Building Capital in Developing Relationships

Attending trade shows and conferences can be a tedious process. For many people, it takes us away from our families, sometimes for a week or more. While our children may think we are traveling to exotic locations, these events translate into long hours walking and talking. While some use it to sell a product or service, these events should be more about developing strategic relationships.

In attending conferences:

• Know who you want to talk to
• Know what you want to say
• Be flexible and don't worry if you don't meet those that you had on your list.
• Follow up -- Write a personal note to every business card your receive, follow up with a phone call, recall your conversation and suggesting next steps
• Now make the hard sale
• Close the deal

Conferences provide an opportunity to expand your network face-to-face and before you start to sell something, it is important to have or to make a connection so then you can develop the trust and later the business.

After all, we all know why we attend these events, to learn about best practices, to spy on the competition and to get in front of the buyers. However, I personally get turned off from those trying to make the "hard sale." I get it you have something you think I can use or need but you should first take the time to see if it is even relevant to what I do or to whom I represent. But first take the time to know me and I will take the time to know you. If I can't use your product or service perhaps I know someone who does, but if you go straight to the sale. Let's be friends first and build the capital in developing relationships that are mutually beneficial. 

When chemicals spill or things explode - Respond, don't React

Crises happen!  In the past few weeks, we have seen a chemical spill that cut off tap water for 300,000 West Virginians and a cruise line that had to cut its trip short after nearly 700 passengers and crew fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea.’ 

And the best way to deal with a crisis is to plan for it so it can be prevented or at least any potential damage caused by whatever the crisis is, minimized.   However, if you don’t plan for a crisis, and we can prepare for everything, here are a few tips to remember, no matter what:

The Response

When a crises occur your team needs to quickly assess the facts and determine the best response given the situation.  For the company and government in West Virginia, the response should have been immediate. But in some instances the response should be not respond at all – Especially if it is over social media. Proper monitoring should flag anything to be concerned about on line and in real-time. But just because someone posts something about you, your company or your CEO does not mean you have to respond, in fact, you shouldn’t. You don’t want to start a debate on line and feed a discussion that could potentially be more damaging than just one post.

The response in West Virginia should have been direct and done in person.  The response for the cruise line should have been through statements, press releases and on a website.

Who speaks for you?

The CEO may not always be the best person to respond to a crisis. It really depends on the issue, but perhaps there is someone else that should respond or at least has more knowledge to thoughtfully respond. This could be a front-line employee or someone with direct experience with the issue.   Many people want to hear directly from the CEO, so have the CEO be prepared but be prepared to find another spokesperson.

In the case of the chemical spill, the Governor and Mayors of the affected communities should be the face of the solution holding those responsible for the spill accountable. The CEO of the company involved should also be the public face, attending press conferences and town halls. In the case of the cruise line, any statement should be from the CEO.

What do lawyers know about your reputation? 

Don’t let your team of lawyers have the final say on how you communicate external messages. From the beginning, even before a crisis occurs, the legal and marketing departments should meet frequently to foster a solid working relationship and understanding of what each other does. Messages should also be shared with legal and often have legal sign off on statements. But the liability concerns a lawyer may typically have should not prevent a company from dealing with the issue directly and otherwise jeopardize the company’s reputation. Limiting a response may open yourself to more questions and further expose you to reputational risk.

 The bottom line

When an event occurs, you need to respond promptly, effectively and efficiently.  But before anything happens, a company should set up a monitoring system to mind the chatter, engage your employees and service your customers to prevent or preempt something from happening. In addition, a company should have a rapid response plan in place should something happen.

And finally, the best way to limit your risk to is know where you are weak and where crises may emerge – and then to plan accordingly. 

A damaged reputation

Effective crises management can mitigate risk and exposure due to damage to your brand caused by executive and employee misconduct, bankruptcy, disasters, cyber-terrorism and as my children’s preschool teacher would say, “bad choices. 

Most companies have insurance coverage that is intended to insure their company’s assets and protect the company’s brand.  But for politicians like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, their only insurance is their reputation and the relationships they have worked so hard to build to get them where they are.

Christie and his staff made bad choices.  Just as ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it, ignorance of the actions of your inner circle is no excuse not to stand as a leader, accept their action as your own, apologize and work to repair the damaged caused by your administration -- Whether you knew about it or not.

But Governor Christie waited to long to act.  He waited to review the findings of an investigation, saw the potential damage the findings will cause him and then decided to step up. He apologized and is working to rebuild his reputation, by firing key staff involved and making a very public apology to the Mayor of Fort Lee, NJ -- in person.  

While his opponents will continue to keep the focus on the Governor and the bad choices of his staff, they should really let the investigation take its course and respond to what emerges from that to give their efforts additional credibility rather than making this purely political.

Time, however will help heal Christie’s reputation. If he has national political aspirations, he then has time to re-focus his energies and rebuild any loss to his reputation. His advocacy following Hurricane Sandy and the other promises he will deliver on over the next few years will outweigh the damage done in closing The GW Bridge. Time repairs ones reputation if you take the time to do it right.

But for those who took the fall in Christie’s inner circle, that road will be more difficult to recover.  We all need some insurance to protect our reputation and our livelihood.  We all need to take steps to build our own inner circle of trusted advisors and a community of friends who can speak out in our defense, hold our hands in times of difficulty and help us out of a difficult situation.  His former staff member’s now must work to re-build their reputation while their former boss continues on an upward trajectory. They must re-evaluate the lessons they learned from this situation and try to turn it around into a positive direction so that they too can move forward.

Protecting Your Client's Reputation

Should lawyers represent their client’s outside the courtroom, they have to become comfortable in talking freely about their client’s case without jeopardizing legal outcomes. Lawyers in general are trained to be reticent, answer only the questions asked and to give no more information than is necessary. In the face of the media and those who rely on it, however, expansive information and open communication can serve the client better than creating an appearance that the client has something to hide and, worse is hiding behind a lawyer. Public relations counsel can employ strategies to build, preserve, and protect client reputation, while reinforcing their client’s legal strategy. In the public eye, we may be presumed guilty if we respond to a reporter’s question with “no comment.” To avoid this presumption of guilt, it is important to develop a message and answer questions, or appear to, while staying on that message. In today’s economy, lawyers need to provide their clients with more than just legal services. By learning how the media operates, lawyers can best serve their clients, by blending law, policy, politics and strategic communications to provide an integrated approach to addressing or better yet resolving legal problems.

For more information, please contact, Daniel Cherrin at dcherrin@fraserlawfirm.com or 517.377.0865.