What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of Flow Trinidad?
Well, for Simone Martin-Sulgan the vice president/general manager of Flow Trinidad the word that she wants you to associate with the company is “hope.”
And if another four-letter word came to mind at first, Martin-Sulgan said the company’s goal for this year and beyond is to help change that.
“For us we want Flow to equal hope. I think looking at where we are, the recent developments of what’s happening I think we can all see that our hopes of going back to normal may be a bit deferred and we will still be operating heavily from home and also a hybrid model and we want customers who have Flow in their homes to know ‘listen this company understands me, they are giving me the speeds that I need to be able to keep the children connected, the entertainment that I need, so if we really need to escape the heaviness that the pandemic has kind of brought about that I have that option.’ We really want our customers to feel that we are walking step in step with them,” Martin-Sulgan said.
Martin-Sulgan added excellence in customer services is one of the goals Flow has set for itself.
And she believes it is achievable.
“A lot of things we do tend to be transactional and I think where we need to take it is more on a relational basis understanding that each customer’s situation is unique and different and taking the time to really listen and acknowledge the customer’s troubles and that will help us to offer them solutions that are a lot more targeted and relevant to them rather than taking a very broad brush approach and saying what’s good for one has to be good for all. That for me I think when we get to that step we will be unstoppable,” she said,
Martin-Sulgan said she intends this not to just be meaningless words.
“You know Trinidadians, from a customer service perspective, we are very cynical about people delivering real customer service. I think once we consistently deliver and do what we say, show up when we say we are going to show up, let customers know proactively ‘I am letting you know there is going to be a disruption in service because we are not going to have electricity’ and we constantly talk to the customers on a personal, human and one to one level, I think that is going to help us exceed their expectations and go above and beyond and start to position Trinidad as one of the main Caribbean islands that really understands its customers and puts them front and centre each and every time,” Martin-Sulgan said.
Martin-Sulgan told the Sunday Business Guardian that the company intends to be more interactive on social media as part of its thrust to get to know its customers better.
“We need to start saying something because if you are not saying anything at all you are letting other people tell your story. It is usually the people who have a negative experience who are the ones who go on social media because they are frustrated and they really want the company to kind of pay attention to whatever problem it is they have,” she said.
“So what we have decided to do, we are trying to change the narrative so we came out and acknowledged that we have not always gotten it right but we know now more than ever given that everybody is it at home working from home, there is this hybrid model that we are trying to kick off in the face of the pandemic etcetera. We know that you need us to be there for you all of the time,” Martin-Sulgan said.
Flow T&T’s general manager said the telecommunications provider is constantly looking for opportunities to help customers navigate this new normal and make sure that their experience is better.
So far, Flow has introduced a fast lane for senior citizens at its outlets and has also instituted a store in a refurbished bus that travels across the country to help customers.
“With 2021 being the year of the ultimate pivot, us recognising that some customers did not want to go into stores and minimising risk etcetera what we would have done is launched our Flow store on wheels so we come to our customers,” she said.
“Even the furthest, most remote customers we can come to you. So as a business, it is about looking at that opportunity, using it and all, because we have our customers in mind,” Martin-Sulgan said.
She was appointed as the vice president of Flow T&T in May.
A native of T&T Martin-Sulgan has over 15 years experience in the telecommunications industry.
After pursuing an MBA and MSc in International Business Development and Consulting in Germany and France, respectively, she returned to the Caribbean in 2014 and began her tenure with C&W as the VP of Mobile Operations for the Bahamas Telecommunications Company.
Her most recent role was as senior commercial director of the South Caribbean.
Martin-Sulgan described her time since her appointment as “bitter-sweet.”
“I think as soon as we got appointed we went straight into lockdown so I kind of took over business under unique circumstances. So it is about how do you establish your leadership, build your team, build a rapport etcetera and kind of identify for the business your objectives in a digital world and we were a 100 per cent doing everything virtually,” she said.
Martin-Sulgan said Flow has been able to grow its market share over the past year.
“TATT releases the official numbers and we would have held on and grown the business in certain areas and I think what that demonstrates is not only the commitment of the organisation itself but the fact that I tell the team they make hard work look easy,” she said.
With the ongoing pandemic Martin-Sulgan said the team at Flow recognised that now more than ever the work they did had a purpose and made a difference.
“They took it to heart and went above and beyond even during the really tough lockdown that we had earlier this year,” she said.
Being the first woman in her current role Martin-Sulgan said she hopes to inspire other women “to say look it is not impossible to happen and don’t be afraid to show up and show out.”