Guestology - Know Your Customers

I had the great privilege of attending Disney Institutes Approach to Quality Service a few months ago. What a great experience. They've really got this customer thing down.

For one thing - customers are GUEST'S. One of the keys to great service is treating people the way you'd treat guests in your own home. Treat them the way you want to be treated. Good leadership understands this type of thing.

Sit yourself in a position to form a customer oriented culture. An organizations culture is only as good as its leadership.

The book, Be Our Guest (from Disney Institute), describes Guestology as "the study of people for whom Disney provides service". For over half a century "the one constant has been a relentless focus on the needs, perceptions, and expectations of Guests". This is driven by great leadership.

In order to treat customers like Guests, you have to learn everything you can about them. Some of the things Disney knows are:

• where they come from,


• the average party size,


• their length of stay,


• frequency of visits,


• attraction utilization, and


• per capita spending patterns.

Wow - wouldn't it be great to have staff that knew that much about their customers?

Lead your staff in a direction that exceeds expectations. Keep the bar high. Guests continually tell Disney that "a key driver determining their overall level of satisfaction is the interaction they have with Cast Members" (employee's).

Remember that leaders are role models. The better service that YOU provide and the more YOU learn will directly affect the service your staff provides.