Just got back from Disney World. It wasn’t vacation, it was a visit to the Disney Institute with one of my clients. Disney Institute is the business education arm of Disney where people come to learn how they make magic everyday. It was an amazing visit. I was impressed (and that is hard to do).

We vacationed there last December so the Disney experience is fresh in my mind. I was able to see how their principles of leadership, employee satisfaction, guest satisfaction and brand loyalty all combine to make an experience with Disney memorable. At any moment 70% of the people in the parks are repeat visitors. As business people we know people come back only if we do a good, or great, job. Disney works VERY hard to deliver this experience and this is why I tell you about the trip. Disney has real business issues just like you. They have 60,000 employees in Orlando on duty everyday. They face the same economy we do. They know we are demanding yet they pull it off, everyday.

Two key things for you to rememeber
1) Exceed expectations
2) Pay attention to detail

The only way to exceed expectations is to know them in the first place and then implement programs and standards to make sure you exceed. Attention to detail suggests that if we take care of the little things the big things will take care of themselves. I could go on and on. If you want to learn more you should read their book, “Be Our Guest: Perfecting the art of customer service.” If you really want to learn more you can pay to attend classes at the Institute. I just might do that next year.

Do you know what your employees (cast members) and customers (guests) expect? How? What is your plan to exceed those expectations? And what about your culture? Does it focus on details or are those things to be glossed over? Before you answer you might want to check with your customers and employees and see what they say.

It isn’t easy but the rewards are great for the company that pays attention to detail and exceeds expecations. Can that be yours?

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 2:28 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.