" has uses far beyond the aisles and cash registers of retail stores. Retailers and wise businesses that are highly focused on customer service have long employed people to secretly shop as if they were actual customers or clients, and then report their perceptions to management. If you apply this concept to testing how an organization performs in multiple categories -- not just customer service -- you will be able to detect the seeds of budding crises well in advance of serious damage being caused.
Know Thineself: The Role of the Vulnerability Audit in Crisis Prevention
A severely neglected aspect of crisis communications is crisis prevention. Prior to suffering their first major crisis, few organizations invest the time necessary to take a hard look at their own vulnerabilities except in the context of legally required risk management.A vulnerability audit is a thorough self-inspection designed to identify potential crises before they occur and pave the way for creation of a crisis communications plan which will allow an organization to avoid, or at least minimize, the negative impact of such crises.
Managing Online Rumors
These days, online activity makes up an enormous amount of business, but many organizations are still unsure of how exactly to handle the Web. In this article I provide a set of guidelines I believe encourage success when communicating and doing business online.
Practice Makes...Better
One or two days of media training is a great start, but in order to hone your skills to a professional level it takes practice. While I can't promise it will make every interview flawless, Practice Makes...Better.
