Communicating with customers during disasters

Hardships happen. Disasters develop. Communication breaks down, but it doesn’t have to if you are a prepared business owner. Over the last several weeks, many sellers have come to me requesting help with communicating with customers during natural disasters. I’ve been helping on an individual basis, but this article offers me the chance to help others on a much wider scale. This article is about being proactive and providing the best possible service during the worst possible circumstances. I know this is not an exciting topic; it is not something that people look forward to learning about or practicing in their own business, but it is an important one. Providing excellent customer service can be challenging even in the best of times, so it’s worthwhile to create a communication disaster plan for your company in case you’ve found yourself in the middle of something unexpected.

We can often panic when a disaster strikes. Having a secure communication plan in place can help mitigate the natural anxiety that adds up. Simply creating a plan in the first place can offer you a sense of control in an otherwise out of control situation. I think it is first worthwhile to define the two types of disasters you might encounter as a small business owner. I’m not talking about minor issues like you’ve run out of a particular print of fabric (although I do understand how panic inducing that might be). I’m talking about one of the two following types of disasters:

Personal Hardship & Public Hardship

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