I Survived JetBlue: One Blogger’s Story
Due to bad weather and poor communications at JetBlue, The VAR Guy was among the passengers stranded at JFK Airport in New York last week. But The VAR Guy remains loyal to JetBlue.
In fact, companies like Dell, Microsoft and Sony—and even VARs that let down their customers—can learn a lot by studying JetBlue’s crisis management tactics. Sure, things were pretty bad for a few days. But JetBlue is getting its airline in order. Some key takeaways:
1. Admit when you screw up: From JetBlue’s CEO to the PR team, all official company communications stated that JetBlue was embarrassed and sorry about the poor treatment of customers.
Imagine if:
- Michael Dell had apologized for ignoring repeated CIO requests for AMD Opteron servers
- Sony quickly had apologized for defective batteries last year and had done a rapid global recall
- Bill Gates had apologized for Microsoft’s early attempts at security
But move carefully: In some cases, admitting guilt opens up a company to potential lawsuits. In others, it’s just good business.2. Put your best face front and center: Some companies put their CEOs on camera to apologize. But the move can look rehearsed or lame if the executive isn’t media savvy. One example: Taco Bell/Yum Brands’ CEO was painful to watch when he apologized for the recent food poisoning incident. Make sure your CEO is involved in crisis management but carefully choose who will deliver all messages to customers, partners and the public.
3. Go multimedia: The VAR Guy has read apologies from JetBlue in print and online. He’s seen them on TV. And just today, JetBlue emailed him an apology. Nice touch. Even if you’re a small business, you can afford to make personal calls, send emails or deliver hand-written apologies to customers.
4. Communicate your changes: Briefly describe what went wrong—no need to rehash all the gory details—and then outline your corrective actions. JetBlue has already developed a passenger Bill of Rights and is examining how to better manage communications, flights, etc. The changes will take time and may not be perfect—but at least they’re underway.
5. Use IT to solve problems, not complicate them: During the delays, The VAR Guy checked his flight status on JetBlue’s Web site, at the departure gate and on the airport display terminals. The information from each IT system was different. As they say in Business Intelligence circles, The VAR Guy was reading “three versions of the truth.” Nobody wins when that happens.
JetBlue will need to work overtime to win back customers. But unlike many IT companies that experience a crisis, JetBlue never suffered from denial.