Tag Archives: Disney

Guest Services: Making Your First Impressions LAST!

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Can the church learn anything from Walt Disney, Starbucks, Nordstrom’s, and the Ritz-Carlton?

My answer is a resounding YES!

Over the past four years I’ve been working on a project exploring the world of hospitality, looking for key principles that have application to the church world I live and work in. Early motivation for this effort came from great guest experiences over consecutive days from two establishments at opposite ends of the dining spectrum: Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Taco Bell. In both instances, the staff went beyond the expectations to deliver exemplary service. You expect it at one, but are surprised at the other, right? Why should price be any indicator of the level of service delivered? What about a place with no “price” at all – the church?

The companies I named in the opening sentence have been my primary research targets, but you could say that the hospitality industry in general is my field of research. My proposition is that the world of restaurants, coffee shops, fine hotels, and the ultimate in customer expectation and experience – Disney – can provide tangible and beneficial principles for the church to adapt in welcoming guests and members alike.

Along the way, I’ve supplemented my research with practical application in my own church: I lead one of the Guest Services (Parking) Teams at Elevation Church’s Uptown location. As the “first face” of Elevation, my crew and I get weekly opportunities to practice guest services and make a lasting first impression.

We don’t just park cars; we:

• Sanitize all touch points and spray air freshener in the elevator cabs and stairwells of the parking garage we use

• Pick up trash along the route from the garage to the theater

• Put up 22 parking signs along the entrances

• Man the elevator lobbies to call elevators for guests

• Hold the parking deck door for guests coming and going

• Pull the parking ticket and personally hand it to guests

• Validate parking for all Elevation guests

• Provide VIP (our first time guests) and family parking right next to the theater

• Know what’s going on Uptown so we can help any and everyone who has a question (sporting events, concerts, special activities, etc.)

• Provide umbrellas to guests in the rain

• Give a verbal greeting to everyone coming and going

And that’s just the parking crew! Elevation’s audacious Guest Services team also has Greeters, a First Impressions Team, VIP Tent, and Connections Tent. All this BEFORE a guest has stepped into the theater for worship.

You might say Guest Services is a big deal.

I think it is – and you should too.

Overboard on the Mouse? Or …?

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For the last 10 days, I have gone into a little detail about what I considered the Top Ten Takeaways from a recent family trip to Disney World. Of course, there was also the Top Ten List itself. And the five posts while actually at Disney World. That’s sixteen posts in less than a month! You probably think I’ve gone overboard on Disney! After all, it’s only a Mouse…

No, I don’t think so – it’s much more than that.

My passion is to energize leaders so that they help their organizations thrive by turning challenges into opportunities.

And no one provides a better model for that than Disney.

So I’m going to keep coming back to the “magic” of Disney – because I know I’m learning a lot, and I’ve got a hunch you can too!

Still More Disney Secret Words…

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Anticipation

Steve Jobs didn’t believe in market research or focus groups. He instilled the idea that Apple would create products that people hadn’t dreamed of yet. Jobs’ genius was to create experiences that people didn’t even know they needed.

Walt Disney had that idea before Jobs was even born.

Disney took the images, speech, and music from his film and created them in 3D at Disneyland in 1955. Ten years later he first imagined, then began to create, Disney World.

Though Walt Disney died before Disney World opened in 1971, his vision lives on 40 years later.

Even more remarkable, his team of Imagineers continue to anticipate – and deliver – remarkable experiences.

Walking around the Magic Kingdom at 2 AM this morning, there were continued signs of expansion. A cast member said that Disney World is “always being built”.

That’s anticipation.

The Disney Job Description

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It began with the opening of Disneyland in 1955, and has only been modified slightly in all the years since then.

All Disney cast members adhere to it, whether they are in a very visible role in a production – or in a just-as-important support role like maintenance.

What is that all-encompassing job description at Disney?

“Create happiness”

Does your organization have job descriptions with a common – even unwritten – role that everyone lives out?

More Disney Secret Words…

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Quality.

From the online experience setting up the trip, to the friendly check-in greeting by Tricia, to the cast members all wearing smiles, to …

I could go on all day but Indiana Jones is getting to make his appearance – and my daughter was picked out of the audience to be an “extra” for the filming!

There’s too much to go into now, but EVERYTHING Disney does is done with quality.

What about your organization-do you provide QUALITY in all you do?

Understanding Guests

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Disney doesn’t have visitors, or customers – they have Guests.

One word, powerful difference.

It’s always capitalized and treated as a formal noun.

What’s the difference between treating someone like a visitor, and treating someone like a Guest?

The obvious reason is in our mindset: we do things differently when we bring Guests into our homes. We clean up, fix up, and straighten up our house. We clean up and dress up. We prepare something special to eat – something we know our Guests will like. We host them. We take care of their real needs.

According to J. Jeff Kober, former Disney Institute instructor, Guests have five underlying needs:

  1. Be Heard and Understood
  2. Belong and Contribute
  3. Feel Stable and In Control
  4. Feel Significant and Special
  5. Grow and Reach Potential

I’ll break these down in future posts – now it’s time to head out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and be treated like a Guest!

By the way – how are you going to treat those coming your way for worship this weekend? Like Guests?

Or …?

The Secret of Disney World…

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There’s undoubtably a lot of secrets to Disney World, but for me, it is simple:

Disney expects guests

I’ll be breaking this down over the next few days (and probably beyond), but a quick observation tells it all:

My wife, 23 year-old daughter, and I are visiting Disney World for the first time. Our daughter graduated from college in 3 years, so this trip is our gift to her (we’re having a lot of fun too!). Our first day at Disney World has been a blast: spending a lot of time in the Magic Kingdom, hopping on the monorail over to Epcot for a wonderful relaxing supper at the San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion, then back to our wonderful room at the Port Orleans Resort – Riverside.

It’s a typical Florida day – sun, clouds, and a few rain showers in-between. During one of those rainstorms, my wife and daughter were riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while I was waiting on them outside. A sudden rainstorm came up, pouring down rain. In a few minutes, it stopped. Within 1 minute of that, a Disney cast member walked by my vantage post, using a squeegee to wipe the rain off of the trash cans.

That simple action speaks to the lengths Disney goes because they expect guests.

What do you do in your church to expect guests?