What Sandy taught us about communication.

I have to say that I never thought we’d still be dealing with the aftermath of that nasty little wench named Sandy more than seven days after she swept onto our shores.

I’ve seen a lot of things in New York over the past couple of decades, and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything that has maimed us as much as that little lady, and my thoughts and prayers go out to those that have lost loved ones and property and those that are still dealing with downed power lines and long gas lines.

A lot of lives and businesses were interrupted last week, and as I navigated through the aftermath of the storm both personally and professionally, I was reminded of how important it is to let your customers know exactly what’s going on during disasters just like this one.

The business winners for me last week, were the ones that updated their websites immediately with home page alerts letting their customers know the status of their phone lines, the status of their shows, and what to do if you had tickets and couldn’t get to the show itself (and I’ll be honest and tell you that I failed at this one, and got our info up later than I will next time).

Even better were the companies (in the biz and outside the biz) that sent emails with warm wishes, as well as instructions or guidelines about their customer’s purchases, travel plans, events, etc.

Disasters are hard on everyone.  But it’s essential for businesses to remember that you have a responsibility to think about your customers even before you think about yourselves.

Because the disaster will pass.  And when it does, that’s when you’ll want your customers to remember how you helped get them through the storm.

(Many people around the tri-state area could still use your help.  Donate your time or your dollars today.  Click here for more.)

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