Help! I have a crisis and there is nothing I can do about it......but report it.
Have you ever been in a crisis? Your car broke down in the middle of nowhere, or even worse an emergency situation; how about a system outage? Now what? You report it and wait....and wait....helpless to the reaction times, skill and resolution of someone else. And that feeling you get when you are waiting; minutes ticking by, each slower than the last.
For anyone who has worked with technology they know the pressure you're under when something goes wrong. Especially something that takes a system down. When a system goes down, a customer’s reputation could be a risk and there could be a financial impact to their organization. Here are a few things to remember when you are helping your customer through a crisis.
The most important part - put yourself in your customer's shoes, see the crisis from their point of view. Respond, show compassion, act quickly and professionally while letting them know you are in this together. Don't forget to show compassion and remorse and take the time to listen to your customers. Be proactive and by all means communicate and set expectations so everyone can work together in the event of a crisis and build a loyal, trusting business relationship that lasts.