Learning from the Greats – Walt’s Wisdom

It is always a good idea to examine the ideas and philosophy behind great businesses that have had great success in serving others. July 17 marked the 58^th anniversary of the opening of Disneyland, a franchise that has continued to thrill and satisfy people for so many decades. Hopefully most all of you reading this have had that experience of amazement as you enter into the magical world of either of their major theme parks and the thrill of seeing many of your favorite childhood characters come to life.

Anna Eschenburg of Salesforce Blog recently discussed four of Walt’s wise philosophies that can help most any business in the area of customer service:

"You don’t build it for yourself. You know what the people want and you build it for them." – It is important to know who your target demographic is and understand what it is they want. Then, once you know that, you give them that. This is why it is a good idea to have an easy survey/feedback system in place and to allow the people to speak up, giving you better ideas on how to serve them more excellently.

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends” – Word of mouth is always a key factor in gaining new customers. Satisfied customers excited about the great experience they had is one of the easiest ways to gain not only customer loyalty, but new customers. “Disney's cast members are taught to anticipate the needs of the park's guests. If a cast member sees a family confused about where to go first, they'll approach and offer suggestions or directions. Trying to take a picture in front of the castle? They'll likely offer to take it for you,” Eschenburg says. These are the types of tactics that can be tapered to meet most any businesses needs in order to provide the best service experience possible.

“Do your best work – then try to trump it” – Resting on your past achievements is rarely a good idea. Always striving to be better is a good idea. With more and more CSR experience comes more and more wisdom (at least it should), so apply that learning to finding ways to go above and beyond your past successes. We learn from our mistakes, just like we can learn from our success.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing” – Getting motivated and staying motivated can be tough, but it is necessary in order to continue successfully serving. Setting long term goals and having small term steps to reach them will help you stay on track to moving forward. Do not let procrastination become your friend, it just drags you down and can snowball into a monster issue that can roll right over you. When it comes to a task, identify it and take action to get it done.

Remember, the CSR career field is all about others and not yourself. Putting others first – their needs, their wants, their satisfaction – that is what the job is all about.

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitialPhotos.net