Litro Gas Unplugged.....!
It’s sad but true, the current governments problem is not the debt issue or the global economic issue. The real problem is poor decision making. Starting from the Sugar scam with Sathosa to the fertilizer issue of the agriculture sector to the more recent Chinese veedicide were classic examples of poor decision making. Litro Gas issue has exposed the poor decision making Litro Issue Litro was the icing on the cake where a product formulation change has been done without a logic and without adequate testing on the distribution and consumer end it has been released to the market. Now the reality has hit with over 300+ cases of product issues that has impacted people’s lives, their homes and overall well-being. What is sad is that no one has taken responsibility for the issue which is total contrary to the best practices of handling such issues.
Global examples
Let’s accept it very company will be faced with this challenge at some point of time. From Tylenol to Toyota; from Perrier mineral water to the famous beef issue in Europe. The reason is that organisations are run by human beings and one can err. The challenge is that we must manage the situation at hand rather than having to get into confrontations with State authorities, laboratories and finally for Court orders and then agreeing to withdraw the product.
Golden Rule
The golden rules in handling PR post a disaster: Be open. Do not hide. Do not ignore. Acknowledge, listen and provide a detailed ‘next steps’ on what a customer should do.
1) The priority for a company is to ensure that a customer is safe. The best response is to publicly explain the issue at hand and ask the customers’ help to identify the faulty product.
2) If a customer is a recipient of the mistake, then what are the next steps that one must take? Very clear instructions must be given to the trade on what to say when a product is returned.
3) If replacing the stocks, reward the customer. Customers have been inconvenienced and they need to be comforted.
4) Be very clear to communicate what action will be taken on the faulty products so that competitors cannot create viral stories on your brand. This helps the brand rebuilt credibility.
5) Acknowledge the mistake and explain to customers how you intend fixing the problem and that it will not happen again.
6) Get the Government and political authorities on your side. If not, it can become unmanageable.
7) The company must develop a new positioning in an aggressive manner.
Management take:
What history has revealed is that great companies always make mistakes just like great people. The difference is that the brilliant learn from them and go on to achieve greater heights which unfortunately Litro management is not keen to do.
( The author can be contacted on rohantha. [email protected])
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