New Year’s parties automatically make us think of a period where we spend time with family, and it’s not just about being with family, but also about food and drinks. In other words, consumers also enjoy your products during the festive season. So, you could receive a complaint on Christmas Eve on your Facebook page, via the consumer helpline or via the contact form on your website. Will the tell-tale signs of a crisis be picked up and followed up?

Remain accessible, also during the festive season

If necessary, draw up an on duty system that includes several people. Start off with a watch message: “We’re closed during the festive season, in case of an urgent question or complaint please contact the person on duty.” Next, the person who is on duty should take note of the problem and record the contact details of the person getting in touch.

Evaluate, and if necessary escalate

Next, the person on duty evaluates the problem based on predetermined criteria. If necessary, they will escalate it to a member of the CMT.

Provide CMT permanence

A crisis can occur at any given moment. That’s why it’s important that the crisis team can be activated during periods of leave. Make sure that the possible back-ups know the drill perfectly and that there are clear agreements on operational deployability.

• Safeguarding on duty service outside office hours for urgent telephone calls by consumers. Interested? Get in touch.

• Training the back-ups. Level 1 covers the basics of crisis management. Level 2 presents members with a number of sensitive situations in which they explain what should be done in line with procedures. Finally, the simulation exercise is a test of the entire (back-up) team: it’s up to them to manage the crisis properly.

• Being available 24/7 for all our members on the crisis line.