Excellent Customer Service –A Fire Fighting Perspective
Scenario
I had responded to a road crash rescue scene and could see it was a bad one with multiple casualties. There were two cars on their sides with glass and debris all around. It crunched under my feet as I walked around surveying the damage deciding on an Incident Action Plan. It was obvious we were going to be on-scene for a long time, so I called for another crew to back us up. It took 3 hours for the incident to conclude.
Lessons Learned
All businesses have customers otherwise they would cease to exist. One surefire way for your business to lift profits and retain clients is to provide outstanding customer service but as we all know, this does not happen anywhere near as often as we’d like.
When fire crews deliver their services responding to fires and other emergencies, the customer’s expectations are very high and incredibly demanding with little or no margin for error – and so they should be. Critical Incident First Responder’s customers are simply called victims but nonetheless, they remain customers from a business perspective.
Imagine if your house was burning down and your loved ones were trapped inside, your list of customer demands would most likely be as follows: –
- I want the best, brightest, fastest, fittest, well trained personnel to respond to my request for help.
- I want them to listen carefully to me and my pressing problems.
- I want them to quickly assess my problems and provide workable solutions in priority order.
- I want them to act as if my problems are their problems.
- I want instantaneous action on those problems.
- I don’t want any excuses, and I don’t want them to waste my time.
- I don’t want any poor performance issues to delay my requested outcomes, and I expect results, targets and outcomes met.
- I don’t want to be lied to, and I expect to be kept informed as to the progress of the job I’ve asked and paid for them to do.
If you look at this from a business perspective, you could be talking about any transaction anywhere at any time. Customer service principals remain the same regardless of the task at hand. I have been taught some hard lessons at the incidents I have responded to over the years.
If you are committed to providing excellent customer service and building unshakable credibility with your client base…do this:
- Manage customer expectations with the straight truth. If you can’t do something, they are asking you to do then be honest.
- When customers are under real pressure, focus on their wants and needs with laser-like precision. Take pressure off your customers and be the ‘solution to their problems.’ This takes the pressure off them and while it does place it on you, the result is a deep commitment from the customer because you win them for life. Think about the last time you were under extreme pressure and a service provider said they would take all that stress, strain and anxiety away – and did. You felt a huge sense of relief, and this then converted into a real feeling of commitment and loyalty to them.
- It does not matter how long you actually spend with your customers; it is the quality of the service you provide that really counts.
- Be committed to excellence.
- Be precise with your service delivery.
- Put yourself on the line for them, and
- Exceed their expectations.
I’ve definitely learned many things as a fire officer responding to customers’ needs. My biggest take-away? Loyalty and commitment from customers come from the value you add to their lives and the quality of service you provide as you solve their most pressing problems.
Try it.
About the author
Nick Bell was a Watch Commander in the NT Fire and Rescue Service for 33 years. As a Critical Incident First Responder, he responded to and took operational command of countless emergencies such as structure fires, motor vehicle accidents, HAZMAT, cliff rescues, bush fires and other major incidents.
Nick Bell is the Managing Director of SD Consulting Australia and Committee Member on the SBAA Think Tank
