After communicating with staff, find your key clients and contact them first. If you can do it in person then do, this is a great personal touch. Let these key clients know about the financial changes before you send out the general announcement. They will feel valued and appreciated, and enjoy hearing from you rather than finding out in the same way as the rest of the consumer base.
Finally, the general announcement. As aforementioned you should make this announcement as soon as you possibly can, giving people time to adjust to the change and make other arrangements if necessary. Be ready to take in a lot of calls and emails about the change, and make sure that all of your bases are covered- have people monitoring the phones, email accounts and all social media pages. Respond to each and every enquiry and comment, and let everyone know the reasoning behind your decision to make your changes. Even if you have a backlash of negative comments do try to respond to them in a positive light- ignoring these comments will make customers feel ignored and anger them more. Whilst you may have a flood of comments and questions coming in the few days after you announce your price change, take each one individually and treat each person with respect and kindness… (READ MORE)