Fenwick Now Case Study

Noland Fenwick is trying to recruit firefighters to fill the overload of work that needs to be done at the fire station. The most important step in accomplishing this is he needs to inform, persuade, and remind potential or current firemen about the job. Fenwick should first begin with the current volunteers at Whistler Department. He should inform the crew of the current issue; needing more volunteers or new recruits to cover the workload. Perhaps, just by informing the crew some firemen may have free time available to donate. This would eliminate the pressing need for recruitments. However, it does not solve this issue completely. The firemen will also need to be informed on the recruitment process and be told how they can help. Next, Fenwick
should persuade. He should persuade the volunteers to either donate more of their time or help be a part of the recruiting efforts. He could try to persuade current firemen by stating their time is valued and would be appreciated if they covered more hours. They would be helping the whole team. Being realistic, though, these men are volunteers and work other jobs, they probably don’t have much more time to give. Therefore, Fenwick needs to persuade the men to become salespeople and become a part of the promotion effort. To do so, he can mention their effort would, in turn, lighten their workload. They would not be burdened with as many duties and could volunteer stress-free. Another selling point might be that new recruits would build a larger “family”. Finally, Fenwick needs to remind the men of their job and of the current issue. Fenwick needs to remind the men of the great job they do. He should recall the benefits, such as being able to give back to the community, a great second “family”, the experience they are gaining, and the amazing thrill that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Maybe by reminding the firemen of their amazing job, more will want to donate additional time. If not, this process will reiterate the need to recruit individuals. Beside promoting within the department, it is most important to promote outside. The firemen will need to inform potential recruits about the job requirements. This includes the age, time, educational, residential and physical requirements. He will also need to state what the job entails such as, responding to various emergencies, training hours, and fundraising events. More importantly, Fenwick needs to inform new recruits of the amazing benefits of the job, as mentioned previously. Informing about the benefits will hopefully aid in the persuading process. In order to convince the community being a volunteer at Whistler Township fire station is better, Fenwick should express the ethos of the station. He can state they are supportive, attentive, take pride in their accomplishments and are encouraging. In order to aid in the informing and persuading process, Whistler’s department should develop a website. The major function would be to inform. It would induce FAQ’s such as requirements, hours, and job description. Including, the benefits, and stories about why the current firemen joined the team will also aid in persuading. This website should appeal to the eyes and attract attention. It should also hold the user's attention so they continue to search for information. To do this they can have eye-catching colors (red) and make information simple to read. Finally, reminding is crucial. If Fenwick constantly reminds prospective recruiter of their amazing station, their effort will be engrained and hopefully acquire new team members. But, these promotion objectives will be a waste if Fenwick doesn’t know his target market. From the reading, most of the volunteers at the station began in their 20’s and early 30’s. Therefore, Fenwick's target market should be men and women in the Whistler area in their 20’s and early 30’. However, he should not exclude anyone older because there are some people who join later in life.
Now, knowing his target market, Fenwick needs to prospect.
To do this he needs to follow all leads in the target market. He should begin by placing an ad in the local newspaper. Fenwick needs to make the target market aware. He could also place flyers in the mail, the town hall, churches, local gym, pizza parlor, or bar. These flyers should be placed locally because he needs to attract and catch the attention of local individuals. These flyers should include informative material (what job is needed, the tasks, and where), persuading material (the benefits of the job) and a phone number to reach. Besides this, the station should hold an open house drill night. This would help to recruit, provide good public relations, and will show the community where their donations go. Showing the community an inside look would persuade them to donate and possibly spark attention to join the team. Fenwick can also capture attention by hosting holiday parties at the station. Because it is sometimes hard to spark interest in older generations, the fire station should begin recruiting young. After reading a forum on why people became firefighters, most stated they were exposed to it at a young age. Some of their parents worked in the field, while others lived close by, or had friends parents who were firefighters. Knowing this, Fenwick should begin a youth fire program. The crew can educate the children young and expose them to all aspect of the trade. They can also begin training them on
important skills. Due to their young age, they should not be placed in the field or engage in dangerous activities. According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, they should train in “CPR, communications, fire safety and prevention, general fire, rescue, and EMS education” (NVMFC). When promoting this program he should inform the parents, the children are learning important life skills, and it’s a fun education program to entertain their kids. Knowing this, children between the ages of 12- 18 should be the target market for this program. As a mode of promotion, Whistler Fire Station should consider teaming up with the school to host an informational, interactive learning session. This session will desire kids to learn about the field, join the youth program and eventually become a firefighter.
These learning sessions and open house drill nights will rely on personal selling.
When presenting, Fenwick will need to use the consulting selling approach. When recruiting it would be most effective to personally speak with individuals face to face. Hosting an open house night is a perfect way to speak with folks and persuade them to join. Fenwick and his team will need to be able to listen to each person's concerns and answer questions adequately. They will also need to adjust their selling technique based on the individual. Some may be excited to join while other apprehensive; each will require a different approach. Consultative selling will also build trust, which will encourage enlistment. Personal selling will be most effective in nonchalant everyday conversation. Each day everyone meets new people, if all the firefighters at Whistler station tried to promote a few conversation a day, this would increase their chances of recruitment immensely. They could create business cards to hand out for conversations that are timely. Even if the individual themselves are not interested, they might know someone who is. These conversations are more likely initiate other conversations, creating word of mouth. Most of the current fighters joined the department through word of mouth, it only seems fitting they would continue using this method, as it has been proven to succeed. The important factor here, is ensuring the word of mouth is good and not improperly decoded. The business
card and efficient sales technique can decrease these risks.The card and technique open the door for action to be taken. Training the current firefighter is imperative when personal selling. Each person will need to learn new skills on how to listen and change their marketing mix based on the individual. Training the firefighters could prove to be difficult because it will require them to clock extra hours. However, Fenwick can persuade the team by stating the training will only require a week of their time. After, they can put their skills to use, and soon reap the benefits of all their efforts. Though there is no money compensation, Fenwick can compensate using support and hosting a pizza party. Overall, Fenwick needs to inform, persuade and remind both, the current volunteers and the prospective ones as well. It is important for Fenwick to catch the individual's attention. This can be done by hosting open house drill nights and holiday parties. Next, Fenwick needs to hold the individual's interest, engaging in interesting conversation, and having an appealing website will aid in this process. If all of this is done efficiently than it will create a desire to search for more information. Finally, Fenwick needs to open an opportunity for action. This can be done through a phone number on business cards, websites and an open door at the fire station. A well-trained staff can make the recruitment process, efficient and more successful.