From de Islands

It's amazing how many people think that island life is easy and laid back, and that we don't have a care in the world. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

In recent times some people are now getting to experience island life as a result of the work travel visas, an initiative which is consequent of the pandemic we've been experiencing from early 2020 through to current in 2021. It impacted the globe, and NO ONE was prepared. 

They are realizing though that it's not all coconut water and rum with Caribbean edibles to eat all day long. Here we actually work, some quite hard. Many live here and hardly get to put their toes into the water at the beach, let alone even get to walk in the sand. 

Barbados was recently seen on a listing among the most expensive countries in the world. Yet, that does not mean that people here are rich or wealthy. 

Living on the islands, we have to pay twice as much to experience half as much. Fortunately, we tend to have a good work ethic which does not permit us to compromise the standards to which we have become accustomed. Are we where we need to be? No! Success is a journey, not a destination. 

As we reopen, visit the islands, there are no two alike, and experience the events, food, beverages, culture, arts, crafts, people, and sights. I have found and have often described "Barbados, my island home, as the pendant of the chain of islands, where you can fly over, drive through, sail around and dive under." 

That being said, I join with all the other citizens of the Caribbean and say, welcome to paradise, where the experiences you will have is from de islands. 

It's time to get serious...Customer Service

Observing the recent state of business development, one thing is clear. There is a uniform lack of customer service being given by Barbadian businesses. The thing is, we are quick to complain about other businesses with whom we interact, but seldom cast the eye on the operations within which we have control.

This article which shows Where to Get the World's Best Customer Service speaks volumes of where we need to go, if we are to even enter the map of the customer service grid. We have no end of people doing hospitality, tourism and hotel studies; they are not absorbed into the industry, yet there is a constant decline in customer service.

Programs of training speak to how we must address our internal customers, an arena where we can practice offering good service but is often ignored / neglected. There are even programs that have been developed which show clearly how to establish competence in customer service in your respective careers; yet customer service receives little more than "lip service".

You will notice from the article that the countries listed among the best in customer service don't even seem to focus on tourism. They just function on doing business under circumstances where their "customers" / clients are embraced in a welcoming environment and feel a degree of comfort wanting to do business repeatedly with them. They understand that the key ingredient in gaining business' market share is in fact the offering of the best customer service.

Customer service has to be tops in face to face contact, on the telephone, in your correspondence, in every aspect of interaction regardless of whether the person is perceived to be a high value customer or not.

Keep tuned in as we will over the next couple of weeks be looking at customer service and its impact - on businesses and the beneficial spin-offs on entire economies.

N.B. Kudos for the image. We don't know who produced it, but we wanted to say thanks for allowing its use.