Having a contingency plan in place for when things go wrong is just good business sense. You don’t “wing it” when things are going well, so why would you choose to improvise when the stakes are even higher. A thorough crisis management plan can help turn an angry mob of customers into a loyal crowd of fans who are patient, trusting and willing to stand by you while you fix whatever is wrong.

If you’ve read all the way down to this conclusion, I want to give you a brief TL;DR you can take away with you. These are the most important points to make sure you have covered for your crisis plan.

Identifying a Crisis:

• The faster you can identify and respond to an impending crisis, the better the outcome will be.
• Check to see how your team currently identifies issues so you don’t have to wait for a customer to report it.
• Know who to contact in case of emergency and make sure everyone has access to their contact information.

Responding to a Crisis:

• Be transparent and consistent with updates.
• Don’t leave customers wondering what’s going on.
• Communicate effectively within your team to solve the problem faster.
• Take care of yourself and each other to reduce panic and burnout.

Wrapping up a Crisis:

• Take the time to review what happened so you can improve next time.
• Close the loop with customers to make sure everything is resolved for them.