What Business Owners Don’t Realize About Crisis Management Until It’s Too Late
May 23, 2025
What Business Owners Don’t Realize About Crisis Management Until It’s Too Late
By Darlene M. Ziebell, Business Turnaround Strategist
“The worst time to build a lifeboat is after your ship is already sinking.”
Most business owners don’t think about crisis management—until they’re smack in the middle of a crisis.
Sales are flat. Expenses are ballooning. Customers are leaving. And suddenly, what once felt like a thriving company now feels like a collapsing house of cards. That’s when owners scramble, looking for quick fixes and miracle solutions.
But here’s the hard truth: waiting until your business is in trouble is the most expensive mistake you can make.
As a business turnaround strategist and crisis management expert, I’ve seen this pattern repeat across industries—from manufacturing and healthcare to tech startups and local service businesses. Leaders focus on growth and operations while ignoring warning signs and delaying preventative planning. And it’s costing them everything.
Let’s talk about what most entrepreneurs don’t realize about crisis management—until it’s too late.
1. A Business Crisis Doesn’t Start Overnight
One of the biggest myths is that a crisis comes out of nowhere. That’s rarely true. Most business failures happen after months—sometimes years—of slow decline.
You just didn’t see the signs.
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Your financials were showing trouble.
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Your customers were complaining more frequently.
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Your top employees were quietly job hunting.
But no one was connecting the dots.
Early detection is everything in crisis prevention. If you wait for the roof to cave in, you’ve already lost precious time and money.
2. Crisis Management is a Strategy—Not an Emergency Reaction
When people hear “crisis management,” they think fire drills and damage control. But effective crisis management starts before the crisis.
Smart business owners conduct regular business strategy audits to spot vulnerabilities, assess market changes, and realign their teams and operations before things spiral.
This is not about fear—it’s about resilience planning.
3. You Can't Solve a Strategic Problem With a Marketing Band-Aid
Another costly mistake? Thinking you can market your way out of a crisis.
If sales are dropping, most owners assume they need a better ad campaign. But in many cases, the problem is deeper:
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The business model is outdated.
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Your team structure is broken.
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You’ve lost product-market fit.
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Leadership is misaligned.
I’ve worked with companies spending tens of thousands of dollars on lead generation when the real problem was a pricing model that couldn’t scale or a supply chain that was leaking profits.
Before you hire a new agency, hire a strategist to uncover what’s actually broken.
4. The Cost of Inaction Is Higher Than the Cost of Help
One of the most common excuses I hear: “We can’t afford outside help right now.”
But here’s what those owners miss: every week of indecision is bleeding money.
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You’re losing customers.
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Your team morale is dropping.
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Your competitors are gaining ground.
By the time some finally ask for help, they’ve spent more money staying stuck than they would’ve spent solving the problem.
Crisis management is not a cost. It’s an investment in survival.
5. Your Ego Might Be the Biggest Threat to Your Business
This is tough to admit—but worth saying.
Too many owners wait until they’ve exhausted all their options their way before asking for help. They hope it will just “work itself out.” They don’t want to appear like they’ve failed.
But great CEOs don’t wait until they’re drowning to call a lifeguard. They surround themselves with experts before the tides shift.
The truth? It takes more courage to course-correct early than to wait until the damage is irreversible.
My final word: If Your Gut Says Something’s Off, It Probably Is
Crisis doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it’s just a feeling—something’s not right, sales aren’t growing, the team is stuck, your energy is low.
That’s when it’s time to step back and ask: “What am I missing?”
If you’re unsure what’s holding your business back, I invite you to schedule a Business Strategy Assessment with me. I’ll walk through your model, your metrics, and your market—and help you see clearly what needs to change.
Because crisis management isn’t just about surviving. It’s about coming out stronger.
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