THE islandwide customer service initiative which was launched under the PNM-led Tobago House of Assembly (THA) two years ago is continuing under the Farley Augustine administration.
Tobago Tourism and Hospitality Institute (THTI) CEO Dr Stephen Sheppard confirmed this on Wednesday.
In August 2021, former chief secretary Ancil Dennis announced that the THA was to embark on a three-year initiative to change the service culture on the island. Dennis said he had received frequent complaints about the level of customer service in Tobago.
Sheppard said the initiative, led by etiquette expert Ron Kaufman, of a Singaporean company, Uplifting Service, is being funded through the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd (TTAL) and executed by the THTI.
He said approximately 2,000 people in several sectors have already been trained.
“Everyone who has been trained so far has been very positive in their feedback,” Sheppard told Newsday, adding, “The whole idea behind this training is to improve the quality of customer service in every single touchpoint in Tobago.”
He said the initiative was not just about tourists.
“This is about everyone ensuring that everybody in Tobago, and everybody in Trinidad who comes to Tobago, must experience a high quality of service. So whether you go to Penny Savers, Viewport Supermarket, a gas station, on a reef boat, stop by a parlour – it doesn’t matter where – the way people interact with you, the customer service, must be superb.”
Sheppard said tour guides, hotel and supermarket employees, as well as workers at the Airports Authority, customs/immigration, the Tobago Festivals Commission, THTI and THA have already participated in the training exercise.
He added the training can be done online or in person.
Although the face-to-face sessions are usually held at THTI’s headquarters in Blenheim, Sheppard said if a guesthouse or other businessplace wants to have it on site, that could be arranged.
“We are just trying to make it cost-effective, to have at least 20 people in the session, because if you have ten you still have to pay the lecturer.”
Sheppard said the exercise covers several areas, not just pleasantries.
“People think customer-service training is about smiling and shaking hands. That is a small part of it, but it really entails transforming organisations, ensuring that the organisation is designed to deliver good service.
“Delivering good service doesn’t take much. There is no cost at all. You only have to be really decent and you will see how things will go.”
Part of the training, Sheppard said, involves assessing where businesses are and what they can do to move from where they perceive their organisation to be to a higher level.
“So it is really about developing action plans and carrying them out. We are trying to go deeper and deeper into each organisation, so that at the end of the day, you have a fairly large number of people speaking the same language.
“Beyond that what we want to do is to find a public measurement of service across the sectors, so we have a sense of how it has improved and where needs some work. We have not worked on that yet, but that is to come.”
Sheppard said the initial phase of the training will continue for another year or so.
“But it will never really end. As it is now, there is a three-year contract with Uplifting Service to put in the systems.
"But something like this will develop a life of its own. We are on a good path. All we have to do is run further along that path to get to where we need to be.”