Sincerity and quick action is the best crisis management: From Shengkaishi’s New Year’s food delivery, see the company’s sincere response

In Taiwan’s consumer market, where consumer awareness is rising, as long as there is a problem with a merchant’s product or service, in addition to being directly reported to the manufacturer, it will usually trigger waves of negative impacts.

Nowadays, consumers will post photos and complain in social groups such as Facebook or LINE that they participate in, and then they will be quoted or followed up in reports after being seen by the media. And more people will quote the posts after seeing the media reports, forming a standard corporate public relations crisis amplification mechanism.

Taking the just-concluded Lunar New Year holiday as an example, in order to save family time, the purchase volume of frozen New Year vegetables has increased year by year. If there is a problem with these frozen New Year vegetables purchased online, consumers will activate the above-mentioned negative reaction mechanism, and manufacturers will not respond quickly enough due to lack of manpower during the New Year holiday, exacerbating the negative reaction.

Like this example: ”[(2019/02/02) Dongsen News: Online shopping for New Year dishes makes me angry! They are advertised as “reheated and ready to eat”… 3/4 of them are raw] (https://news.ebc.net.tw/News/living/151137)”. After a problem with online New Year’s Eve shopping occurs and is amplified by the news, it will become more difficult for merchants to deal with it.

However, even if it is a difficult public relations crisis, as long as it is handled properly, it can not only put out the fire immediately, but also gain the support of netizens and consumers, reversing the originally unfavorable negative image. So, what steps should be taken to turn crisis into opportunity? Let’s take a look at a recent success story below.

During the 2020 Spring Festival, the frozen New Year dishes made by the Internet celebrity chef [Sheng Keshi] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2018/03/hanahomefood-content-marketing.html) with a large fan base on Facebook (more than 1.44 million fans) received a lot of complaints from consumers:

• The rice cakes are too soft and stick to each other!

• The Buddha Jumps Over the Wall for New Year’s Eve dinner is a bit salty!

• The fried rice tastes really terrible!

*The lion head is a bit scary!

Logically speaking, if you receive so many complaints, you will usually have entered the “Explosive ○ Commune”. At the same time, you will be chased by the media, asking how you can take responsibility. However, Saint Hacker avoided the possible image crisis and concentrated on cleaning up the aftermath. Well, how did he do it?

It turns out that St. Peter’s did not take a break on New Year’s Eve. At the same time, starting from the first day of the new year, it has been answering more than 10,000 questions from customers. Through his Facebook fan page and LINE customer service, he constantly emphasizes to consumers that he “must take all responsibilities”:

• 1/25 15:13 [Hello everyone, I am the Holy Master. I would like to sincerely apologize to my friends who bought my New Year’s dishes. ](https://www.facebook.com/hanahomefood/posts/2822577351137063?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDvoKR_Inm20mz9Z53KMiwHfuX5NKaMVY 8m6PupJezgTu8Q1ZtpNcvYbrG1_OerdfGEg8OLMTzLCIsBQOHZlWSlpUaKlVGhx27pAp3pbh4s2f46rjVc0EWMhAXZs2cq40A_1tv545SC5s5FRGvvJ 4SRgqfKPZZ920Hh7tIpR85OyBOBllN706_rmdHriyfEv3V1VCLa_22oSPOjy1m4Pgu2PFYpaZiJQnAkW8V_ZTGvXv_d5XdkSZH1-MnVrPDidySyQ6nx P0GbuiPORRE-eSUFj9tBDVsB-HR3Ed3jXav0akmd7hftE4fOsnXJJ_NHnjPRZZWATs8FYfWvxIq-m9DA&tn=-R) Likes: 13477, Comments: 3865, Shares: 176

• 1/25 16:36 The following is the New Year vegetable product inspection report and liability insurance related, which will be continuously updated. If you have any questions, we can help you send them for inspection to pursue the problem. Likes: 3009, Comments: 1070, Shares: 25

• 1/30 18:19 Sorry, this is because I did not do a good job in quality control, I will take responsibility Likes: 18631, comments: 2033, shares: 348

• 1/31 15:11 Don’t worry, I will definitely reply to your questions Likes: 3898, Comments: 111, Shares: 250

On the other hand, during the entire Spring Festival holiday, most news periods were submerged by reports related to Wuhan Pneumonia, and other news was not easy to make it onto the page. This is also one of the lucky places of Shengkaishi, which allows him to buy enough time to respond to consumers.

In the comments on these posts, it can be seen that although many consumers cannot help but complain, they almost unanimously forgive Shengcai Master for this mistake, believing that the response is sincere, and are willing to continue to support Shengcai Master. Judging from the current barrage of attacks from netizens in Taiwan, it is indeed rare to be able to achieve this level.

5 key principles for corporate public relations crisis management─How to use DISCO to avoid landmines

For detailed methods of crisis management, please refer to the article “[Turn the crisis into a turning point! Public relations experts teach you 5 principles to give your company a new lease of life]” (https://www.managertoday.com.tw/columns/view/52292) shared by Wang Fulei, Managing Director of Ogilvy Public Relations, about the five principles of DISCO. Here we only list how the Holy Archmaster can accurately perform the corresponding actions of these 5 DISCO items and quickly extinguish the fire.

• Action and communication in parallel (Dual-path process): Upon receiving the complaint, SCM immediately contacted the supplier (outsourced kitchen) and freight forwarder to clarify the situation. Then he immediately posted a “response action” on the Facebook fan page to let consumers know that “it is being processed, please wait for our response.”

• Immediately response: New Year’s Eve dishes are eaten on New Year’s Eve. Shengkaishi started as soon as it received customer complaints, collected the situation within 12 hours and began to respond. It issued a response in the afternoon of New Year’s Day.

• Determine the stakeholders (Stakeholders): Stakeholder will first find suppliers and freight forwarders who may be in trouble to discuss countermeasures, and then respond to customers. These are all stakeholders who are directly affected. But if the company has a certain scale, it actually has to deal with front-line employees and distributors first in order to unify the statement and response process. External relations include lawyers, public relations firms, media and government departments/police units. A crisis management team should be formed with lawyers and public relations companies to monitor and adjust response measures at any time, and respond to handling steps and information simultaneously with employees and channels. When the media, government departments or consumer associations come to your doorstep, you must provide detailed descriptions of the events and responses to win their understanding and support, rather than indifferent supervision. If there is no external public relations company, you can consider having in-house public relations personnel join the team, or temporarily hiring a public relations company with experience in crisis management to provide consultants. As the incident unfolds, it is also necessary to take the time to communicate with directors/shareholders to let them understand the impact that the crisis may have on the company’s expenses and subsequent revenue, as well as the measures to reduce and restore goodwill to avoid internal collapse first.

*Containment: Shengkaishi made good use of Facebook fans and LINE official accounts to respond in a unified manner. At the same time, it promised refunds and other specific measures early in the incident (within 24 hours) to respond to consumers one by one, so that the crisis would not be dealt with by the media.

*Ownership: Shengkaishi has repeatedly apologized in posts and videos, emphasizing that it will take responsibility and provide refunds or related measures to consumers.

However, behind these principles of action, the most important thing is to have an “empathy” mentality. Only by truly standing on the same side as consumers and understanding the problems and dilemmas faced by consumers can we win their recognition. Master Shengcai chose to use emotional language and show empathy, supplemented by specific response actions, so that this crisis could be controlled.

Thank you for your willingness to support me with actions

But my performance disappointed you

I’m really sorry

I know the annual New Year dishes

The loss to you really cannot be measured in terms of money.

Sorry to ruin your big day of the year

I’m sorry that you are rejected by your family

I’m sorry to disappoint you because of my negligence

-Excerpted from Saint Caius [Facebook Fan post](https://www.facebook.com/hanahomefood/posts/2822577351137063?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBsH6pT-vDHiIKHhJUIJJyn_ KtXGqjUt0osyqyKLpFkiias1fhNOWetz2ljR4oM​​CF8G_LsSMGd0k89ek5pOqu_3mi3RaxQH-Zv8Hn_5b4HL5AJAvFNDjAhu3guuPGVhfYbs7S 6bk1ZxmFHZ8k1-zTwByOMgkuUHHJf0rKqFs8gCmerQkXEwFEN-wKXS9_y_HT0bUOZizQ5r62X23p9snZB6etotfsQBjf0AyxFxtqUxFMbiEQxu A7w2N80zePA8ccUv7wflxJueyi0vuM4HAEeQOgqiZynZUUFfDYrr2HqLz8I5Zv9oRwKev__eSsyqgWdUaq7k_scbK52ZA4ajM4bU&tn=-R) If there is anything that needs to be strengthened in the process, it should be said that in social posts and videos, it is not necessary to always emphasize that “suppliers” and “freighters” are jointly responsible. The so-called taking responsibility means “everyone is guilty, but I am guilty” (vernacular translation: everything is my problem). No matter what the facts are, Shengqiang will never be able to absolve itself of its responsibility to communicate and supervise its suppliers and freight forwarders, and consumers will only point their finger at the original manufacturer.

These internal review matters with employees or suppliers will be regarded as “the responsibility of the manufacturer” by consumers or government agencies. Therefore, speaking of it, in addition to being redundant, may also be regarded as an excuse by paranoid consumers. If you can’t help but say it, don’t say it. Replacing rhetorical apologies with practical actions is the right way to go.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkkZkKnEI3F3AtHZhFcQjutPU_ezlsOXByvA31zRQneHPyscQRWJ sudYWFiRPv1Coi6Y891okvHqCekeef6_qaJxR2Ew-d-4HQovzGpVN1hJqKWkKp-4mAlMO2NE2PEsjS2-Zs8WLBOFr/s1600/b_illust_91_0M.png)

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★ Photo Credit: Shaoyao Home Cooking Classroom

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Further reading

• How to do crisis public relations? Three things Haidilao Hotpot teaches us: responsibility, review and actual improvement
• Experiences from the 1st Content Hacking Lecture (CHL1)─Only by continuously cultivating content can we establish influence
• Three things the Haidilao hot pot crisis public relations taught me: responsibility, review and improvement

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