Earlier this week we mentioned in this media training blog how media spokespeople need to be prepared to face questions about the coronavirus even if they are talking about something completely unrelated.
And there was a perfect example of this yesterday (3/3).
Roger Whiteside, the boss of Greggs, was doing the media rounds to discuss his company’s latest performance figures, which showed sales up by 13 per cent and profits increasing by almost 20 per cent to £108m.
And he found himself spending plenty of time talking about the global health crisis.
In fact, his interview on Radio 4’s Today programme (which you can hear here at 1:21:50 for as long as the broadcaster makes it available) was almost entirely focused on the subject.
The first question he faced ignored the subject he was due to talk about and asked whether he had noticed ‘signs of falling traffic’ to his stores because of the virus.
The chief executive seemed well prepared for this line of questioning and made sure he got his message in about the company’s performance before tackling the coronavirus issue.
He said: “Well, before we go to the coronavirus we are here to celebrate our results for the last year. We were 80 years old last year as a business, had record sales growth, broke through the £100m profit for the first time, opened our 2,000th store and it is our sixth year in a row of continuous growth, so we are in celebratory mode. But, of course, we are aware of the concern about coronavirus and are making preparations to deal with whatever that throws at us.”
Asked to elaborate on those preparations, Mr Whiteside said: “Our priority is to safeguard our own people and restore operations should they be in any way impacted by the spread of the virus.”
The journalist then probed for more detail, asking whether the company would pay staff who self-isolate because of the coronavirus.
“Yes, that’s our default position, Mr Whiteside, said: “Whenever we have had a problem, like a couple of weeks ago when flooding in Wales meant we had to close one of our bakeries, our default position has been that we pay contract hours.
“We don’t have any zero contract hours, so people can plan around some degree of income on that basis. What we don’t know with this is how widespread it will be or how long it will be, so we’d have to reserve the right to review policy if it became a really big problem, but our default position is to pay contract hours.”
"Our default position is that we pay contract hours, we don't have any zero contract hours"
— BBC Business (@BBCBusiness) March 3, 2020
Greggs boss Roger Whiteside has said his firm would pay staff who have to self-isolate because of coronavirus #CoronavirusUK https://t.co/SnPjHAghYH
Mr Whiteside was also asked what the government could do to help companies face the virus threat and whether it had asked staff to avoid shaking hands with customers to try to help prevent the spread.
Here he said: “We’ve not issued any commands to say keep away from customers. I think that would be counter-productive. As a business, we handle food all the time so we have very strict hand-washing procedures and we have hand-washing facilities in all our shops and bakeries.
"So, from that perspective, it is deeply ingrained in our DNA to do what seems to be the main advice that is coming from Public Health England, which is to make sure you wash your hands thoroughly. We obviously reinforce that and ask people to be sensible.”
In fact, the only question about the company’s performance in the entire interview came right at the end when Mr Whiteside was asked about staff bonuses.
Minutes after this interview, the chief executive also appeared on 5 Live Breakfast (1:27:40) where he again faced an opening question on the impact of the virus, which resulted in a similar answer to what he had given on the Today programme.
This interview, however, then moved on to other areas, with Mr Whiteside facing questions on a wide range of subjects, from tackling queues outside stores, to the use of palm oil in its vegan products and whether the company felt any responsibility for the obesity crisis.
Here Mr Whiteside used examples and statistics to provide a strong answer. He said: “We take the crisis of obesity very seriously and are committed as a business to try to encourage people to follow a sensible diet.
“We recognise that bakery items should be eaten in moderation. We try to make the bakery items the best they can be and have successfully reduced sugar by 20 per cent one year ahead of the Public Health England target and we have been reducing fat and salt for many years.
“The issue with bakery is that there is only so far you can go before it stops tasting like bakery and we don’t want to ruin the products.”
We’ve shown in this media training blog before how many spokespeople stumble over personal questions, but Mr Whiteside also coped well here with a question about how many sausage rolls he consumes.
“I typically eat one a week,” he said. “I treat myself on a Monday to a soup and a sausage roll and I love it.”
How many sausage rolls does the boss of @GreggsOfficial eat over a week?
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) March 3, 2020
Chief Exec Roger Whiteside tells #5LiveBreakfast and explains what they're doing to tackle obesity levels. 👇
Listen via @BBCSounds 🎧 https://t.co/VAQjx4pCcw pic.twitter.com/3Pf5604gTY
Overall this was an assured media performance.
Yes, Mr Whiteside probably could have done more in the Today programme to try to steer the conversation away from coronavirus.
But crucially he seemed to have anticipated that not only was this a subject he was likely to be asked about, but also the level of detail the journalist would want.
And he still got messages across about his company’s performance and produced answers which showed the company cares about those who work for it.
Similarly, on 5 Live, there could have been a little more control of the interview, but again Mr Whiteside seemed well-prepared for the range and didn’t see fazed or show any frustration at the questions he was being asked or the fact the company's performance wasn't really being discussed.
The key media training lesson here, however, is that spokespeople doing interviews over the coming weeks and months must be prepared to face questions about the coronavirus.
The subject is dominating the news agenda and with reports suggesting the worse is yet to come, that is not going to change anytime soon.
So, be prepared for questions about whether you are noticing any impact, what steps you are taking to protect staff and maintain supplies, whether staff who self-isolate will be paid and plans to cope with worst case scenarios.
Keen to find out more? Our media interview preparation eBook will show you how to anticipate and prepare for those challenging questions.
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