I have been reading “Inside the Magic Kingdom.” This excellent book by Tom Connellan describes why Disney World is as successful as it is. The guest experience and customer service that this theme park in Orlando is able to create is among the best you can find in the world. Every company and even every church should learn from it!
One of the things that this book explains is that people will compare the customer service of any company with the best customer service that they have experienced. Since many millions have visited Disney, they are very likely to compare that company with Disney’s service, even if they are not in direct competition with each other. People might compare electricity companies, bookstores and even churches with Disney or other companies with excellent customer service. Scary thought?
One way in which Disney World is always able to improve its guest experience is by having several “listening posts.” Yes, they do surveys among their guests, but they also listen to the feedback that their guests give one on one to the “cast members” (=employees) of Disney World. And they not only listen, but act upon it! Besides that, Disney not only gets feedback from guests, but is also able to harvest creative ideas from its employees, no matter how low they are in the organizational structure or if their idea in any way relates to the field they work in.
Sad story of what happened to me when I made a phone call to the helpdesk of probably the world’s most innovative computer manufacturer. My expectation was that they would be really eager to help. I have a problem with a backup drive which is apparently outside of the scope of what their customer service department can handle, so the first line customer service representative basically told me off.
I insisted that I wanted to talk to the manager and after 10 minutes I got the second line help desk while paying 10 cents per minute (welcome to Europe… the same company has toll-free numbers in the US). He repeated the point of view that the first line guy gave, just a bit friendlier. I said to him that the reason I got myself into trouble was a lack of functionality in the software of the backup drive. He encouraged me to give this feedback to their company via the feedback page on their website. Still wondering why he did not jot down my idea and passed it on to software development himself.
So did I give the feedback? No! I spent almost 30 minutes on the phone at my own cost and I have no trust that my complaint or idea or whatever you want to call it will ever into the next version of the software. My advice to this computer company: have your people trained at Disney World! I think it would make a big difference for its customers. Maybe the customers would feel like the company actually cares about their problems.
Anyway… I will find my way myself in solving the problem. My point is this: how much does the church care about people and about their problems? How much does the church learn from the creative ideas of its people? Let’s learn from the best practices in the business world, such as Disney world! People will compare us with them anyway!