August 21, 2009 – Day 5
Today was the last day of the five-day Disney Institute program; I learned a great deal about Disney and how they do business. A friend of mine challenged me to distill a week’s worth of learning into a single sentence applicable to business owners. I’ve thought about it quite a bit and came up with this:
There is a difference between providing a service and providing an experience.
Everything I saw, everything I learned was inexorably linked to this bottom line. And it made me realize that my focus needs to change. Since I’ve been in business, I have focused on customer service – doing the best I can for my clients, pursuing value for them, ensuring they feel appreciated, proactively reaching out to them. These are the basics and are so important, but these basics are not enough. If we want our businesses to be superior, we must focus on client/customer experience.
How Disney Focuses on Guest Experience
Disney pays as much attention to “Essence” as they do to their Vision and Mission. Essence at Disney means how they want their guests to feel. And they have defined that pretty clearly: special, cared for and above all else, like they truly are in a magical place. Disney trains all their employees in essence, from the first contact call center employees to the characters in the parks. Disney also designs experiences for all their guests at all ages. See, “The Secondary Guest at Disney.”
I’ve been wondering why business owners don’t naturally focus on experience? I suspect it is because of what “service” and “experience” implies. Service brings to mind something that is measurable, concrete and objective. Experience is something different; it is about feelings and emotions. It is hard to measure feelings and emotions. Experience also implies something “touchy-feely” which we are conditioned to stay away from in the business world. But what we are missing is how important the touchy-feely is in creating loyal, long-term clients. Think about Disney again for a moment. They have every reason not to be successful:
- Their resorts are expensive
- Their park passes are expensive
- Meals at Disney are expensive – it’s hard to find a meal anywhere in the parks for under $10.00.
- Disney World is hotter than Hades during it’s peak summer season (my friend Mark Stelzner said it best in this post)
Yet people keep coming back, in droves, for more. Why? Because of the experience. Because of “Essence.” Because of how families feel when they are at the park and when they leave.
There is a difference between providing a service and providing an experience.
Yes. This is the prevailing message from the last five days. One that I will use to improve my business and help my clients improve theirs.
Action plan for business owners:
- How do you want your clients to feel?
- What do you want your clients to say after each interaction with your company?
- What value can you provide that will cause your clients to say, “Working with _____ is worth every penny I spend.”
What ideas does this give you?
(c) The Alicia Arenas Companies, LLC 2009
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EXCELLENT post, Alicia. Customer service has become a table stake in today’s business world. If you really want to set yourself apart, it all has to be about the experience your prospects, customers, partners and employees every time they come in contact with you. You hit the nail head-on.
Two good books I found that exemplify this subject: “The Fred Factor” by Mark Sanborn and “The Experience Economy” by B. Joseph Pine and James Gilmore.
Thank you Terri. And thank you for the book recommendations! I can’t wait to go out and get them.
Great question as to why all businesses don’t create essences. I wrote a blog article about an awesome experience at the Stanford Medical Center that is very similar. If you would like to read it here is the link.
http://jimjacksonlive.com/blog/?Tag=The+Stanford+Experience
I read your blog post and I think you’re right – they get what customer “experience” is all about. Thank you for the link Jim!