A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 dollars to drop that towel.”

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes
back upstairs. When she get to the bathroom, her husband asks, “Who was that?”

“It was Bob the next door neighbor” she replies.

“Great!” the husband says. “Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”

Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to the credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

This morale rings true for more than just shareholders. When it comes to your customers (who are essentially shareholders as well) it is frequently best to share information rather than withhold it.

When it comes to communicating these types of messages it is always best to not conceal the message with marketing fluff or sales speak. For instance, let’s say that someone hacked into your customer database and important and personal information about your customers was compromised. The best course of action is for your customer to know it way before the press does. This security breach will lose you customers. But proactivity will retain more than inaction.

These types of communications are most effective as printed letters on corporate stationery with first class postage. This is not the time to pinch pennies with postage. Nor is it the time to add additional information like promos, offers, and upsell information.

The tone of the letter should be genuine, apologetic, and take full responsibility for the incident. It should also detail what measures are being taken to prevent this from happening again.

A good technique is to explain to the customer that you are alerting them first. A line like,, “As our valued customer we needed to alert you immediately about this breach in security…”

Finally, the letter should come from the top. The customer needs to hear it from the CEO, not the Vice President of Customer Relationship.

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