BE OUR GUEST

Perfecting the Art of Customer Service

By: Angela Martin & Danielle Cook

Disney Approach

 “Exceeding expectations rather than simply satisfying them is the cornerstone of the
Disney approach to customer service. Now, in honor of the tenth anniversary of the
original Be Our Guest, Disney Institute, which specializes in helping professionals see new
possibilities through concepts not found in the typical workplace, is revealing even more
of the business behind the magic of quality service. During the last twenty-five years,
thousands of professionals from more than thirty-five countries and more than forty
industries have attended business programs at Disney Institute and learned how to adapt
the Disney approach for their own organizations”

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afzmwAKUppU
Key Insights

 Walt’s fundamentals for success still ring true. You build the best product you can. You
give people effective training to support the delivery of exceptional service. You learn
from your experiences. And you celebrate success. You never stop growing. You
never stop believing.
 No organization can succeed without a great workforce.
 Customer satisfaction is a moving target.
 We all must satisfy our guests—and convince them to return and recommend us to
others—or risk losing them in the long run.
 Customers want memorable experiences, and companies must become stagers of
experiences.
 Quality Service means exceeding your guests’ expectations by paying attention to
every detail of the delivery of your products and services.
More Key Insights

 If the little wows are delivered consistently and continuously, they add up to a big
WOW!
 Guestology is what Disney calls the art and science of knowing and
understanding customers.
 Quality standards serve two purposes: they establish the criteria for actions that
are necessary to accomplish the service strategy, and they serve as the measures
of Quality Service.
 You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
 Building cultures is not a science. In fact, it is a fairly mysterious process that when
done well is capable of uniting the energy and emotions of the entire workforce
into a laser like focus.
Practical Application

 Make exceeding expectations the standard call of duty.

 Be mindful that “everything speaks.”
 Choose service solutions that are high-touch, high-show, and high-tech.
 Facts about Disney

 Fun Fact: Mid 1960s Walt & Kelvin the corporate pilot for Walt Disney Productions stood in a
swamp of Central Florida visualizing what one day would be Walt Disney World Resort.
 “It all started by a mouse”
 Disney is operated through radio network stations, TV stations, 11 theme parks within the
U.S., Europe, and Asia, Disney Vacation Club, Disney Cruise Line, studio entertainment
business, consumer business- retail store, publishing, etc.
 Walt Disney World- operates 7 days a week, 365 days a year & largest single-site employer
in the U.S.
 More than 62,000 cast members (A.K.A employees)
 Chapter 1: Disney’s Approach to Quality Service

 Practical Magic: “Guests want to be amazed, delighted, &

entertained”
 “Looking for the kind of magic that will transport them from
their everyday lives into worlds that can only be created by
Disney.”

 Magic moment: a bond between customer & company is

forged and strengthen
 Each magical moment builds guest satisfaction and increases
brand loyalty= leads to organizational growth and success

 How can we compare these magical moments to Higher

Ed.?
Magic in Organizations
 All organizations need customer-friendly
employees.
 Disney compared to other organizations-
ask: What are the challenges your
organization is facing?
 Economic downturns
 Success breeds competition
 Can’t succeed without great workforce
 Can’t go alone
 Customer retention
 All organizations driving toward same
goal: serving people who purchase and
use the products and services.
 Satisfy guests, convince them to return, &
recommend to others
Defining Practical Magic
 Practical Magic= Quality Service or the work that
produces the magic.
Onstage: Cast members in public
areas and in front of guests.
Practical magic=response that it
produces in guest when everything  Quality Service means exceeding your guests’
comes together seamless/effortless. expectations by paying attention to every
detail of the delivery of your products and
Offstage: Cast are behind the scenes services.
and out of guests’ sight.

Practical magic=comprised of nuts &

bolts which includes all operations that
create onstage magic.
Two requirements of Quality Service

The Wow Factor Bumping the Lamp

 Not just meeting expectations but  The entire organization pays attention to
exceeding expectations. detail.
 Standard is to always exceed guests’
expectations.
 “If the little wows are delivered
consistently and continuously, they add
up to a big WOW”
 1. Guestology: Art & Science of knowing and
understanding customers.
1. Enables organizations to provide a context for their
Quality Service Compass service strategies.
2. Quality Standards: Establish criteria for actions
necessary to accomplish service strategy & serve
as a measure of quality service.
1. EX: Safety, Courtesy, Show, & Efficiency
3. Delivery Services: Employees, Setting, Processes
1. Cast- Employees are the most important asset.
2. Setting-Wherever your customers meet you.
3. Process- encompasses both cast & setting
4. Integration: Three delivery systems are combine &
aligned to create complete operating system.
In my organization there is
respect for every individual,
and we all have keen
respect for the public.
–Walt Disney
Chapter 2: The Magic of Service

 Guestology: customer research is needed to learn who guests are and understand what
they expect from your organization.
 What are tools or techniques your organizations use to better understand guest?
 The knowledge developed from guests must be used to create & improve all points of Quality
Service.
 Customers expectations are changing all the time which means guestologists must be constantly
evaluating their guests.
“Times and conditions change so
rapidly that we must keep our aim
constantly focused on the future.”
– Walt Disney
Knowing & Understanding Guests

 Psychographic: customer research that

 Demographics: Factual knowledge about
helps understand the guests’ mental
guests.
states.
 Describe the physical attributes of groups
 Provides clues to what customers need,
and compromise quantitative data.
what they want, what preconceived
 Reveals who customers are, where they notions they bring to the table, and what
come from, how much effort they expend emotions they experience.
to get here, how much $ is spent, etc.
Guestology Compass

 Needs: What do guests need when they

come to your organization?
 Wants: The customers deeper purpose
 Stereotypes: Preconceived notions about
organization.
 Emotions: Feelings customers experience
throughout their contact with the
organization.
 Needs Wants Stereotypes Emotions

Involvement on Fun Rules & Restrictions Excitement

Campus

A place to belong Memories Not enough Satisfaction from

quality(food) service

Learning Avg.fun or Relief from stress

excitement

Opportunity to serve Good deals on fun Happiness

Mixed emotions

Nervous

Power of Common Purpose
Disney’s common purpose:
Happiness “We create happiness
by providing the finest in
entertainment for people of all
ages, everywhere.”
 How is common purpose successful?
 Deeply rooted in heritage
 Supported throughout day-to-day operations
 Living theme
 clearly defines mission
 communicates message internally
 creates an image of organization
 Create your own service-orientated purpose.
 How will you fulfill that promise and mission?
Common Purpose & Quality
Standards
SMILE- Service, Make It a Life
Experience!

REWARD- Responsiveness,
Efficiency, Warmth &
Courtesy, Accountability,
Reliability, and Demonstrate
& show.
Chapter Overview

 Become an expert guestologist

 Create a guest profile
 Use the guestology compass to manage customer information
 Articulate a unique common purpose
 Define your critical quality standards
 Recognize the primary service-delivery systems
Chapter 3: The Magic of Cast

 Cast members are the first critical delivery system of the common purpose and quality
standards.
 Who are the cast members (front line) at the Universities?
 Casting the first impression: You never get a second chance to make a first impression
 Not only focused on the guest but also the employees…
 Casting center handles 150-200 applicants each day, and as many as 100 jobs are filled daily.
 Impression making is an integral part of the design
Outfitting the Cast for Service Delivery

 Hire friendly people who fit the culture

 After hired=learning how to deliver
Disney’s brand of Quality Service.  Don’t underestimate the power of a
 Global orientation- teaches common good orientation.
concepts & behaviors throughout org.
 Higher Ed. : Applicable to employee &
 Line of business- training specific to job students
category.
 Create a common language between
 Local orientation- location specific info. to the organization
perform in different areas of org.
 On-the-job training- conducted after
assume their roles.
Disney’s Guidelines for
Guest Service

Can we incorporate these

guidelines into the Universities
we work at?

Any Examples?
 1. Keep it simple
2. Make it global
3. Make it measurable

6 Tips for Culture- 4. Provide Training and coaching

5. Solicit feedback & ideas from the team
Building 6. Recognize and reward performance
Chapter Overview

 Make a memorable first impression

 Communicate the heart and soul of the organization first
 Speak a service language; wear a service wardrobe
 Establish a set of basic performance guidelines
 Build a performance culture
 Chapter 4: The Magic of Setting

 Setting is the environment in which service is delivered to

customers, all the objects within that environment, and
the procedures used to enhance and maintain the
service environment and objectives
 Disney talk: Service is the stage on which business in
conducted
 Setting includes the work of maintaining and enhancing
the environment and the objects within it.
 Imagineering

 Imagination + Engineering= Imagineering (Walt

Disney)
 Exploring and experimenting, the blending of creative
imagination and technical know-how.
 Master planning, creative development, design,
engineering, production, project management, and
research and development arm.

 Motto: “If you can dream it, you can do it”

 Mickey’s Ten Commandments

1.) Know your audience

2.) Wear your guest’s shoes
3.) Organize the flow or people and ideas
4.) Create a “wienie”
5.) Communicate with visual literacy
6.) Avoid overload– create turn-ons
7.) Tell one story at a time
8.) Avoid contractions; maintain identity
9.) For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of
treat
10.) Keep it up
Appealing to All Five Senses

 Sight
 Sound
 Smell
 Touch
 Taste
Chapter Overview

 Define your setting

 Tell your story through the setting
 Guide the customer experience with setting
 Communicate quality service through all five senses
 Separate onstage and backstage
 Maintain your setting with a consistent, comprehensive effort
 Chapter 5: The Magic of Process

 Processes in the broadest meaning, are a series of

actions, changes or functions that are strung together
to produce a result.
 Combine human (cast) and physical (setting)
resources in various ways to produce different
outcomes.
 A process delivers a result
 Quality Service: Processes are composed of policies,
tasks and procedures that are used to deliver service.
 Process is the engine of quality service
 Process and Combustion

 Engines are driven by combustion

 Services processes are more like a steam engine– the
combustion is externally produced by guests, it derives
from their satisfaction and repeat business and
recommendations
 For the purposes for Quality Service, guest produced
combustion is the best kind.
 When guests are powering the engine, we know the
process is focused properly on their needs.
 When services processes work smoothly, their key
combustion points are controlled
Service Attention

 Acknowledge and, when possible, incorporate the individual needs and desires of guests
in service delivery and the standard of courtesy (Quality Standards)
 Genre of processes that serve guests whose needs cannot be satisfied by existing
processes (service attention processes)
 Two key ingredients: Appropriate resources to make the guest experience a good one
and the availability of those resources must be communicate to cast and guests.
 Extending service attention to three groups of guest who don’t always fit the standard
profile
 International guests
 Small Children
 Guest with Disabilities
Chapter Overview

 Take a process orientation to service delivery

 Collect and analyze combustion statements
 Optimize guest flow throughout service experience
 Equip your cast to communicate with guests
 Create processes for guests who need service attention
 Debug services processes continuously
Chapter 6: The Magic of Integration

 “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work
at it until it’s done and done right” –Walt Disney

 Elements such as quality standards and delivery

systems provide the infrastructure of Quality Service,
and like many infrastructures, this one is supposed to
be visible to the customers.
Chapter 6: The Magic of Integration

 “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done and done right” –
Walt Disney

 Elements such as quality standards and delivery systems provide the infrastructure of
Quality Service, and like many infrastructures, this was is supposed to be visible to the
customers.
 Integration

 All points on the Quality Service Compass have been

integrated to deliver a seamless, magical guest
experience.
 Integration is the operative word, it is the work of
bringing all of the elements of Quality Service
together to create a complete experience.
 The critical, final point on the Quality Service
Compass
 Integration enables us to us to achieve Quality
Service by identifying which details to attend to and
which guest expectations to exceed.
 1. Guestology: Art & Science of knowing and
understanding customers.
1. Enables organizations to provide a context for their
Quality Service Compass service strategies.
2. Quality Standards: Establish criteria for actions
necessary to accomplish service strategy & serve
as a measure of quality service.
1. EX: Safety, Courtesy, Show, & Efficiency
3. Delivery Services: Employees, Setting, Processes
1. Cast- Employees are the most important asset.
2. Setting-Wherever your customers meet you.
3. Process- encompasses both cast & setting
4. Integration: Three delivery systems are combine &
aligned to create complete operating system.
Disney Park Quality Standards
 Common goal
 Safety
 Courtesy
 Show
 Efficiency

 Delivery systems
 Cast
 Setting
 Process
 Goal of integration is the delivery of your
organizations quality standards to your
customers via people, process, and place
Integration Matrix
 One Final Tool: The Story Board

 Great way to map out a service solution and to

build a plan for its implementation
 Don’t be intimidated by the use of drawings
 Ability to see and consider ideas through your guests eyes

 Don’t restrict the story board just to drawings

 Photos, texts, brainstorming, colors samples
Chapter Overview

 Build a service organization greater than the sum of its parts with integration
 Meet guest expectations with headliners; then plus the experience to exceed
expectations
 Make the Integration Matrix part of your organizational toolbox
 Manage every service moment
 Choose service solutions that are high-touch, high-show, and high-tech
 Plan and manage solution implementations using story boards
“You don’t build it for yourself. You
know what people want, and you
build it for them.” – Walt Disney