At Dexcomm Answering and Communications Services – grounded here in Louisiana – we’ve weathered many storms over the years. Come hurricane season, we see businesses scramble when storms approach, only to discover their carefully-laid plans have a striking weakness: they can’t communicate with their customers when it matters most. Phones go down, staff can’t get to the office, and suddenly, your customers are left wondering if you’re even still in business. To help you resolve such problems this storm season, in this blog, we’ll cover:
- The Hard Numbers: Communication Crisis Statistics
- Industry-Specific Storm Challenges
- Your Hurricane Communication Action Plan
- Building Long-Term Storm Resistance
The Hard Numbers: Communication Crisis Statistics
Though only 30% of companies have an official business continuity plan in place, the figures show a dismal picture: 80% of companies run the risk of closing down within three years of a major disaster. According to the Federal Reserve's 2017 Small Business Credit Survey, 40% of companies in FEMA-designated disaster zones claimed losses from recent storms.
Moreover, the 2023 State of Business Continuity Preparedness Study by Forrester Research and Disaster Recovery Journal reveals that 81% of organizations have used their business continuity plans in the last five years (the highest percentage ever recorded), yet communication continues to be the biggest problem. The study found that the major lesson gained from recent disasters was that plans "did not adequately address organization-wide communication and collaboration."
Industry-Specific Storm Challenges
With every industry comes a unique set of challenges – and those challenges only become more intense during storm season. Here’s the challenges we see most while answering from industry to industry.
The Trades
Plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and other trained tradespeople experience particular difficulties during hurricane season. While storm damage prompts a deluge of emergency repair requests, these experts must also put safety first and determine if the environment is conducive for safe service calls. Communication is essential for:
- Prioritizing requests for emergency and non-emergency services
- Planning damage evaluations after a storm
- Working together with property managers and insurance assessors
- Controlling the availability of materials and disruptions to the supply chain
- Giving accurate timelines for rehabilitation work
Once you’re back to business as usual, your customer service representatives (or your answering service partner for that matter) must be able to distinguish between the urgency levels of various trade-related crises and interact with the same level of competence as your technicians. Streamlining customer communications upfront will leave more time for you to tackle other priorities after the storm.
Medical Practices
Healthcare providers face perhaps the most critical communication challenges during storms. Medical practices must maintain 24/7 communications to patients for:
- Prescription refill emergencies when pharmacies are closed
- Rescheduling critical appointments and procedures
- Providing medical advice for storm-related injuries
- Coordinating with hospitals for patient transfers
- Managing chronic condition concerns when regular care is disrupted
Patient calls don't stop during storms, they actually increase as individuals cope with medical emergencies, medication problems, and appointment issues. Your communication partner needs to show the same level of empathy and care that your staff would show to concerned patients and their families. Consider a 24/7 answering service with certified medical operators to help you handle the influx of calls.
Property Management Groups
During storms, property managers are the initial point of contact for tenant crises. Among the demands of communication are the following:
- Tenant evacuation and safety procedures management
- Managing urgent maintenance needs for several properties
- Facilitating communication between renters, landlords, and contractors
- Managing and coordinating insurance claim paperwork
- Giving updates on the restoration of utilities and access to property
In times of crisis, sympathetic and professional customer service representatives who are knowledgeable about property management procedures are essential to your team.
Storage Facilities
As clients are concerned about their possessions and require access during recovery efforts, self-storage facilities encounter fairly specific challenges:
- Controlling facility access when security systems are compromised
- Working with customers who require immediate access to their stored belongings
- Managing insurance claims for broken units
- Reporting on the condition of facility security and conducting damage assessments
- Making arrangements for cleanup and repair operations
Clarifying expectations with your storage clients prior to a major storm streamlines communications after the storm.
Funeral Homes
Funeral service providers must maintain dignity and compassion during the most sensitive communications, especially during disasters:
- Dealing with service delays and rescheduling with grieving families
- Working together with cemeteries that have sustained storm damage
- Managing transportation logistics when routes are disrupted
- Keeping up refrigeration and facility operations
- Providing grief support when families face more trauma from disasters
When representing your funeral home during these difficult times, your communications must reflect great compassion and professionalism.
Your Hurricane Communication Action Plan
We have decades of experience with hurricanes maintaining business links during the worst storms that Louisiana throws at us. This is what we advise. A strong communication plan is just as important as boarding up windows or stocking supplies—it keeps your people, clients, and partners informed when conditions are changing quickly. By preparing in advance, you can minimize downtime, protect your operations, and maintain trust with those who rely on your business. The goal is simple: keep your business connected, even when everything else feels uncertain.
Pre-Hurricane Planning: Get Your Business In Order
The best time to prepare for hurricane season is when there are no clouds in the sky. This is when you tackle high-priority items that lose their effectiveness if left until during or after the storm.
Start with a Communication Audit
Look at your current setup closely. Ask yourself: what would we do if half of our employees couldn't come to work, if our internet connection went down, or if our building lost power for a week? If the answer makes you uneasy, you are already one step ahead of the companies that haven't even considered the question.
Keep a record of everything, including the configuration of your phone system, internet dependencies, employee contact information, and above all, your essential customer communication needs. What calls are too important to ignore? What information do consumers require the most during an emergency?
Build Redundancy into Your System
One lesson we learned the hard way during our early years is that hope is not a strategy. You must have backups for your backups. Consider several layers of defense and begin to put them in place pre-hurricane. For example:
Professional Answering Services: Businesses all throughout the Gulf Coast depend on professional services during storm season for a reason. Answering services often have several sites, each with industrial-grade backup power, redundant internet connections, and – if you have the right answering service – compassionate, experienced personnel that have been specially trained in emergency procedures. By working with a reputable answering service, you're not just outsourcing calls; you're also extending your team to include members who are aware of the significance of empathy in crisis situations.
Customer Communication Scripts: In the event of a catastrophe, your employees (or your answering service) must be able to inform clients precisely what to say. Make simple, unambiguous scripts for typical situations:
- Notifications of business closures
- Appointment rescheduling procedures
- Emergency service availability
- Post-storm reopening timelines
- Insurance and service interruption policies
Make sure that everyone who could answer your phones knows where to locate these scripts and update them frequently.
Conversational AI: Customers require prompt responses when a hurricane strikes, but human teams can only accomplish so much under duress. This is where Conversational AI enters the picture. Even in the most turbulent situations, Conversational AI maintains open lines of communication by automating answers to frequently asked questions, delivering live updates, and making sure every call is answered. It lessens missed calls, shortens wait times, and helps your company remain dependable when customers need you the most. It is, in a nutshell, your round-the-clock frontline communicator, ensuring that your company is never silent during the storm.
During the Storm: Keeping Communication Lines Open
When hurricane warnings start flying, things can start to feel hectic – especially if you don’t have a plan in order. Here’s a few items to remember to prioritize during different phases of the hurricane.
48-72 Hours Before Impact
- Turn on your backup communication systems and transfer calls to backup systems.
- Give a brief to your answering service partnership regarding emergency procedures, making sure they are as sympathetic and competent as your staff in meeting the unique requirements of your clients.
- Send proactive notifications to customers about potential service changes.
- Make sure client databases are backed up and accessible remotely to your communication partners.
- Ensure you have backup power and plenty of battery packs for your important communication equipment.
Throughout the Storm
Ultimately, a very limited number of things can be checked off your list while a hurricane is in motion. Still, monitor social media for customer inquiries (many people use Facebook when their phone service is interrupted) to provide frequent updates on the state of the business. Maintain thorough records of client contacts for follow-up.
The First 24-48 Hours After the Storm
The days following a huge storm are when customer interactions are truly tested. During this time, your communication will either encourage customer loyalty for years to come or drive customers to competitors who handled the crisis more effectively.
- Be truthful while evaluating your operational capabilities
- Communicate with clients about the damage assessment
- Give practical timeframes for service restoration
- Prioritize communication with clients who have urgent needs
Building Long-Term Resistance
Preparing for hurricanes is an ongoing commitment to maintaining business resilience, not a one-time event. Regularly test your backup systems, keep your contact databases current, and review your strategies after each storm season to find areas for improvement.
Consider forming partnerships with other local businesses for mutual support during disasters, but also create relationships with communication services that can act as an extension of your team. While we have witnessed effective arrangements where companies cover one another’s phones in case of an emergency, the most reliable approach is a professional collaboration with agents who have been trained to represent your company with the same empathy and expertise that your customers would expect.
Conclusion: Your Reputation Rides Out the Storm
The reputation of your business depends on more than just the quality of your goods or services; it also depends on being available when your customers need you most. That commitment is put to the test by hurricanes in ways that are not possible in regular business operations.
The most successful businesses after big storms are not always the ones with the most resources, but rather the ones with the best planning and the most dependable communication networks. Regardless of what Mother Nature throws at them, their customers can rely on them.
The hurricane season is upon us, and it’s not going anywhere. Will your customers still be able to contact you when a big storm hits your business? This is the question, not if such a storm will occur.
