Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-s3ae4-13cfafd

With ongoing inflation, interest rate hikes, and the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, we continue to navigate uncertain times. In this episode we talk about shoring up our communication with our clients and ways to work on your business development pipeline.
 
Transcript
Michelle Kane (00:02):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. I am Michelle Kane with VoiceMatters, and I'm here with my ever steady co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen. How are you today?
Karen Swim, APR (00:17):
I'm great. How are you doing?
Michelle Kane (00:19):
I'm good. Hey, you know, we're just flying along in this crazy little world, <laugh>.
Karen Swim, APR (00:26):
We're rolling along, changing as we go, making it up, figuring it out.
Michelle Kane (00:33):
Hey, that's, the beauty of being a PR pro. And you know, every day we wake up to the news, we peek our eyes out from under the covers and think. “What's happening out there?” And today we're going to talk about the financial world. Ooh, but as we are recording this, on the date we're recording this, the Fed is considering whether or not to pop up those interest rates again. Yay. But you know, as I'm sure all of our listeners know, we've had some bank failures and there has comes along with that some angst. I think we still kind of have a trauma from 2008 sticking in our bones and it's just bringing back some of those feelings of “ooph…”
Karen Swim, APR (01:17):
Well, yeah. For those of us who are around and remember that, but even if you weren't yet in business or were not yet operating, or maybe you were still in school back then and you're new to the working world. There are some things that we can learn from the recent bank failures. First of all, I think one thing that we can learn from a communication standpoint is what not to do. And I think that because we counsel clients, maybe many of you had some clients with ties to those banks, so it's really important. And then I had clients that didn't have ties, but for all clients, I said the same thing, it's better to control the message before the message controls you.
Michelle Kane (02:17):
Always.
Karen Swim, APR (02:18):
So, something this widespread, we talk about, we have this decision grid about when to weigh in on issues of the day. But something like this is definitely a place where I think it does not hurt at all to communicate it to key stakeholders, even if you're not affected by saying, “Hey, this recent news is very troubling and unsettling. We want you to know that we are not impacted by the SVP Bank failure nor by First Republic.” If you're not impacted, it's good to say that because this type of challenge is something that hits just everyone. It's going to, you know, employees are going to wonder, “Oh my God, do we have money in these banks? Is it going to affect payroll?” Your investors want to know that you've got a handle on this, your potential investors, your customers want to know that you are fine and that you're not going to be making moves out of frenzy and in response to this, but that you're okay.
Michelle Kane (03:27):
Yeah.
Karen Swim, APR (03:28):
And if you are affected, communicate with a plan about what you plan to do.
Michelle Kane (03:33):
Right. I mean, that's basic PR 101. It's take control of the messaging. And I give kudos, of course, I wasn't privy to what local companies were saying but I know the banks in our region did a wonderful job - the very next morning, making statements of we're, we're good, we're solvent. That was different because X, Y, Z, you can rest assured… They just did the right thing.
Karen Swim, APR (04:01):
I think it also brings up the question - I had providers that I utilize that were impacted. And I immediately got messages that what I utilized them for would not be affected. But it really, that's good. You know, there's just been a lot of uncertainty and this financial part adds to it because I had to question - I did not know prior to this where all of my clients banked, where their money was parked. And it brings up a point like, here's one more stress test that we need to follow. And it's not so much even knowing where they bank, but having some failsafe to protect your income.  So I know some people that were personally impacted by delays in payments because of these bank failures. Could you absorb a delay in payment?  For how long could you absorb that delay? Do you have anything in your contract that is a protection? Do you have conversations with your clients about the realities of life? And are you documenting those in your contract? Because again, it brings up one more issue that we have to make sure that we guard against. And I'm all for making sure that you build a cushion that can carry you through any crisis. Whether it is several clients cutting off contra