Customers, vendors, investors and even employees can turn on a company overnight. It doesn’t take a Chapter 11 filing to make customers wonder if the company will soon close its doors, or vendors to question if they’re going to get paid. At the first sign of bad financial news, groups important to the company will start asking difficult questions about the company’s long-term viability. In our age of media over-hype, even a bond downgrading can cause key audiences to lose confidence in a company. Customers will begin to buy elsewhere. Vendors will toughen terms. Virulent rumors will spread like wildfire through your markets. Your best employees may send out resumes. Investors may begin to dump your stock, starting another round of bad news. It’s a vicious circle that can result in irreparable harm to a company that may already be in a weakened or weakening market position.
While larger public companies have top-notch public relations departments, a company facing financial difficulties or entering Chapter 11 needs a special set of skills to develop and implement a communications program that keeps the commitment of key audiences. Only a handful of communications firms across the country have the skills and experience to communicate about bankruptcies and financial troubles, and most of those charge premium rates.
The staff of Jampole Communications, Inc., one of the premiere crisis communications and issues management firms in the East, has handled two of the largest bankruptcies in American history, as well as dozens of plant closings, downsizings, negative financial rumors and other difficult situations. Our crisis communications programs, which have won national and regional awards, have helped clients preserve their reputation with customers, employees, vendors and investors, enabling them to thrive after the crisis ends. Because we are a small independent firm headquartered in a low-cost city, we are able to work effectively at a fraction of the rates charged by other qualified vendors.