Thursday, April 30, 2009

What should businesses do to prepare for swine flu?

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization increased the swine flu alert level from a 4 to a 5, indicating a pandemic is looming. While healthcare facilities and schools across the country are responding and being proactive to prevent the spread of the virus, non-healthcare businesses should also be prepping their employees and crisis plans in the event of an outbreak in their office or buildings.

Businesses should take this as an opportunity to review their crisis plans and ensure they are ready to deal with the virus so it doesn’t affect business-as-usual. Although the majority of cases have been found in people under the age of 18, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, patients range in age from 8 to 81, and working adults should take extra steps to protect themselves from the virus.

Communication is crucial in a crisis situation. There are several strategies businesses can employ to ensure employees are aware and understand what the virus is, how to protect themselves against it and how the company will handle an outbreak if one occurs.

Awareness

Companies should form a team of managers who will decide how to communicate to employees about the virus, including what it is, how it is transmitted and simple steps to take to prevent the spread of the virus. This can be the same group of people who handle the crisis management at the company. Part of this team’s message for employees should include encouraging them to proceed with a normal daily routine, yet with precaution.


Develop a Plan

Every company should have a crisis plan in place, and a key aspect of that plan should be communication. A crisis plan not only protects the company but also its employees. Having a plan in place prepares your company for good response time and consistent messaging that will promote your company as stable and strong, even when a crisis hits. This remains true for any crisis, including health emergencies.

Communication

This team should also devise a plan that includes a statement that can be used to communicate to the company’s clients, customers and to the public, in the event of an outbreak within the business. The statement should include information about how the company is handling the outbreak, ensuring the area is cleaned properly and other employees are safe.

Also, the company should communicate an internal plan to employees that allows those who show signs or symptoms of the flu to work remotely so as not to spread the virus to other staff in the office.

Businesses should be prepared to answer questions from employees about using sick leave or paid time off and privacy issues when discussing if employees should work from home if they show signs of flu symptoms.

It is important that companies begin to look at these issues and develop a plan now rather than when the virus hits their area or office building. By initiating a plan today to help educate employees and reviewing sick-leave and work-from-home policies, it will help prevent or downsize a crisis later.

Our client Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System specializes in infection control and is helping businesses be prepared for potential swine flu outbreaks in offices. Coverall is offering checklists and educational information about identifying "hot spots" that are prime areas of germ and infection transmission. The company is also offering insight about the proper cleaning methods and materials needed to clean an area that has been infected by swine flu. For more information about Coverall and its services please visit www.coverall.com.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Client Komen Partners with Ford Motor Company

Ford Advantage Plan Test Drive Program to Benefit Komen

In times like these, giving back to the community is more important than ever. As part of the Ford Advantage Plan, Ford has announced it is donating $20 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® in the name of each prospective customer that test drives a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury vehicle from now until June 1, 2009, up to $1,000,000.

The participating dealerships in South Florida include:

Fort Lauderdale – Maroone Ford of Ft. Lauderdale
Miami – Metro Ford Inc.
Miami – World Ford/Kendall
Pompano Beach – Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury
Homestead – Armstrong Ford of Homestead
Hialeah – Gus Machado Ford Inc.
Key West – Duncan Ford-Lincoln-Mercury
Delray Beach – Delray Lincoln Mercury
Delray Beach – Maroone Ford of Delray
Pembroke Pines – Pines Lincoln Mercury

For a list of participating dealerships in other areas please visit www.FordCares.com.

Participating Ford dealerships will also match Ford's individual $20 contribution in the name of each customer, up to $1,000 per dealership. In addition, customers will be able to select the local Komen affiliate of their choice to direct Ford's charitable contribution.

Costumers interested in test driving a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury vehicle during the Ford Advantage Plan test drive period can log on to www.FordCares.com and obtain a registration form and registration number. After visiting a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury dealership and test driving a vehicle, dealers will provide customers with a registration code. Customers must then visit www.FordCares.com again to input the registration code, validating their form and activating the donation by Ford in their name.

There’s never been a better time to give back to the community than now. Join the fight against breast cancer and test drive a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury vehicle today!

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Susan G. Komen For the Cure Fort Lauderdale/Miami Affilate is a client of Thorp & Company.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Crisis Management

The Role of Social Media in Crisis Management

The short news cycle is becoming even shorter with the growth of social media venues, and messages about your company, whether good or bad, are going to spread at rapid pace. Now is the time when your company should incorporate social media into its crisis management plan.

Every company should have a crisis team in place at all times. This team should include key executives, a public relations executive or team, legal counsel and a digital communications expert.

There are three key parts to a crisis management plan – preparation, response and recovery.

Preparation

Preparation is the first part of crisis management to ensure the second and third phases are carried out effectively. While it is true that there is no way to plan for every potential crisis, you can start by holding a brainstorming session with your company’s executives to discuss possible crisis situations and then develop a plan for each situation.

There are a few strategies companies can incorporate in the preparation phase of crisis management. The most common strategy is to select one spokesperson to eliminate confusion when the media start asking questions, and message points that specifically address key issues of various stakeholders should be drafted and ready.

Also, your company should create accounts on various social networking sites before a crisis occurs to allow for an easy transition to responding to a crisis using these outlets when the time comes.

Response

Response is the most important part of the crisis management plan because it can make or break your company’s reputation. In the past, when a crisis occurred a company had 24 hours to respond before the opportunity was lost. Now, with the rise of social networking venues companies should take no longer than 4 hours to respond to public concern. Proactive communication on the bad news does at least two good things: It gives you more control over the timing, and it gives you the opportunity to frame the story in the best possible way.

During a crisis, at least one team member should be monitoring and tracking coverage and comments on all news sites, including the more traditional online versions of print media, as well as, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Facebook, etc. With the increasing use of digital and social media which gives users the ability to connect with thousands of consumers and share thoughts immediately, it is utterly important for companies to also be communicating via these channels. Gone are the days when a crisis would occur and the company had an entire news cycle before it appeared in the papers and was made public.

Not only should your company be as responsive as possible using social media, the key spokesperson chosen should also be made available to all media inquiries and answer questions without a ‘no comment’ response. When companies use the ‘no comment’ response or cannot be reached to answer journalists’ questions, the public assumes the worst.

Recovery

After a crisis occurs, it is important to close the loop with strategies that repair any damage to your company’s reputation, public image and internal relationships with stakeholders. This is one area where a public relations team plays a key role.

Implementing strategies for recovery using social media will continue to climb the ladder of importance. Not only will a PR team need to draft and distribute an effective news release in response to a crisis, but the team will also need to go online and initiate conversations and response to consumers’ comments and concerns on various social networking sites.

A good crisis PR program is not going to make all your problems go away, but it can minimize the impact of negative publicity on your company’s reputation and maybe even contribute to its survival.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Client - Susan G. Komen For the Cure Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Affiliate Events

Recently, Commissioner Sally Heyman donated $10,000 and a Romero Britto Painting to the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Affiliate to be displayed at Komen’s Miami/Ft. Lauderdale office.

Eleven-year-old Lexi Lehrman, who has raised more than $24,000 for Susan G. Komen For the Cure Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Affiliate, together with world-renowned pop artist Romero Britto, created a one-of-a-kind artwork of their own interpretation of the breast cancer symbol.

The photos included are of the presentation of the monetary donation and painting by Commissioner Heyman and Lexi Lehrman to Bobbi Meyers, executive director for Susan G. Komen For the Cure Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Affiliate.
Coming up...

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Affiliate will also be participating in the upcoming Miami Hong Kong Dragon Boat Race on April 25-26 in Miami. The race will run 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the event is open to the public between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The event is expected to draw a crowd of 25,000 spectators. Proceeds from the event will benefit promotion of dragon boat racing in Miami and local charities including Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Team SOS (Save Our Sisters) is a team composed of breast cancer survivors. SOS is the first South Florida BCS Dragon Boat Racing team, and they will be participating in this upcoming race.

About Susan G. Komen For the Cure

The Miami/Fort Lauderdale Affiliate is dedicated to saving lives and ending breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cures. Since its inception in 1996, the Miami/Fort Lauderdale Race For the Cure® and the Affiliate has raised more than $6 million and reached hundreds of thousands of women and men in educational outreach through grassroots efforts. For more information visit, http://www.komenmiaftl.org/.

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Susan G. Komen For the Cure Miami/Fort Lauderdale Affiliate is a client of Thorp & Company.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Client Dennis Nason in USA Today

If you read USA Today on Wednesday, April 15, you may have seen a wonderful example of using thought leadership as a PR tool. Dennis Nason of the executive search firm Nason & Nason weighed in with an opinion piece on how best to fix the problem of out of control Wall Street bonuses. Dennis has a distinguished background in international financial services and now runs a firm that specializes in placing top executives in that field. His USA Today piece helps position him and his firm as knowledgeable leaders in issues related to compensation for financial service executives. Perfect, isn’t it? Next time you need an expert who understands the human resource intricacies involved with top financial executives, you’ll think of Nason & Nason.

Here's Dennis Nason's view: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/04/surgery-with-a-hatchet.html#more

Here's USA Today's editorial view: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/04/our-view-on-corporate-compensation-banks-seek-post-bust-excuse-to-resume-outsized-pay.html#more

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Nason & Nason is a client of Thorp & Company.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Building strong client relationships

Yesterday’s post was about the importance of transparency and trust, both when doing business and writing a blog. After establishing a solid relationship built on trust, it is important to maintain and enhance that relationship.

Many businesses focus a lot of time on bringing in new business instead of nurturing the relationships they have with current clients or customers. They do not realize the potential benefits of building stronger relationships with current clients. Existing clients can provide good sources of additional revenue through cross-selling and up-selling of additional services, and satisfied clients can be the best source for new business referrals.

Although some firms may attribute losing a client to budget constraints, which may hold true in a down economy, taking a closer look at each situation may reveal that a client took its business elsewhere because of a lacking client relationship. In the current economy, it is important that firms go the extra mile to service clients and strengthen relationships. If a client knows people at the firm on a personal level and trusts the firm, it will be more difficult to cut the firm out of the budget, even when budgets are tight.

At Thorp & Company, we practice five relatively simple actions that keep our clients happy and have contributed to a high client retention rate for more than 20 years in business.

Action 1: Be a Problem Solver
When a client has a problem, respond immediately. Although we are moving into a more digital world by the minute, e-mail does not always translate feelings well, and clients still place great value on a phone call. If a client’s office is nearby, a personal visit is even better. Be prepared to discuss the situation, show that you have heard and understood their concerns, and have solutions ready.

Action 2: Set Goals
Do you ever feel like a firefighter, just running from one emergency to the next? It’s an easy trap to fall into, but there is a distinction between being responsive to clients and providing outstanding client service. That distinction starts with setting goals and staying focused. A crucial part of our job assignment is to set timelines, goals, expectations and budgets that are realistic, so we can absolutely deliver what we promise.

Action 3: Solicit Feedback from Clients
Getting informal, “How are we doing?” feedback is great, but there is nothing like measuring client satisfaction for keeping our relationships on track. One way to obtain solid feedback is through a client survey that includes clients’ perceptions about the timeliness, responsiveness and value of work performed; the need for additional services; the need for greater cost or quality control; the need for greater specialization; and whether the client would refer the firm to friends and associates. The results from these types of surveys are priceless.

Action 4: Get to Know Clients on a Personal Level

In our hectic 10-hour workdays, it’s possible to overlook another way to build stronger bonds with your clients: getting to know them on a more personal level, outside of the office. This can include learning about their hobbies, volunteer work or professional organizations, and then invite them to an event that you know they would be interested in.

Action 5: Schedule Regular Meetings with Clients
We talk on the phone at least once a day and we send emails throughout every day. Yet this will never take the place of meeting regularly – in person – with our clients. A quarterly meeting, for example, is a good setting to let our clients know about the results achieved for them the previous quarter and to solicit their candid feedback on work in progress. In-person meetings are also a great place to discuss what strategies need to be revised or tweaked and new initiatives we’d like to implement. Every meeting is an opportunity to learn about how a client’s business is doing and what issues are keeping them up at night.

To boil it down – it’s only practical
From a pragmatic economic standpoint, it costs firms more to attract new business than to maintain existing business, so maintaining long-term client relationships directly impacts a company’s bottom line. According to the CPA Journal, boosting client retention rate has serious implications for profitability: A five percent improvement in retention rates can boost profits 15 to 50 percent. The investment of time and resources to nurture and sustain outstanding client relationships is money well-spent. In the end, outstanding client relationships are the differentiating factor that separates great firms from simply good ones.

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This post was written by Rebekah Hudder with insight from Patricia Thorp, president of Thorp & Company. Patricia Thorp has more than 20 years of experience owning and operating her own public relations firm. Please visit
www.thorpco.com to learn more about Patricia and the services offered at Thorp & Company.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Trust as a branding tool

The importance of transparency in Web 2.0 and PR

In the current economic climate, customers, clients and potential clients are seeking companies they can trust. With numerous fraud cases, bank failures and mortgage scams at the top of mind for many people, trust is high on the priority list of what potential customers seek in business.

Consumers are also looking for people to trust in the social media arena, for example making sure blogs are as credible as newspapers, and transparency goes hand in hand with trust. In order for a company Web site, blog or any other social media site to be successful, the company needs to adopt a strong transparency policy. When visiting a Web site or blog, the purpose and goals of that site should be clear.

For example, if a company is using a blog or Twitter account to promote their own services and/or products, that should be apparent; if a business is using Web 2.0 to promote clients’ products and/or services, that should be apparent.

Part of being transparent is allowing people to connect with you on a personal level and showing the human-side of a company. Consumers want to know there is a person behind the corporate or company name. CEOs and other staff members can utilize a blog to demonstrate individual ideas about timely issues that affect their target audience. It is easier for a person to trust another person with a face and personality than it is to trust a company logo with a name. CEOs and staff members can use Web 2.0 to establish and build relationships as an individual that can lead to a relationship with the company.

One of the greatest benefits of a blog is giving a company a voice to speak directly to customers or clients without paying for advertising. The foundation of a relationship is the conversations a company initiates with its target audience. Instead of the old one-way communication cycle in which the company is talking at its customers, now we have the opportunity to have a two-way conversation and build a trusting relationship around that transparency.

Transparency and trust also play a major role in the success of public relations. As public relations practitioners, we need to be extremely proactive when it comes to being transparent in order to boost credibility and trust with clients and the media.

Thorp & Company is dedicating the use of this blog to accomplish several goals: to promote our clients’ expertise in the fields of finance, banking, accounting, legal counseling and more; to promote our own expertise in the field of public relations focusing on the importance of public relations for various industries, media relations and tips business owners can use; as a discussion board for timely topics including ‘News of the Day’ issues and our take from a public relations perspective as well as from our clients’ perspectives.

The majority of our blog posts will be written by Rebekah Hudder, social media guru at Thorp & Company, and once a week a different staff member will contribute a post.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Women in Business Radio: Patricia Thorp to discuss who is being hit harder by the recession - men or women?

Who's been hit harder by the economy - women or men?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67 percent of women with children under 18 work, and women make up 46 percent of the labor pool. The current recession could soon make women a majority of America's workforce, since 82 percent of the 2.5 million jobs lost since November were held by men. In contrast to this statistic, 12,000 more women are working now. There are more than 10 million small businesses owned by women in the United States and this is the fastest growing area of our economy.

Patricia Thorp, president of Thorp & Company, a public relations firm in Coral Gables, Florida, will discuss this topic of split between genders with Women in Business Radio host Dr. Gayle Carson at 7:30 p.m. on April 7 on WSRadio.biz.

The two women will discuss why there seems to be a divide, and the factors behind it. Some of the arguments include: it is cheaper to keep women on the payroll because they tend to make less; women are better communicators in the workplace; women work harder because they feel the need to prove worthiness and may be retained for their efforts.

There are several questions to consider when discussing who has been more affected by the economy and how it will play out for both men and women.


  • Can men adapt to a new role at home and pull their families together?
  • Can women pickup extra tasks in the workplace caused by men being laid off?
  • Women have the opportunity to climb the corporate ladder by taking on more responsibilities at work - will they? Why or why not?
  • How will this affect the faces seen in corporate boardrooms? Will it have any affect at all?

Tune in at 7:30 p.m. on April 7, 2009 for a discussion about this controversial topic on Women in Business Radio, live at http://www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/Women-in-Business-Radio.html. Please call in to share your thoughts and views on this topic. The call-in number is 1-877-474-3302.

Women in Business Radio is an online radio show featuring successful women in business. Wome in Business is Entrepreneur Magazine's radion affiliate. Women from various walks of life will be interviewed by Dr. Carson to find out the various routes they have taken on their road to success. Tips and techniques to climb the ladder to your goals will be provided on a weekly basis. You are encouraged to call in with your thoughts and questions. Women are the largest developing population for small business, and this program is designed to help you on your personal and professional growth. Each week, a new subject will be discussed and a new guest(s) will provide insight into a particular profession.