David Wales on Risk Communication & Customer Service

What we can learn about customer service and being more human from the fire service?

On this episode, I’m speaking with David Wales, who used to work in the fire and rescue service and has now switched to focus on product design and customer service.

In his role in the fire and rescue service, David wanted to understand why people didn’t always do the things that they were told. For example, rushing into dangerous situations to rescue pets or laptops.

What this reinforced is something that we all intuitively know; there’s a gap between the theory of what people should do and the realities of what they actually do. That means the advice people receive is often not helpful for the realities they’re facing. What makes sense to the fire service, in theory, might not match the realities of people’s personal experiences.
That led him to a career in looking at customer experience, where the human touch is equally important.

On the episode, we explore:

David’s career from being a firefighter to understanding the human touch in product design and customer service;
how human behaviour plays a vital role in crisis situations and the importance of tailoring safety messages to individual circumstances;
risk communication and the importance of personalisation in organisations;
how emotions significantly influence customer experiences and the challenges in achieving customer-centricity;
the difficulties faced by organisations in achieving customer-centricity;
how companies often choose solutions for us, not with us, creating an impersonal system, and how a change of focus could lead to a more pleasant customer experience.