Excellent Customer Service – From a Fire Fighting Perspective

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 the fire crews I used to work with delivered their service 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. Our customers were simply called victims but nonetheless, they remained 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 and best 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;
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 kept informed as to the progress of the job I’ve asked and paid for them to do;

If you look at this from the business perspective, you could be talking about any transaction anywhere at any time. Once again, customer service principals remain the same regardless of the task at hand. Some hard lessons I’ve been taught by the great fire fighters I have worked with over the years about providing excellent customer service and building unshakable credibility with your client base include:

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 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 one thing as a fire officer responding to ‘customers needs.’ Loyalty and commitment from customers comes from the value you add to their lives and the quality of service you provide as you solve their most pressing problems. Try it.

Nick Bell was a Watch Commander in the NT Fire & Rescue Service and has responded to countless critical / emergency incidents in his time. Based in SE Qld, he is now working as a Risk, Crisis & Emergency, Critical Incident consultant & trainer and educator to the business world and advises on preparation and planning for all manner of Crisis and Emergency events. Nick also writes stories & articles for various magazines, journals and newspapers.

Email – sdca1@bigpond.com

Phone – 0421 555 345

Excellent Customer Service – From a Fire Fighting 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

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