• Visitors were greeted by a letter from the company's hands-on owner who had developed relationships with most of his key stakeholders.  The situation was explained, and he appealed for their cooperation and support.  He also provided customers with new resources among his previous competitors to meet their needs.  In doing so, he generated a great deal of support among his competitors, some of which took steps to transfer their own business loans away from the bank involved in the litigation.
• Specific instructions were provided to customers regarding outstanding payments, allowing the company to maintain control of its receivables while the court weighed in on the issue.
• Employees were provided direction on who and where to get confidential payroll and benefits status information.
• Vendors were advised of how already-placed orders would be handled.
• Creditors were provided a procedure through which to submit any outstanding claims.
• An email link was provided for specific questions, which were responded to by the company's legal counsel.

Customers with outstanding payments were directly contacted, informed of the proper procedure for submitting payments and pointed to the Website for detailed information.

Results:  Despite the bank's efforts to control receivables, most customers followed the procedures outlined on the Web site, allowing those dollars to be held in trust on behalf of the corporation.  When the case with the bank was settled, those funds were available to pay employees and settle accounts with creditors who followed the claims procedure.

The goodwill generated by the owner's effort to provide resources for his customers landed him a job with a competitor and many of his long-standing customers followed.