Samsung has stopped the sale and production of its Galaxy Note 7. – SIPANY/SIPA
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The nightmare of Samsung continues. On Friday, us authorities have banned the Galaxy Note 7 of the aircraft, even shut off. Now, the passengers risk a fine and criminal prosecution if they do not comply with the ban. Mired for the past six weeks in the crisis of the batteries explosive, Samsung is expected to record a shortfall of $ 3 billion over the next six months, according to its estimates. But the biggest loss could be “damage to his reputation,” warns David Nevins, president and CEO of Nevins & Associates, a consulting firm in marketing and communication. Here are the rules to respect in the face of a crisis of this magnitude.

Rule n°1 : “Act quickly, in full transparency “

There, Samsung had pretty well started. While the first battery explosion has been reported on the 24th of August, the company conducted a global recall of 2.5 million smartphones in less than 10 days later, on 2 September. But Samsung has remained very vague in his statement, speaking of ” a problem on a battery cell “. Nowhere it was indicated that smartphones could catch on fire and explode. “When the safety of clients is at stake, we must act quickly, with honesty, in full transparency,” says Nevins. According to him, ” it’s like with a wound : she can not heal as long as it has not been cleaned completely “. To make matters worse, Samsung has dragged on two weeks before you implement a concrete plan for how to handle returns. It took the us authorities bang their fist on the table September 16 with a clear warning : “consumers should immediately stop using the Galaxy Note 7 recalled and off. “

Rule n°2 : It is necessary to communicate empathy

Judy Smith, the “crisis manager”, who inspired the character of Olivia Pope in the series Scandal, speaks about it often : in the event of a crisis, the companies communicate too much in a register to be factual and forget the emotional. David Nevins agrees : “The communication must show empathy “. This includes television interviews, ” it is necessary that the public sees a human face. “Samsung, him, has singled out the press releases ultra-corporate. Its pages Twitter and Facebook have turned in slow motion. For several weeks, the tweet pinned on his page was a message out of the first reminder.

Rule # 3 : It is necessary to solve the problem

” If Samsung had fixed the problem in the first exchange, the crisis would not have been an impropriety minor to the consumer, ” says Shari Veil, a professor of communications at the university of Kentucky. But while batteries new models have also caught on fire, the company is facing ” a crisis of confidence.” This grave wrong, while the iPhone 7 comes out and that Google has unsheathed its Pixel, a smartphone premium.

Rule # 4 : It is necessary to learn from his mistakes

” The public, especially in the United States, forgives easily, provided that a company is honest in his remorse and she shows that she has learned from her mistakes, ” slips Nevins. Samsung will therefore have to take the bull by the horns and to wait until its investigation is complete to positively identify the problem and correct it. Unlike flops like Ford on the Firestone tires in the early 2000s, there has been no death. “Samsung can rely on,” concludes the expert. “But he will have to start by changing his way of communicating. “

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