QUOTATION 81

JEFF BEZOS ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF BAD NEWS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Use this to remind you that your business is only one foul-up away from being an internet sensation.

Jeff Bezos (b. 1964), founder and CEO of Amazon.com, built a global empire based on new technology and dealing with customers via the internet. Therefore, we should listen when he tells us that:

If someone thinks they are being mistreated by us, they won’t tell 5 people, they’ll tell 5,000.

Jeff Bezos

WHAT TO DO

  • Stop an error becoming a disaster. Settle the dispute before it becomes a war of attrition.
  • If you identify a significant problem affecting numerous customers, go public with it on social networking sites immediately. It’s better to reveal the problem than have hundreds of customers complain about you on Twitter or Facebook. But you must act quickly. The Times (4 November 2013) quoted a report that said 69 per cent of ‘business crisis’ spread internationally within 24 hours, while organisations took 21 hours, on average, to release their initial response.
  • If you are a large organisation, employ experts to monitor what is being said about your organisation online. If you are a small organisation, the monitoring processes might involve one person spending an hour or so a day checking out what has been said about the organisation. Regardless of size, the important thing is to do the monitoring and respond to problems quickly.
  • Don’t allow social media to bully you. If the criticism is unfair or inaccurate, rebut the story. But always apologise for genuine errors and compensate quickly.
  • Don’t give the fire additional oxygen by entering into an argument with the complainant through the media. We all know that the press will be on the side of the gallant small man/woman taking on big business – even if your firm employs only 25 people. Your aim should always be to contain and extinguish the fire as soon as possible.
  • A memorable episode of The West Wing showed, in very amusing terms, what happens when the wrong person speaks to the press. You should have a list of people who are authorised to speak to the press and, equally important, a list of those who should be rugby-tackled, if necessary, to keep them away from a reporter or social network site. Every organisation has them and I’m sure you know who they are.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

  • Does the organisation have a media policy? If so, do I and my staff know what it is?
  • If I spot trouble brewing, do I know who I should speak to first?
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