Placemaking Group’s Crisis Management guru, Irv Hamilton, has some ideas for you… The headlines every day demonstrate the importance of preparing forthat time when bad news happens. There are countless bad-news triggers. Accidents, earthquakes, criminal acts, health challenges… The list goes on.
No one is immune from bad news. And badly handled, it can have serious consequences.
Toyota is a case in point. The auto giant seriously dropped the ball when the story of accelerator problems broke. Their big error was that Toyota management did not come forward to comment on the situation and assure Toyota owners and prospects that they would resolve it. Their management appeared to be hiding, hoping the problem would go away.
This was compounded by a comment made by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who advised Toyota owners not to drive them until the problem was fixed. Secretary LaHood issued a retraction of that ill-conceived remark. But the damage had been done.
The smartest thing Toyota did was get dealers involved in the issue to serve as spokespeople and bring the matter down to the dealer level where the problem would be fixed.
The basic lesson is simple. Whatever you do, assume there is a risk that bad news will make headlines and affect your business. Have a plan in place before you need it. And be prepared for that phone call that begins, “I’m a reporter, and I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”
Toyota executives are currently testifying before Congress about the safety issues that have led to the recall of millions of vehicles. They insist that “We are confident that no problems exist with the electronic throttle control system in our vehicles.”
I agree that it’s good to be prepared for any bad situation that may arise. I think that Toyota is in a difficult position…after all their product’s quality is being questioned. I think that the remark made by LaHood may have been damaging but not all that bad. After all, isn’t one of the rules in PR to be honest? If anything Toyota could’ve turned it into positive PR by releasing a statement by saying that they’re working to resolve the problem so that people can feel safe driving their cars again. As long as Toyota’s intentions are good, I most definitely feel that they will come out of this okay.
I recently saw an i-report on the Toyota crisis reported on by an SJSU student. A Toyota buyer in the story questioned whether the #1 car maker in the world had traded quality for sales and profit. According to the report many members of Toyota’s service department are not qualified to work their. Because there has been over eight million recalled Toyotas its causing a huge problem for regular service for other Toyota vehicles. This is due to the fact other service providers such as Midas and Pet Boy are refusing to take Toyota customers. With all these facts and allegations against them at this point all they could do is be honest. The President of Toyota USA was called before Congress to explain why this all occurred. Toyota will now have to come up with a creative PR strategy to regain its once stellar reputation.