Real-World Lessons From Solution Providers: 8 Things You Need To Know For Effective Crisis Management

Preparing For the Unexpected

While everyone hopes a crisis won't happen to them, it is crucial to be prepared in the event one occurs. David DeCamillis, vice president of sales and marketing at Denver-based Platte River Networks, and Keith Nelson, vice president of technology at Irvine, Calif.-based Vistem Solutions, experienced this first-hand, with the former executive facing extreme business challenges it was revealed the company managed the Hillary Clinton email server and the latter helping navigate through the San Bernardino shooting at the Inland Regional Center, where he was chairman. The executives spoke at XChange Solution Provider 2017 in National Harbor, Md.,, sharing their experiences and how they helped their businesses persevere through the crisis. The key, they said, is making the right decisions along the way and having the business be prepared to handle crisis – whether it's a tragedy, high-profile client, client investigation, cybersecurity breach, or more. Take a look at eight lessons the executives said they learned along the way.

Hire Specialists

One area that Platte River Networks went wrong early on was by not hiring specialists to address certain areas of the crisis management, DeCamillis said. One such mistake was turning first to a local Denver attorney who was not equipped to handle a crisis of this scale, with DeCamillis saying "mistakes were made." Platte River Networks also did not initially hire a PR firm, instead having the lawyer handle the press. After a month of "flailing and making mistakes," DeCamillis said Platte River Networks hired legal specialists and a PR firm that specialized in crisis management. Once those experts have been identified, such as a crisis management team, Nelson said it is important to let them do their job and to support them, as they have seen crisis situations before and know how to handle them.

Communicate With Customers

DeCamillis said one key area that allowed Platte River Networks to return to growth was making sure it communicated well with its clients, who might not be sending new RFPs but remained with the company in their existing capacity.

"By staying in front of our customers we were able to at least do the same revenue as the year before. The only reason I'm standing in front of you today is because we had good customers and we took care of them," DeCamillis said.

Put Support In Place For Employees

Nelson and DeCamillis agreed that going above and beyond in supporting employees through times of crisis was critical to success, with both saying their employees are like family. DeCamillis, for one, said the company also provided training, HR support, crisis management, legal and other support to its 40 employees to help keep up morale in the face of death threats and an overbearing media presence. In addition to emotional and workplace support, Nelson said it is important to communicate resilience and hope to employees. He said his company helped set up lines of communication between staff members quickly after the San Bernardino attack and helped support employees afterward in the wake of acute stress disorders and PTSD.

Be Prepared

DeCamillis said the company has been documenting and improving its process for crisis management, which he said he will share with other solution providers, though the company has been instructed to not share anything yet. He said the solution providers in the audience should be prepared for a crisis of this magnitude because, while it may not be a Clinton email server, they may face a crisis management situation around cybersecurity, client investigation, or due to a high-profile customer. He said some things, like physical security or having a media or crisis plan, could have averted a lot of mistakes along the way.

Stay On Social Media

On social media, Platte River Networks faced a flood of negative comments, DeCamillis said, having to ban more than 300 people on Facebook for threats and vulgar comments, hateful comments on Twitter, and a plummeting Google Reviews score that dropped from 4.8 to 2.9 due to many negative comments and one-star reviews from people who weren't company customers. He said it is key to be on social media 24/7 after a crisis event, flagging inappropriate comments, removing inaccuracies and carefully trying to get the right story across.

Manage Your Website

In addition to social media, DeCamillis said it is important to manage the company website, making sure it is ready for increased traffic and security risks. He said it is also important to be careful what information is on the site, as, in the case of Platte River Networks, the media used customer testimonials on the site to call customers and local partners, as well as find local employees.

Be Prepared For Unexpected Costs

With a crisis comes a wide range of unexpected costs, DeCamillis said. Some of those unexpected costs include legal fees, PR firm fees, error omissions, Google Rankings, lead generation, customer retention, and slower RFP conversions. The company's legal fees alone, for example, totaled more than $300,000.

Be Prepared For Media Conversations

Nelson said company executives should be prepared to address the media. He said he was lucky, as the victim, to not have any negative press, but did have to face "harsh" questions and probing media professionals looking to get a sensational story. He said it is key to not lose your cool and to answer each question with the message you're trying to convey. To determine that, he said it is key to know your audience, whether it's the families affected, the employees, the community or the customers.