One of the most popular songs from the Disney film, Beauty and the Beast, was the song, “Be Our Guest.” Belle, the heroine of the film, is enthralled by the magical preparations of a spectacular dinner as the animated candelabra, Lumiere, sings “Be Our Guest.” It’s a fitting song for a Disney film since the company has a long history of referring to its customers as “guests.”
Walt Disney’s philosophy at Disneyland was that they didn’t have customers, they had welcome guests. It was a mindset he worked to instill in the park’s cast members. Keep in mind that prior to Disneyland, amusement parks were often dirty and unsafe places, staffed by gruff, surly employees. Walt’s vision was for Disneyland’s visitors to feel that they were guests in his home, and he expected every cast member to treat them that way.
The guest philosophy is applicable to any business, whether or not you call your customers clients, patients, residents, or customers. Thinking of customers as guests helps to move away from a task mindset to mindset focused on building relationships.
The image of a customer is often one of a transactional nature. The company provides a service or product and the customer gives the company money. But the image of a guest is very different. It’s the difference of how you might treat a door-to-door salesperson versus how you treat an invited guest to your home. When a guest is visiting we are likely to:
Imagine if your customers were treated that way during every interaction with your organization. Imagine how they would feel about your company and how they would describe it to others. Imagine how it would affect their loyalty.
I’m not advocating actually starting to refer to your customers as guests, although I’m not against it. What I’m advocating is adopting the mindset of treating customers as welcome guests. That mindset can’t help but change the way a company interacts with its customers.
Are you inviting customers to “be our guest?” Are you treating them that way?
Other articles you might like:
- Treat your customers like special guests
- Lessons From the Mouse (Mickey, That Is)
- Solving a Customer Frustration
- In Customer Service, You Are Always On Stage
- What Can Paul McCartney Teach About Customer Service?
The execs at Disney really know how to make you feel like a “guest” in their parks, even when someone messes up, a prompt attention is given to the complaint. Case in point: We went to Epcot for vacation, and as we were visiting the french pavillion, we were in line in the bakery and I spotted a cockroach on the wall behind one of the servers. I discretly pointed the insect to him but his reaction was not what I expeted: He just shrugged and went back to what his was doing. We were shocked, as long time Disney guests we never seen such behavior. When we got back we wrote letter relating our experience, whitout really expecting a direct response. Well, about two weeks later we received an letter from a Disney exec apologizing for our bad experience and she included two anytime tickets to any park for us to come back and to see for ourselves that the magic was back.
This sold us, for a busy exec to take the time to write to us, it showed a level of commitment to customer service excellence that I never experienced anywhere else.
M. Stirtz, great site, your tips are right on the money, please keep it coming!!
I no longer live in the states, I moved back home to Haiti and customer service here is a concept alien to the business world here. But our company is succeeding in showing that things can be different.
That’s a great story and a perfect example of why Disney is so successful. But it also proves even they are not perfect which is why they keep trying to improve.
Thanks for writing!
KS