Crisis Management Consultant

If you’ve worked in a leadership role for long enough, you know that situations come up when you don’t expect them–and are least prepared for them. Those first few hours and days of responding and reacting to an active crisis can feel like a blur. You might question how your team handled certain things and worry about your personal or business reputation.

How will this situation pan out? This business means everything to me, will we ever recover from the bad publicity? The press keeps calling me; what should I say to them?

These questions running through your mind can trigger “fight or flight” mode, leaving you unable to think clearly about critical next steps. Crisis management is not something you should have to navigate alone. A crisis management consultant can help you manage internal and external communications and develop a strategy to work through the crisis while managing your reputation.   

Melissa DeLay has more than 20 years of experience in corporate communications and specializes in crisis management. Her expertise has helped clients recover from damaging media exposés, prevent bad publicity after internal and public corporate mishaps, and restore reputations with employees, customers, and the public.

Not in an active crisis but looking for Executive Consulting or Leadership Coaching?

How Can An Active Crisis Consultant Help You?

  • Melissa immediately partners with you to contain active crises
  • Melissa offers 24/7 support until the crisis is contained to help you navigate business disruptions and threats
  • Help you stay true to your company mission and vision in times of trouble
  • Access to pre-approved statements to guide internal and external communication during an active crisis
  • Support in establishing and upholding the reputation of leaders within your company during a crisis event

Crisis and Reputation Management Retainer

Melissa offers a comprehensive crisis and reputation management retainer, which includes 24/7 support, either in person or virtually, depending on your requirements. Retainers typically last 3 months but can be extended or cut shorter depending on the severity of your active crisis.

Are you experiencing an immediate crisis?

When Is Crisis Management Helpful? 

Working with Melissa as your crisis management consultant is an opportunity to build a proactive reputation and crisis management strategy. It will help you communicate authentically to high-stake audiences, prevent and respond to an active crisis and gain practical skills for overall communication in the workplace. No crisis is too big or too small!

Professional Guidance

Having a crisis management consultant like Melissa in your corner can help guide you through difficult situations where you may not know the right things to say. Melissa offers verbal and written advice on presenting unpleasant news like layoffs, terminating high-profile staff and board members, or handling sensitive situations at a business or college campus. She can help advise you on ways to present yourself with authority, respond to the press, and other critical aspects to uphold your reputation. 

Mergers, acquisitions, and layoffs 

Mergers and acquisitions or layoffs can be shocking and confusing to many employees–especially when they don’t know what the future holds for them. Ensuring your leadership team has a clear, direct, and effective communication strategy when delivering the news is critical to your employees and the future of the company. 

Melissa offers guidance on how to deliver an effective and clear message to your employees or leadership team. Reaffirming the company’s mission and vision statement helps leaders know your stance, and how to deliver bad news.

Reputation Management 

The most important word to remember when thinking about reputation management is TRUTH. There are times when it might seem better to hide information for fear of reprimand, but the truth always has a way of coming out. That’s why it’s critical that you get out ahead of potentially harmful news and remain truthful by bringing it to light in a positive manner.

A PR crisis management consultant like Melissa can guide you through the process of remaining truthful, and what to share when bringing sensitive information to light. She will train you on proper communication techniques, embracing transparency, and controlling the narrative of your story.

This service is beneficial for executive leaders (CEO, CFO, CCO, VPs) and business professionals who represent clients (such as lawyers). Don’t let your past dictate your future, or ruin your present!

Ready for crisis communication coaching?

Looking for alternative consulting services?

Melissa offers a variety of consulting services starting from one-hour speaking engagements to 24/7 access retainers. Services include group leadership training programs, leadership guest speaking, and one-on-one executive coaching.

Melissa, Your Crisis Communication Consultant

Melissa DeLay is a speaker, author, and award-winning founder and principal owner of TruPerception. 

With more than two decades of strategic and corporate communication experience–including consulting for entities such as Ameriprise Financial and the state of Minnesota, as well as holding senior positions with 3M, Carlson Companies, Maytag, and AmeriPride–she knows how to deliver the right words, in the right way to drive change, manage crises, boost engagement, and build a stronger brand.

Her book, The Truth About Scandal: The Everyday Guide to Navigating Business Crises, details her experience coaching and consulting professionals through the toughest communications issues facing modern leaders today.