PPG paint distributor reopens just one day after a fire guts his facility. By Tina Grady
Senior Associate Editor
Senior Associate Editor
Cooper Color faced nearly $500,000 in losses—about $300,000 in inventory and $200,000 in miscellaneous items—after a July 29 fire destroyed its building.As David Cooper was working at his home office one Monday morning, planning events for the five-year anniversary of his business, he called his secretary to let her know he’d be in the office just a little bit late. It was your average Monday morning—just business as usual at the office. However, Cooper, owner of Cooper Color, a PPG paint Platinum Distributor in St. Louis, had no idea that shortly after making that phone call, he would receive one himself that would nullify his celebration plans and turn the mundane morning into one he’d never forget. The Phone Call
Cooper’s phone rang about 9 a.m.—just half an hour after his initial conversation with his secretary. It was his secretary, but this time she was calling in a panic. Cooper’s wife, Donna, answered the phone and the distraught voice on the other end told her that there was a fire at the landscaping business attached to Cooper Color.As soon as Cooper heard the news, he rushed off to work, thoughts about what to expect racing through his head during the 25-minute drive. When he arrived, he took one look at the billowing smoke coming out of both his side and the landscaping side of the building and the news helicopter overhead and immediately knew the outlook was grim.Cooper jumped out of his car and hugged the operations manager, breathing a sigh of relief when the ops manager told him everyone made it out of the building. “We had had fire drills so everyone knew what to do,” Cooper explains. “I went around and hugged everyone and said, ‘We’ll get through this.’ By the time I found out that everyone was safe, my wife and kids had gotten there.”Although they were there to lend support, the distressed looks on everyone’s faces “were freaking me out,” Cooper says. But he took a deep breath and tried to regain his composure when he saw the 14 faces of his employees staring back at him. He knew the anguished looks were a combination of what had just happened and concern about what it meant for their future and their families.From this vantage point, he knew he had a lot of work ahead of him to get up and operating, but he was determined to do so as soon as possible. In fact, Cooper didn’t return home until 11:30 p.m. the day of the fire. In the meantime, with the help of a local bodyshop, another PPG distributor, his regional and territory PPG managers and other local-area folks, Cooper was up and running the next morning—with business almost as usual. This was despite the fact that the building was condemned and was considered a total loss. But Cooper and his employees managed to turn a disaster into an exceptional example of crisis management. “We all came together as a team,” Cooper says. In the Interim
Although PPG is working on an official crisis/disaster plan to assist other distributors, Cooper says, his business had an unofficial one in place in case a disaster such as this happened. “I didn’t have a formalized plan, but had some things in place,” he says.“We have a succession plan in place in case something were to happen. Having the backup on the computers was a big thing.”
PPG Regional Manager Jeff Hartnagel and PPG Territory Manager Jeff Griffin headed for the site almost immediately upon learning about the fire.Greg Bartnett, owner of Meramec Heights Collision Center, located about 10 minutes from Cooper Color—and one of Cooper’s customers, also rushed to the scene. “He was there almost immediately offering any help,” Cooper says.
In fact, Bartnett offered to let Cooper set up shop in his facility. “He has an addition going on that is not completely done,” Cooper says. “He offered that to us and to run some phone lines in there.”They went there the very next morning. However, Cooper says, to keep things flowing smoothly in the chaotic situation, they had to stay well organized and work together. “We had no phones and computers,” he says. “We got some extra cell phones. All the computer folks and sales people have cell phones, so they were letting customers know what happened and how they could get a hold of us. Everyone was in as much shock as we were.”However, orders went out that day as planned. Cooper received stock from Kevin and Wendy Brinkley, owners of The Paint Store, a fellow PPG Platinum distributor in the area. Hartnagel, the regional manager, and Cooper spent all day Tuesday looking for a temporary place to move into. They ended up finding a location across the street from their old building. By Wednesday morning, the local fire inspector gave Cooper approval to move his operation into that building. By mid-afternoon, a large product delivery arrived from the Kansas City, Mo., PPG warehouse.Cooper continued to work with the Brinkleys for nearly two weeks until a new paint mixing area could be installed in that temporary location. “We mixed paint out of that store until we got it all squared away,” Cooper says. “We were up to almost 100 percent within a week.”Cooper is now in the process of looking for a piece of land where he can build his own facility. In the meantime, Cooper Color remains online at its current location. In fact, Cooper Color not only didn’t lose any business because of the fire, but sales were up about 17 percent from the previous year as of press time. “We got stronger as a company because of it and got strong as a supplier because of it,” Cooper says. Planning for Disaster
Although you never know when disaster may strike, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place—whether it’s highly formalized or just some pre-planned basic procedures.Dave Cooper, owner of Cooper Color in St. Louis, a PPG Platinum paint distributor, says that although he didn’t have a formal plan in place, having done some pre-planning (i.e. having backups of his computer files off site and regularly practiced fire drills) helped him when a fire gutted his 4,500-sq. ft. business in late July. PPG is currently working on a formalized suggestion list that encompasses myriad scenarios that could take place and how to deal with them.
Although crisis communications and crisis management plans will differ between businesses, Cooper offers these general tips about how to prepare for a disaster such as the one he experienced:Make sure you have good insurance. Be sure to go over your insurance to ensure that if you experience a total loss that you will get the replacement value for what was lost (not just what the items are currently worth) and for loss of business.
Have a plan in place that makes sure someone can be there to help you. “Make sure you can have someone by your side,” he says. “You’ll be in a state of shock.”Have good people. “You should do this anyway,” Cooper says. But having a team that can work together under pressure is crucial, he says.Make sure you have backups of computer files offsite and that you have some key paperwork away from the premises. “Visualize losing everything and what is going to be the most important thing for you,” Cooper says. “This could be something as simple as an invoice. We got a box of invoices out and handwrote them.”Be prepared to be without land line phones for a while. Have an alternate place to which you can move your business if you experience a disaster.
Steven Fink, president of the Los Angeles-based Lexicon Communications Corp. and author of “Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable,” advises that any crisis plan that you develop should be tested before it needs to be implemented. Testing plans can be as simple as role-playing or as complex as simulating the possible disaster, says Fink, who served on the Governor of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island crisis management team in 1979. “The goal is not to find out if it works, but to find out how it doesn’t,” he says. “It’s too neat if you don’t find any problems.”Fink warns companies that they need to avoid disasters/crises that can severely harm their reputation by recognizing danger signs and taking early action. Fink says the following situations indicate warning signs and recommends that companies should be prepared for these types of situations:Those that escalate in intensity.
Gain unwarranted attention from outsiders, such as the media or government.
Interfere with normal business operations.
Jeopardize the positive public image of the company or its officers.
Damage a company’s bottom line in any way. “These are considered to be prodromes, or warning signs,” Fink says. “If you are really planning for crisis management in a proper way, you should apply these questions as a litmus test. You can see if [the situation] might escalate into a full-blown crisis. It helps you to get ready.”However, every business is different, so the business owner himself or herself is in the best position to identify the worst thing that could happen, he says. “One of the first things we do is brainstorm with the client,” Fink says. “We put together a list of the different things that could happen.” Although this pre-planning is crucial, it’s important to keep in mind that you can’t plan for everything down to the last detail. “If companies try to plan for too much detail, they get bogged down in minutia and your crisis management plan turns into the Manhattan phone book,” Fink says. “Everything can and should be planned for, but not with microscopic specificity. If you are in the heat of a crisis and need to refer to the plan, you can’t wade through that many pages.”
Cooper’s phone rang about 9 a.m.—just half an hour after his initial conversation with his secretary. It was his secretary, but this time she was calling in a panic. Cooper’s wife, Donna, answered the phone and the distraught voice on the other end told her that there was a fire at the landscaping business attached to Cooper Color.As soon as Cooper heard the news, he rushed off to work, thoughts about what to expect racing through his head during the 25-minute drive. When he arrived, he took one look at the billowing smoke coming out of both his side and the landscaping side of the building and the news helicopter overhead and immediately knew the outlook was grim.Cooper jumped out of his car and hugged the operations manager, breathing a sigh of relief when the ops manager told him everyone made it out of the building. “We had had fire drills so everyone knew what to do,” Cooper explains. “I went around and hugged everyone and said, ‘We’ll get through this.’ By the time I found out that everyone was safe, my wife and kids had gotten there.”Although they were there to lend support, the distressed looks on everyone’s faces “were freaking me out,” Cooper says. But he took a deep breath and tried to regain his composure when he saw the 14 faces of his employees staring back at him. He knew the anguished looks were a combination of what had just happened and concern about what it meant for their future and their families.From this vantage point, he knew he had a lot of work ahead of him to get up and operating, but he was determined to do so as soon as possible. In fact, Cooper didn’t return home until 11:30 p.m. the day of the fire. In the meantime, with the help of a local bodyshop, another PPG distributor, his regional and territory PPG managers and other local-area folks, Cooper was up and running the next morning—with business almost as usual. This was despite the fact that the building was condemned and was considered a total loss. But Cooper and his employees managed to turn a disaster into an exceptional example of crisis management. “We all came together as a team,” Cooper says. In the Interim
Although PPG is working on an official crisis/disaster plan to assist other distributors, Cooper says, his business had an unofficial one in place in case a disaster such as this happened. “I didn’t have a formalized plan, but had some things in place,” he says.“We have a succession plan in place in case something were to happen. Having the backup on the computers was a big thing.”
PPG Regional Manager Jeff Hartnagel and PPG Territory Manager Jeff Griffin headed for the site almost immediately upon learning about the fire.Greg Bartnett, owner of Meramec Heights Collision Center, located about 10 minutes from Cooper Color—and one of Cooper’s customers, also rushed to the scene. “He was there almost immediately offering any help,” Cooper says.
In fact, Bartnett offered to let Cooper set up shop in his facility. “He has an addition going on that is not completely done,” Cooper says. “He offered that to us and to run some phone lines in there.”They went there the very next morning. However, Cooper says, to keep things flowing smoothly in the chaotic situation, they had to stay well organized and work together. “We had no phones and computers,” he says. “We got some extra cell phones. All the computer folks and sales people have cell phones, so they were letting customers know what happened and how they could get a hold of us. Everyone was in as much shock as we were.”However, orders went out that day as planned. Cooper received stock from Kevin and Wendy Brinkley, owners of The Paint Store, a fellow PPG Platinum distributor in the area. Hartnagel, the regional manager, and Cooper spent all day Tuesday looking for a temporary place to move into. They ended up finding a location across the street from their old building. By Wednesday morning, the local fire inspector gave Cooper approval to move his operation into that building. By mid-afternoon, a large product delivery arrived from the Kansas City, Mo., PPG warehouse.Cooper continued to work with the Brinkleys for nearly two weeks until a new paint mixing area could be installed in that temporary location. “We mixed paint out of that store until we got it all squared away,” Cooper says. “We were up to almost 100 percent within a week.”Cooper is now in the process of looking for a piece of land where he can build his own facility. In the meantime, Cooper Color remains online at its current location. In fact, Cooper Color not only didn’t lose any business because of the fire, but sales were up about 17 percent from the previous year as of press time. “We got stronger as a company because of it and got strong as a supplier because of it,” Cooper says. Planning for Disaster
Although you never know when disaster may strike, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place—whether it’s highly formalized or just some pre-planned basic procedures.Dave Cooper, owner of Cooper Color in St. Louis, a PPG Platinum paint distributor, says that although he didn’t have a formal plan in place, having done some pre-planning (i.e. having backups of his computer files off site and regularly practiced fire drills) helped him when a fire gutted his 4,500-sq. ft. business in late July. PPG is currently working on a formalized suggestion list that encompasses myriad scenarios that could take place and how to deal with them.
Although crisis communications and crisis management plans will differ between businesses, Cooper offers these general tips about how to prepare for a disaster such as the one he experienced:Make sure you have good insurance. Be sure to go over your insurance to ensure that if you experience a total loss that you will get the replacement value for what was lost (not just what the items are currently worth) and for loss of business.
Have a plan in place that makes sure someone can be there to help you. “Make sure you can have someone by your side,” he says. “You’ll be in a state of shock.”Have good people. “You should do this anyway,” Cooper says. But having a team that can work together under pressure is crucial, he says.Make sure you have backups of computer files offsite and that you have some key paperwork away from the premises. “Visualize losing everything and what is going to be the most important thing for you,” Cooper says. “This could be something as simple as an invoice. We got a box of invoices out and handwrote them.”Be prepared to be without land line phones for a while. Have an alternate place to which you can move your business if you experience a disaster.
Steven Fink, president of the Los Angeles-based Lexicon Communications Corp. and author of “Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable,” advises that any crisis plan that you develop should be tested before it needs to be implemented. Testing plans can be as simple as role-playing or as complex as simulating the possible disaster, says Fink, who served on the Governor of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island crisis management team in 1979. “The goal is not to find out if it works, but to find out how it doesn’t,” he says. “It’s too neat if you don’t find any problems.”Fink warns companies that they need to avoid disasters/crises that can severely harm their reputation by recognizing danger signs and taking early action. Fink says the following situations indicate warning signs and recommends that companies should be prepared for these types of situations:Those that escalate in intensity.
Gain unwarranted attention from outsiders, such as the media or government.
Interfere with normal business operations.
Jeopardize the positive public image of the company or its officers.
Damage a company’s bottom line in any way. “These are considered to be prodromes, or warning signs,” Fink says. “If you are really planning for crisis management in a proper way, you should apply these questions as a litmus test. You can see if [the situation] might escalate into a full-blown crisis. It helps you to get ready.”However, every business is different, so the business owner himself or herself is in the best position to identify the worst thing that could happen, he says. “One of the first things we do is brainstorm with the client,” Fink says. “We put together a list of the different things that could happen.” Although this pre-planning is crucial, it’s important to keep in mind that you can’t plan for everything down to the last detail. “If companies try to plan for too much detail, they get bogged down in minutia and your crisis management plan turns into the Manhattan phone book,” Fink says. “Everything can and should be planned for, but not with microscopic specificity. If you are in the heat of a crisis and need to refer to the plan, you can’t wade through that many pages.”
