Nothing affects a company's fortunes more forcibly than a major crisis. Communications skills are clearly critical in a crisis but effective public relations is obviously dependent on how the company manages the crisis overall.

Recent events show that the perception among key audiences of how well prepared and able a company is in handling a serious problem can make or break the company.

We implement comprehensive systems and training for effective crisis communications to all target audiences and especially the media. Preparation is vital in crisis management. From the pre-selection and training of spokespersons, establishing procedures for creating, approving and developing messages, to the identification of key journalists and pre-establishing good relations with them, our methodology leaves nothing to chance while we are quickly on hand to advise on the specifics of the event when news breaks.

Communications is only one, albeit crucial, part of the crisis management process. Effective communications ultimately depends on senior management's ability to handle all aspects of the crisis with competence and decisiveness.