Tag Archives: customer care

Progressive fire and EMS departments have long recognized that a good customer care program has many benefits for the citizens they serve and for their departments. Chesterfield County's Fire and EMS Department is one such department.

So I did, and the CEO of the company picks up my call! Great customer service and I’m not even a “buying customer”! I can only imagine what you folks do for the people who buy your products!

Every engine, truck and ambulance in the CFEMS response fleet has hotel voucher forms on board that are honored—through prior agreements with the establishment—to provide immediate lodging for one night. The officer on-scene completes the voucher and then a staff officer on scene is tasked with “resident relocation”, i.e., going to the hotel with those folks—and providing transportation if necessary—to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

Reminds me of the story of what happens when you throw several lobsters into a lobster pot to cook. When one of the crustaceans tries to climb out of the pot, the other lobsters pull them back into the boiling water.

When you take action to help the citizen, ask yourself, “If called upon to do, can I honestly say that I would have done the same for any member of my family?”

But in 2013, how many of our organizations are training their people from Day #1 to be their “face of customer service”? I’m not saying that the firefighting curriculum that constitutes the majority of entry level training is not pertinent, it is. I am saying that now, more than ever before, 24/7/365 organizations only have one chance to make a good impression…and in most cases we don’t get to choose who makes that customer contact.