Shooting Leaves North Carolina Company Stammering

It's sad enough that Fortune 500 companies are ill prepared to communicate through a crisis. But mom-and-pop businesses perhaps have the most to lose and are even less prepared.

Take, for instance, McBride Lumber Company in Star, North Carolina. At 6 a.m. today, a former employee entered the business and shot four people, killing three. He was later picked up at his home in serious condition with a self-inflicted wound. He left a note, but police haven't released its contents.

Here is what the owner and founder, Dorothy McBride, told the Associated Press: "'Oh, my God, I can't believe it,' said McBride, who was not at the business at the time of the shootings. 'I just can't talk about it right now. I have to find out more.'" (http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-shoots-nc-lumber-yard/story?id=15355139)


With a crisis communications plan, McBride would have been able to catch her breath and, at the least, express sympathy for the victims' families. She might have gone on to offer what the company was doing for the surviving victim. And she could have reassured customers of the company's pallet business that the plant remained in full production.
 
Instead, McBride came off like a deer caught in headlights. Don't let this be you. Have a crisis communications plan, practice it, and be ready to grab it off the shelves, from the trunk of your car, or from your nightstand.