The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

SERVICE providers in Grand Bahama were urged this week to remember that their focus should not be exclusively on the tourist sector, but also domestic customers by an expert in the field.

Shannondor Evans, who has been running customer service seminars for 18 years, referred to the famous quote “Charity begins at home” by English author Sir Thomas Browne, while addressing participants at a seminar in his name on Wednesday at Ruby Swiss Restaurant.

Mr Evans said people cannot extend charity towards others if they are uncharitable to themselves.

“How can we expect to give love, care, respect, trust, and quality customer service to our external customer when we don’t know how to do it to our internal customer,” he said.

Mr Evans stressed that customer service is not just relevant to those in the tourism sector. He said security officers, public service employees, even the cleaning and landscaping businesses should give good customer service.

He noted there has been a decline in customer service in The Bahamas.

“Through the years, something happened and we lost our customer service. We developed the thought or idea that customer service is only relevant to the tourism industry. We are all service providers – a mother and wife is a service provider to her children and her husband,” he said.

The seminar was hosted by Appex Progressive Solutions, of which Mr Evans is CEO, in conjunction with Terreve College, Freeport, where he is an adjunct lecturer.

“We are putting a lot of emphasis on serving the internal customer; we believe if we can get it right internally, it will spill out to external customers,” he told his listeners.

Mr Evans, a former veteran in law enforcement in The Bahamas, began his customer service seminar in 1997 while a member of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

The seminar has been a success and is now offered to various organisations on Grand Bahama.

The session is aimed at helping participants recognise the vital role of service providers in delivering satisfying customer experience, the correlation of positive attitudes and daily job performance, and recognising the importance of serving the internal customer, among other things.

Mr Evans said the most important message he wants to impart to participants is that in addition to quality customer service, they must give love, care, respect and trust to the internal customer.

Mr Evans has been a leader with more than 39 years of experience in law enforcement and government.

He is also a lecturer at the Bahamas Institute of Business and Technology. He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal by the Governor General in 2010 and has a MSc in Criminal Justice and Police Management from the University of Leicester, Scarman Centre, England. He is married to Justice Estelle Gray Evans.