

What your startup can learn from Disney - AlexisTryon
http://blog.artsicle.com/post/3165472303/disney

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jhowell
I had a chance to hear Bill Capodagli give the closing key note at a
conference and subsequently read his book, The Disney Way. He managed 35k
people, if I recall, and considered his competition to be Europe, not Six
Flags or some other amusement park, as Disney World is branded a global
destination. He stressed the importance of everyone partaking in the customer
service role in the company (keeping the magic) emphasizing that the best
marketing plans can be instantly derailed by a customer coming through the
gates to a dirty bathroom stall. I guess you want your customers to be able to
go back home and say "I had a great time PERIOD," versus, "We had a great
time, but..."

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coderdude
>Dropped your ice cream cone? There is a Disney employee with a new one before
you know it. Sure, it wasn't their fault, but it was their problem.

For some reason I really like this. It actually makes me feel better about any
future customer issues I run across. "Just make them feel better and move on."
I'm sure there are going to be situations where you can't simply apply this
blanket approach, but this is gold.

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KMinshew1
Totally agree -- you can't always avoid the bad things, but you can change the
end of the story that your customer will tell others.

Customers will talk. The question is whether they'll say "This annoying thing
happened and I don't recommend them" or "but they made it up to me with
______, and I was really satisfied at the end."

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ludicast
Great article, and nobody hates Disney like I do (and I'm going there in a few
months...).

They really do excel at that sort of stuff, and the "it's not my fault, but
it's my problem" line is really motivating.

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veb
Really informative. Makes me want to go to Disneyland. :-(

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TimothyBurgess
Excellent art[s]icle!

The vast majority of businesses really could learn a lot from Disney. And I
think it would make the rest of the world overall much happier and decrease
anxiety... we wouldn't have to constantly worry about and counter which
corporation is going to try to bend us over next. Great customer service
definitely makes me feel my money is well spent.

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AlexisTryon
Thanks! The experience was truly great and left me with something to aim for
in all our customer interactions.

