PR 101

Last Wednesday, I said Toyota was slow out of the blocks to respond to the various crises it has faced of late. I think I was blogger 10,143 to state the obvious. However, I also said the company is showing signs of regaining its equilibrium.

Note: I drive a 2000 Camry. Both my children drive Corollas.

The company is running ads in every print and broadcast outlet it can find – including a lot of radio. It has shown pictures of its idled factories to demonstrate how serious it is in identifying the accelerator and brake issues. It also has a very active presence on Facebook.

Still while this is a good start, I think the company could do more. I think they if they handled it as I suggest, they would turn a negative into a positive.

Do What Datsun Did

The first thing Toyota’s C-Suite executives should do is plan road trips to every dealer in every country where Toyota is sold. The road trippers should be Chairman Fujio Cho, Vice Chairmen of the Board Katsuaki Watanabe and Kazuo Okamo, President Akio Toyoda, and in North America, Jim Lentz, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales, USA. If there are people who hold the same positions as Lenz in Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa, they should also pack their bags.

They need to take a page from the handbook of retired Nissan executive Yutaka Katayama.  It was Katayama who made Datsun (which later returned to its original name of Nissan) into the first Japanese automobile success story in the United States, according to the late journalist and author David Halberstam. It was Halberstam who detailed Datsun’s success in “The Reckoning” – his account of the rise the Japanese auto industry.

Katayama lived in the United States. He traveled constantly around the U.S., meeting, customers, dealers, reporters and anyone else who talk to him. Halberstam explained that Katayama made Datsun a powerhouse because “he (Katayama) was a rare man. He brought a face to the Japanese mercantile presence; meeting him, Americans felt they knew, understood and liked the Japan that was behind his products.”

This is what Toyota’s executives should be doing. Going to every place in the world where there have been problems. Once there, they should personally apologize to their customers. They should be interviewed by the media in each city and repeat the apology. They should honestly answer the tough questions about what they knew and when they knew it. They should be speaking to every group that will listen. There should be town hall style meetings at dealerships for the customers and the general public to air grievances.

These public appearances will, in my opinion, do much to quell the anger and rebuild trust. Most people are willing to forgive a mistake, as long the one who makes the mistake sincerely apologizes.

Cut Prices

Second, a simple thing to do would to be slash prices on all models. Not a token five percent cut – a real one in the neighborhood of 25 percent. For those who have a car with a defective accelerator or brakes, give them a new car. I would throw into five years free maintenance for every car sold. Not just for oil changes and other minor things, but for all repairs from replacing a headlamp to replacing a transmission.

More Social Media

Third, I would make better use of social media than they are. Both Cho and Lenz should be blogging every week. Craig Newmark – the Craig of Craig’s List does, as does Jonathan Swartz, president and chief operating officer of Sun Microsystems and my personal favorite CEO blog, that of Southwest Airlines Gary Kelly. It has helped all three companies when they have hit rough patches. Explanations sound so much better when they come from the person in charge.

Finally, there are many, many people out there who are still strong Toyota supporters. Anecdotally, I know that because as Chester the Wonder Dog and I walk each day, I talk to Toyota owners. I have yet to find one who would get rid of their car.

I have also been on the Toyota Facebook page for U.S. owners. The level of support is amazing. Toyota needs to get those people more organized around company support. Most kind of companies would kill for that kind of support.

Put this all together and I think Toyota will be just fine.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw what can happen when employees buy into a company’s overall marketing plan. I also saw what happens when a company representative ignores what a company should be doing. In the first case, I will recommend the company to my friends and to you. In the second, I will never talk about them, never endorse them, and if asked, will tell people what I think.

Case One – The Good Guys

The first case involves clothier Lands’ End. I buy a lot of my clothes from them. They are a Wisconsin-based company (albeit now owned by Sears.) I try to shop local whenever I can. But, that doesn’t mean I will forsake quality just because something is made in my home state. Lands’ End makes quality clothing.

(Note to FTC: I have not received any form of payment from Lands’ End. I doubt they even read my blog.)

At any rate, a few months ago I bought a pair of blue jeans from the Dodgeville, Wis. – based company. I wear jeans a lot. If I am working in the office all day, I wear jeans. When I am doing a repair project at home, or working outside, I wear jeans. I expect them to be comfortable and to last for a couple of years.

While the Lands’ jeans were comfortable, they started showing signs of wear with a few weeks. When a hole appeared where I sit, I went to return them to a local Lands’ End store. I had not saved the receipt.

The people in the store could have not been nicer. They looked at the jeans, checked the computer to find my account, and took the pants back no questions asked. The manager credited my credit card for the money I had spent.

What that manager did was ensure I will buy Lands’ End products for a long time. Among the other things it does, Lands’ End promises superior customer service. I am sure it is written into their business and marketing plans. More importantly, I am sure the expectation to provide that kind of service is communicated to the company’s employees.

That’s key to a company’s ethos. It isn’t enough to have a great marketing plan. Employees have to buy into it.

Now, for the other side

Both my children are getting married this year. My son and daughter are marrying wonderful people whom I really like

Since my wife and I parents of the bride in my daughter’s case, we are responsible for handling a lot of the arrangements. One of the key things we are doing is hiring a caterer. I suggested ordering 50 or so pizzas, but no one went for my idea.

Actually, my wife is handling most of the arrangements. She is smarter than I am and much better at this kind of thing.

So, she started contacting caterers. Milwaukee is a large city and we had a lot to choose from. One thing I should note is that my daughter is a vegetarian. When my wife contacted a number of caterers, she specified there had to be a vegetarian option. My wife also did her homework. She contacted friends and some food suppliers to ask which catering companies were best.

After narrowing the list down to two finalists. She emailed them both and asked for information. One responded quickly and provided all of the information requested. We were impressed. The other, frankly, took its time.

When the second caterer responded, they did not include a vegetarian option with their menu. Now, my wife is a very nice person. She patiently explained to the second caterer they did not provide the requested information. We got a nasty response that claimed the information was never requested. Wrong, we have the emails. My wife suggested they be more careful next time.

The reply my wife received read as follows: “THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUGGESTION.” Yes, it was in caps. That means the person was shouting.

I am not naming the caterer because it is not going to mean anything to most of you. And, I still want to give the company the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this person is not representative of the organization. I would not want to sully the entire company because of one idiot.

That being said, if anyone asks my wife or I what we think of this company, we are going to relate the above story. Would you want to hire them after hearing it?

The Moral

Now this caterer might have great business and marketing plans in place. Those plans might call for superior customer service. If they do, it doesn’t matter. Those plans are just so many meaningless words because one employee forgot their job to serve the client.