The Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA), has been very focused on service delivery at all its facilities and has embarked on a series of customer service training sessions for its for employees. Based on the success of this program, SLASPA has extended to the entire port community inclusive of Customs and Excise Department, Immigration and Airport Port Screeners where over 100 employees were trained during the months of June and July 2010.

“Customer Service is an important role of all persons employed at the Ports of Entry as over onemillion visitors are welcomed on annual basis and several many residents are served on a daily basis . This role is particularly important as travelers and other users have to adhere to several rules and regulations,” said Dona Regis, Director of Marketing and Product Development andthe facilitator of the training program. “Creating an atmosphere conducive to excellent servicerequires that port employees pay attention to the fundamentals of customer service. This is sometimes difficult for some employees who have to constantly tell customers things that theydo not want or like to hear. These sessions were therefore focused on providing employees with the tools that will assist them in enforcing the policies at the Airports and Seaports without alienating customers” continued Ms. Regis.

Feedback from participants suggested that the sessions were very educational with severalpersons indicating their plans to not only practice what they learned but to impart their knowledge on to their co-workers who were not able to attend the sessions. Other areascovered included, communication skills, internal customer service and serving difficultcustomers. SLASPA plans to continue this program and also extend to other Port CommunityMembers. For More information about SLASPA’s customer service training program, please feel free to contact SLASPA’s Marketing and Research Department at 453-0437.