Customer Service Tips

The secret to delivering great customer service isn’t really a secret at all; just make sure your customers feel welcomed and well cared for, and you will keep their business for a long time. That shouldn’t be hard, but most companies still blow it by making the customer service process opaque, complicated and unpleasant. When dealing with some companies, it is easy for customers to get the impression that they are a nuisance, instead of the life-blood of the organization.

That is why a handful of companies stand head and shoulders about the rest when it comes to legendary customer service. The one that comes to mind at the moment is the customer experience at Walt Disney World (WDW). Of course, a great deal has already been written about the WDW customer service model, but a friend of mine has just returned from a week there with his family, and his enthusiasm for the experience (remember that word) is sticking with me. Here is what great customer service looks like, WDW style.

Provide a great product.

No big secret here, I guess. It is hard to be a highly successful company if you have a crummy product. WDW certainly has a great product, as do many other theme parks and resort destinations around the country. However, at WDW, their legendary customer service is actually part of their product line, i.e., it is part of the experience they are selling.

Make sure customers feel welcome from their very first interaction with you.

From the moment you log onto the WDW website or call their customer service line to make reservations, the focus is all on the customer. You are treated like a guest even before any money changes hands. Cheerful, personable CSRs (also known as "cast members" – every WDW employee is referred to as a cast member), chat with you, answer all your questions, offer tips and suggestions, and generally make you feel like they were thrilled to talk to you. These people are either great actors or great people. I am guessing they are a little bit of both.

Make certain that customers are fully informed of what to expect during every step of their interaction with you.

After you have made reservations for a stay at a WDW resort, the customer service experience only intensifies. Within a few days of receiving the reservation, WDW sends guests a variety of information packets covering every detail of the trip from how to handle your luggage at the airport, how to find the WDW resort shuttle location in the airport (where they literally roll out a red carpet) to what to expect at check in to an update of schedules and attractions for each day you are on the property. Customers are never left guessing about any detail of their stay.

Treat every customer question, request, issue or problem as a privilege to serve and meet needs, and make sure the customer recognizes and understands that this is your attitude.

WDW employs approximately 60,000 "cast members" at its 40 square mile entertainment complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The term "cast member" reflects the mission of every single WDW employee -- from the people who sweep the streets to the people who take your tickets to the people who work in the shops and restaurants to the executives who operate the entire enterprise: Make certain every guest has the most pleasant and entertaining experience possible (there’s that word again). Every customer request is taken seriously and addressed with a gracious, positive attitude that says, "No problem. No matter what the issue is, it is my pleasure to serve you!"

Don’t forget: Your company may be selling a product, but customer service is selling an experience.

So, it really comes down to this: Your company may be focused on producing a technically superior widget, but for your customer it is ultimately always about the experience. If your product performs as promised and meets the customer’s need, the customer perceives that to be a positive experience and develops a good feeling about your company, and that is a good thing. However, the customer has numerous opportunities to interact with your company. From the moment he walks into your store, contacts your call center or logs onto your website, the customer is involved in a variety of experiences that can either be positive or negative – pleasing or frustrating. The goal of customer service at all levels in your company is to make sure the customer always has the best experience possible.

Cruise lines, top rated hotels and major theme parks like WDW know that people won’t come back if they didn’t enjoy the experience. This is a lesson that needs to be learned and lived by every company in every industry in the country. It isn’t hard to pull off; just make sure your customers always feel welcome, and make it clear that your greatest pleasure is to help them have a great experience whenever they do business with you.