‘Good customer service impacts tourists and residents’

The Rotary Club of Saipan presents a certificate of appreciation to guest speaker Jim Arenovski, of Island Training Solutions, following his presentation yesterday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan in Garapan. (CHRYSTAL MARINO)

Describing how attitude plays a key role in the propagation and development of the CNMI, Island Training Solutions owner Jim Arenovski highlighted the importance of customer service with members of Saipan’s Rotary Club during the club’s luncheon yesterday at the Hyatt Regency in Garapan.

In connection with Rotary’s theme “Community Economic Development,” Arenovski illustrated the importance of an individual’s attitude when working with customers. “I believe having staff, a community, and island with a great attitude will lead to friendly people, and improved customer service and [will] help our economy grow (it has certainly benefited my business) It also provides [that] people have optimism about the CNMI and the opportunities it presents,” he said during his presentation.

He noted that many individuals may be hired for their skill at a certain job—referred to as “hard skill”—but often, when an individual is fired, it is for a lack of “soft skills,” basically their attitudes. He said that attitudes should be one of the main focus of management when hiring, and good attitudes should be shown, and expressed, from the management down to employees. He described this attitude needed as the Yes Attitude. “The Yes Attitude also helps with the creative process of coming up with a solution to challenges. …Positive ‘Yes’ attitude people are looking for a challenge to help with, whether from our customers or coworker. …We work with the intent of solving customer issues effectively and with speed. In the unlikely event ‘Yes’ people cannot solve the problem, they come up with alternatives and work with their team to get a positive result.”

Arenovski highlighted that if good attitudes and customer services are focused on and emphasized more, the CNMI as a whole will be enhanced. “For improving tourism, I hear a lot about destination enhancement. These usually come in the form of projects, cleanups, paint, bush-cutting, etc. Look I agree, but in my opinion, it cannot all be infrastructure-related. I have been around long enough to know paint is not the whole answer. People are the answer. They always have been and always will be. I rarely hear efforts involving ‘people enhancement.’”

“Business and government could spend some of that time, money and effort on people. Painting the railing at Mt. Tapochau or having shiny trash bins are not going to overcome the bad service tourists got at a restaurant or the lack of greeting when they get off the plane or when they got checked in at the hotel. …It is ironic that business don’t spend equal time and money on improving service and attitude of those same employees. If we collectively spend more time improving attitudes and service knowledge with the people who represent the image of your business/community /island, this will help make the guest experience great and, in turn, our community will have better employment, better opportunities and, if they are great a customer service, great upward job mobility.”

He stated that even language barriers shouldn’t hinder friendliness to others. “Tourists can eat food, snorkel, go out and have a cocktail anywhere, so when they come to the CNMI… we must make it special, we must make the experience a great friendly experience. And that is through our people.”

Arenovski added “I am a believer in the people and especially the people of the CNMI. I have trained, employed, and developed literally hundreds of people. There is huge raw talent in our local workforce just waiting to be tapped, they just need developing. …By providing workers with attitude/customer service training and awareness, this will help tourists and residents alike.”

“My message today is that choosing to help ourselves and others have a better attitude, certainly a Yes attitude, will improve one’s outlook, a company’s outlook, an island’s outlook. This, along with more traditional destination enhancement efforts, will start to move the CNMI to being a top destination for travelers in our region,” he said.

His company, ITS, is the regional partner for American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute and has launched the jobs creation program with AHLEI, starting through teaching hospitality in 2014 and seeing 1,500 residents land positions.

In May, the company was awarded distributorship with a company called Certiport for all of Micronesia. They sell globally recognized online certifications to businesses, government agencies and schools. “Certifications from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Autodesk, Intuit, project development, cyber security, and even entrepreneurship are all available to help anyone in the CNMI,” Arenovski said. “We have launched the first entrepreneurship certification course with PSS this semester at RHI and are working to expand this important skill set to our youth.”