By Spence Finlayson
NASSAU, Bahamas – Bahamian International Motivational Speaker and Talk Show Host Spence Finlayson, recently reflected on his customer service journey over the last 50 years as the Bahamas celebrates its Fiftieth Independence Celebrations on July 10th.
I was born and grew up in Nassau, Bahamas and had some of my first customer service encounters while assisting my late mother Diana Finlayson at her stall in the world-famous Straw Market. My mother taught me how to deal with the tourists and to offer excellent service. I was 11 years old and began taking a liking to interacting with customers, and tourists.
My very first job after graduating from St. Augustine’s College was as a front desk clerk at the prestigious Lyford Cay Club. This job provided me with incredible learning experience dealing with very high-end clients from all over the world.
I would like to share some of my awesome customer service stories that I have had encountered over the years:
- A number of years ago, I had an office on Bay Street in Nassau and decided to move it to my home. I contacted the phone company, BTC and advised them of my request for a transfer of my land line. We agreed on a date and time and I waited home anxiously for them to arrive at the agreed upon time of 2pm. Well, as the clock hit 2pm I saw the BTC vehicle pull into my yard. I was pleasantly surprised. I asked him his name to let his supervisor know what a punctual employee he was and he replied, ‘my name is Perpall but this is my job sir.” You see this is a great story because many times, when you are expecting a service provider to visit, they are usually very late or don’t show at all.
- I had a speaking engagement in St. Lucia a few years ago and I ended up flying into the airport at View Fort, which was miles away from the city of Castries. The taxi ride was exhilarating to say the least, with the driver speeding on the little narrow streets in the mountains and only being able to see the banana trees below. When we finally arrived at my hotel in Castries, I said to myself, it would be very nice now to have a cool fruit punch . Just as I entered the lobby , the waitress apparently read my mind and brough me a tall glass of fruit punch. Wow, now that exceeded my expectations.
- On an invitation to Barbados by the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, I arrived at Grantley Adamas International Airport for my speaking engagement and as I exited the departure area , I saw a driver with a chauffer’s uniform with my name on a piece of paper. I approached him and said, ’I am Spence Finlayson from the Bahamas and he proceeded to take my luggage to a waiting car, a Green Rolls Royce Bentley. So I said to him, is this the car we are using? He said yes. Wow, The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association sent a Rolls Royce to pick me and take me around for my speaking engagements and appearance on Mornin Barbados TV Show at the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation.
- On a trip to Jamaica to tape my tv show at the time. Dare To Be Great, I was checking in to the Hilton Hotel in Kingston and the front desk clerk asked me if I was from Dare To Be Great TV Show and I said yes. He then said we are having a telethon to raise funds for earthquake victims in Haiti and that there would be a lot of topflight singers and entertainers staying at the hotel. He went on to say that right behind you is Machel Montano, the famous Trinidadian Soca singer, record producer and songwriter known for his high energy, fast paced performance. I immediately turned around and introduced myself to him and told him that I wanted to interview him for my Bahamas based television show which was broadcasted throughout the Caribbean, New York, New Jersey , Connecticut and The UK on Caribvision. He said no problem man, just speak with my manager. So I went up to my room and called twenty managers with the help of the switchboard operator who said, “yes Mr. Finlayson, how may I help you?” with the same warm tone. Now you know that some telephone operators become annoyed with you after your second or third time reaching out to them but this Jamaican switchboard operator kept he same loving, kind demeanor for 20 of my requests. So, as a result, I was able to interview Shaggy, Luciano, Allison Hinds among others .
Over 30 plus years I have had the opportunity to master my customer service training skills, and now I’m known as a customer service evangelist. We have to remember that service makes the difference.
Customer Service Excellence Seminar
Customer Service Evangelist Spence Finlayson will be conducting his highly acclaimed Customer Service Excellence Seminar on Thursday July 27th at Crypto Isle on East Bay Street in Nassau, Bahamas. For more information email [email protected]
