7 Keys to Magical Customer Service

Being an avid reader, and a self-described student of customer service, on a recent trip to the local used bookstore I picked up a book by Tom Connellan, Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney's Success.  The premise of the book is that Disney is always full of people, and considered the happiest place on earth (others opinions, not my own), and it has all to do with the culture of customer service that Disney celebrates.  The fire service has much to learn when it comes to customer service, a good place to start is by implementing the 7 keys that Disney uses, and applying them to our organizations and fire prevention bureau's.

Lesson 1: The competition is anyone the customer compares you with.

Most people and organizations would not consider Disney to be a competitor.  However, Connellan makes the point, that if one of your customers has ever had a Disney experience, or called their customer service line, then they are your competitor.  They are subconsciously judging their interaction with your department against other customer service interactions that they have had. 

In the public sector simple things can go a long way in providing a superior customer service experience.  For example, when most people call a government entity (fire department, tax collector, voter registration, building department, etc.) they do not expect their call to be returned or to be really paid much attention to.  Simply by answering the phone, and returning calls by the end of the same day (and promising to do so on your voicemail message) goes an extremely long way in improved customer service.  For many, a phone call will be their first interaction with you. 

Think about great customer service experiences that you have had and start to replicate those for others (businesses that provide great service that immediately come to mind are Mimeo, Publix, and Chick-fil-a).

Lesson 2: Pay fantastic attention to detail.

Always be looking for opportunities to serve the customer.  If you can meet their need before they ask or even realize that it will be a need, then you will come out as a customer service hero.  When providing customer service, don't stop at the bare minimum, but continue to help them throughout the process.

Notice what types of "details" get in the way of your departments ability to provide excellent service.  It could be poorly written policy, employee actions (even if unintentional), or administrations mindset.  If you notice a lack of attention to customer service detail, the best way to make a change is to start with yourself.  Ensure that you are paying attention to the details.

Lesson 3: Everyone walks the talk.

What is the culture of your department?  Is it one of customer service excellence? A culture that places customers/citizens needs and experience above all else? In order to provide a magical customer service experience everyone in your organization needs to be on the same page.  Customer interactions should be the same no matter who they are talking to or dealing with.  Often times, this requires a change in the entire culture of the department.  The culture shifts starts with you and your sphere of influence.

Lesson 4: Everything walks the talk.

This is why we pride ourselves in clean vehicles and up-kept facilities.  These things send a message to our community on there value to us.  Ensure that you have working equipment and it is kept in good repair, do not park in the fire lanes when there is no emergency, ensure that your facilities are code compliant and free of fire/life safety issues.  Maintain consistency in our message, in things spoken and unspoken.

Lesson 5: Customers are best heard through many ears.

Make sure that you are making time to get out and talk to people.  Talk to the public, talk to the crews. Make and take as many opportunities to interact with the public as you can. What are people saying?  What are they not saying? What makes them uncomfortable about the service offered? How can it be made more user friendly?  Listen to your people (community/customers and crews/employees), act immediately on what is heard.

Lesson 6: Reward, recognize, and celebrate.

Do not let good performance slip by unnoticed.  Our people often only hear feedback in a negative regards.  Ensure that you are giving more positive feedback, reacting to positive actions, than you are giving negative feedback. Celebrate excellent customer service interactions.  When customers/citizens write letters of praise, share them with the whole team.

Lesson 7: Xvxryonx makxs a diffxrxncx.

Like a typewriter with a broken key, so is an organization with a missing member.  Make sure that every member of your team knows their importance and value.  Make sure that everyone is pulling toward the same goal.  Make sure they really, truly know that everyone makes a difference.

How can you apply these 7 principles to your organizations customer service strategy?  How can you apply them to your own life, so that you are more aware of customer needs?

14 Steps for Dealing With Angry Citizens

Residents, guests, and contractors to your jurisdiction are going to talk to there associates, friends, and neighbors.  Based on how well you handle there problem, determines what they will be talking about.  If you do a good job for somebody they will tell 3 people,  if you do a great job they will tell 10 people, if you provide bad service 25 people will hear about it, and if you get into an argument 50 people will know.

In the fire service we get angry "customers".  This is a more common occurrence in fire prevention. People don't like what they failed for, contractors are looking for there plans, deadlines did not get met, the list is endless.  Problems are going to happen, the difference is in how you deal with people through there problem.

Jeffrey Gitomer, in Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless, outlines 14 steps for dealing with unhappy or dissatisfied customers.

1. Tell them you understand how they feel.
2. Empathize with them (share a similar experience). Comfort them.
3. Listen to the complete story. Ask questions to fully understand the situation.  Find out what they need to make the problem better.
4. Agree with them.
5. Take notes and confirm the situation.
6. Be an ambassador for your department. Personally handle the situation.
7. Don't blame others.  Take responsibility for correcting the problem.
8. Don't pass the buck. No, "its not my job..."
9. Respond immediately.
10. Find common ground.  Establish rapport.
11. Use humor if possible.
12. Communicate and agree upon a solution.  Give choices if possible.
13. Make a follow-up call.
14. Get a letter.  Tell the customer you would appreciate a brief note on how the situation was resolved.

A New Kind of Chief

The fire service has a chief for almost everything, Chief of Adminstration, Chief of EMS, Chief of Fire Prevention, Chief of Logistics, Assistant Chiefs, and Battalion Chiefs.  However, I want to add one more to the list, Chief Customer Officer.  This designation had its rise in the business community in the late 1990's and functioned as an advocate for customers.

Perhaps this is just the thing that our departments need.  A dedicated position that advocates for the customer (our citizens).  A Chief position that is not primarily concerned with politics, strategy, finances, union negotiations, or SOP's, but is solely focused on ensuring that the members of our community have a voice, and that their voice is being heard by the Fire Department. 

I know the reality is that no department is going to create this Chief's position, but the truth is that we should all be functioning as chief customer officers.  Especially those of us who work in fire prevention role as we typically experience more exposure to the public (our customer base).  We should always remember that we exist for our community, we should take every voice seriously, and we should be a constant advocate for those we have sworn to serve.

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

Read this first: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

I find this article very interesting, and very applicable to the fire service today.  Particularly in the parallels between Goldman Sachs lack of customer/client priority, and the fire departments (some, not all) lack of placing community needs first.

"...the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money."

 It seems that of late, our citizens, and communities are being sidelined in the way that fire department and union officials approach contract negotiations, and pay scales (nobody should have gotten into public service to get rich), and in the way that municipal and department policies are written with more emphasis on protecting the organization than on providing service (which without people desiring the service there would be no need for the department or the policy). 

I was attracted to the fire service, because of its role in serving the community, and for what it stands for.  We should be proud every morning to put on our badge and fulfill the tenets that it stands for: loyalty, piety, frankness, bravery, honor, contempt of death, assistance to the weak, and respect.  Failing to uphold any of these values, is failure to do the job that we are hired to do (paid or volunteer).


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United Liberty

 Are we consistently making decisions in the best interests of our citizens and the communities that we serve? The communities needs should take priority over all else, including pay scales and pay raises, union contracts and negotiations, and policy creation.

"The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing."

Leadership speaker and author, John Maxwell, says that everything rises and falls on leadership.  The truth of this statement is nowhere more evident than in the fire service.  A chief that is focused on serving the community creates lietenants, and firefighters that are focused on community service.  A chief focused on personal power and authority, revenues, and acquiescing to municpal leaders (town managers, mayors, or county commisioners) breeds more of the same in his officers and firefighters.  In many departments the "good old boy" system is alive and well.  However, this system does not produce the best leaders for the department, or the best representation for the community.  Leaders should be promoted through observation of those that demonstrate setting a good example, doing the right thing, pouring into the lives of other employees, and generally excelling at being a public servant.

"...not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients."

When was the last time anyone at your department asked, "what's best for the community and our citizens"?  How does this contract or policy implementation benefit those that we have vowed to serve?  Many of the decisions that we have to make(that often get us into a snowball of problems) would solve themselves, if we framed them all in the context of the question, "In this instance what is best for the community and our citizens?"

"If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you."

Communities are beginning to lose faith and trust in the fire department, as they increasingly feel, a decline in level of service provided.  As this level of service continues to decrease community support will cease, and the citizens will turn to alternate sources for fire services. They start seeking out privatization of EMS, outsourcing of Fire-Rescue services, and merging fire inspection responsibilities with building departments.  If your community is currently seeking one of these alternatives, you should be asking "why?".  What can these other options offer that we can not? What needs to be done for us to offer this service and prevent outsourcing/mergers/privatization?  Sometimes, the best answer for the community might be one of these other options (privatization/outsourcing/merging).

I close this call to take up the role of public servant with the closing paragraph of Mr. Smith's resignation letter.

"I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer."

Unreasonable Demands

We all have those business owners/politicians/citizens in our community that are often times hard to deal with, or constantly have unreasonable demands.  If these were our customers in a private industry we could "fire" them, or refuse to offer them service. However, being public servants we do not have the luxury of choosing our customers.

Seth Godin, recently published a blog article addressing the unreasonable customer.  His insight to how and why to handle these people, proves valuable even to the fire service/fire prevention.

Reasons to tolerate the customer/citizen with unreasonable demands:

• You promised you would - as employees in the fire service our main job description is that of public servant.  By taking this job, and choosing this career, we have promised to take care of and meet the needs of these citizens. It is our duty. It is our responsibility



• She helps you raise your game -  the citizen with seemingly unreasonable demands, make us better, and causes our level of service to rise.  The customer that request something outside of our normal operations, or above and beyond our perceived capacity, stretches us.  In attempting to accomplish the unreasonable task we realize that it actually is possible, and sometimes this unreasonable task, becomes a new normal operating procedure.

• Her word of mouth is very powerful - Perception is reality.  In these economic times (for every community), when the powers that be are looking for places to make cuts,  the unreasonable citizen is of a high value.  The negative perceptions of the fire department, can be quickly wahsed over by the positive word-of-mouth of the citizen whose unreasonable demand was met in a timely and excellent fashion.

There are, however, unreasonable customers that should not be tolerated.  We all have those contractors/business owners/citizens that constantly have the same issues, same demands, and time and time again we bend over backwards to help them, but they never quite get it.   These customers/citizens should be ones we spend less of our time being involved with.  Godin says, these customers prevent your employees from doing their best work in the long run,  their word of mouth can't be changed (or their word of mouth just doesn't matter),  and they distract us from delighting the reasonable customers.

In fire prevention we must consistently be going above and beyond for our custom

ers/citizens, even the ones with unreasonable demands. 

Second Mile

I enjoy a good meal from Chick-fil-a.  More than the taste of the food, I enjoy eating there because of the consistent, and superb level of service that I receive.  My order is never messed up (if it is they correct it on them), I am always greeted with a smiling face and a good attitude,  I am checked on to make sure that I am comfortable and have all that I need for a satisfactory meal experience.  I can walk into any Chick-fil-a in the country (I have been in many) and can be sure to receive this same level of service.

Chick-fil-a lives by the mantra of "second mile service", which they adopted from Matthew 5:41, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two."  They consistently go the second mile. (read more at http://bit.ly/oJEwWv )

How often do we have the attitude of doing the bare minimum (or less)? How often have we wanted to say (or said), "your the one that needs the inspection, not me, figure it out"?

As public servants it should go without saying that we are to go the second mile and more for those we serve.  By going the second mile, we truly provide a valuable service to our community.  In these economic times, the second mile might be all it takes to create a positive image in the public's eye.

The second mile might involve doing the "unconventional" at times, or going outside of your particular "job description",  but we must always remember that our primary job title is that of public servant.  Take this challenge from Chick-fil-a and, go the second mile.  Apply this principal to your daily life, look for second mile opportunities, and see how your community will change!

Mimeo Level of Service

The July/August edition of Inc. magazine contains an article entitled No Time To Spare.  This article describes the operations of a printing company called, Mimeo.

"It was already late afternoon when the call came in...a client needed 250 financial analyst presentations...printed and delivered to a conference in Houston by 8 a.m. the next day. The problem: The content for the books wasn't ready yet. And the client wouldn't be able to send the information until 11 p.m.

When it became clear that the order wouldn't be done in time for FedEx's cutoff for overnight delivery, Mimeo's employees scrambled to book a private plane...Mimeo's employees worked into the night, printing and assembling the books. At 2 a.m., they drove the boxes of books to an airport in Memphis and loaded them onto the plane, which landed in Houston with just two hours to spare."

One may expect this from a small company trying to get the big client, or maybe a once in a business occurrence, but for Mimeo, this is normal operating procedures.  Customer service is king.  The client is happy to pay extra for this service, and Mimeo is happy to do this (even sometimes taking a loss for this type of service).

The fire service should strive for this mind set.  How can we best serve the community?  Perhaps, if we went above and beyond more often, operated outside of our normal job descriptions, the communities we serve may not fight so hard to cut our budgets and benefits.  Perhaps, they would even be happy to pay a little (or a lot?) extra for "all we do".



Public Servant?

Can you imangine an ambulance company that pays wages at the European scale, gives a month of vacation and expects you to take it - and embraces a never-say-no model of customer service? -Bruce Evans, "Make No Mistake, Emergency Service is Big Business", Fire Chief Magazine/March 2011

In his article, Chief Bruce Evans, chronicles two companies that are  fulfilling the above quote.  Private companies that place a high value on their employees, and an even higher value on providing exceptional customer service.

As I was making my entrance into this career, the main draw was the fact that I would get to serve the public.  I desired to be a public servant.  To help others.

My first job out of the fire academy was working at an ARFF department for a private company.  The job was great. At one point there was an employee union strike at the airfield facility, and the fire department was asked to provide security (which consisted of driving rounds of the facility).  Then, like others on the department, I complained.  My job wasn't to provide security, I was a firefighter! However, being a private company, customer service was most important.  Meeting the customers needs; serving the customer.

A couple years later, I left that positions and went to work for at my first municipal department, now I was really going to change the world. I was going to serve the public.  It didn't take long to realize why there was such a demand for private services.

Have we forgotten our primary job description, public servant?  We treat our positions as neither public nor with an attitude of servant-hood.  It seems that more effort is made to keep our disciplinary actions, budget expenditures, employee practices, and operational procedures private, rather than public. The term public should never invoke images of closed-door meetings, or special treatment for department "insiders".

Have we neglected the 'serve' part of our duties?  The pervasive attitude is that if it is not in the contract then it will not be done.  We feel that the public owes us, we bring in union negotiators to get us the best deal.  As servants shouldn't we be doing what is best for the master, the public? Most departments are funded by tax dollars, yet when we are requested to perform a standby or some other special event, we want to bill extra for it.  Wouldn't it make more sense, and maintain public trust, if we just provided what was asked, served? 

 By continually neglecting to serve the public, we may be putting ourselves out of work.

I challenge those in this Firefighting profession to remember what we are called to.  We are called to be public servants, to serve the public.

Are your actions reflective of a servant?  Do you serve the public? Do you provide exceptional customer service (to external customers, not just internal)? Or is your attitude concerned with what can the public do for me?