Page 81 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

62 The Disney Way

got more than they ever knew they wanted, whether in watching his films or
visiting his theme park.
Know your guests, treat them honestly and with respect, and they will
keep coming; that pretty well sums up what Walt Disney believed. The
crowds that throng the Disney parks today, both here and abroad, testify
to the enduring soundness of his belief. During the first week of November
1996, 793,000 people visited Disney’s theme parks in the United States
alone—and this in a week that didn’t even include a school holiday.
Most of the companies we work with and others we have studied have
wholeheartedly adopted Walt Disney’s belief that customers should be treat-
ed as honored guests. Many of these companies are not in the service business
per se; they have simply made it their business to provide excellent service. As
you read their stories, you will see how an obsession with customers begets
the kind of innovation that ultimately spells success.

How Important Are Your Customers—Really?

You’re probably wondering which companies don’t try to please their cus-
tomers. In reality, plenty. All too many companies seem to consider customers
as nothing more than a necessary nuisance. Oh, they may say otherwise, but
they don’t deliver. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then the
road to business failure is littered with placards proclaiming “The customer
is always right.”
A cavalier attitude toward customers is shortsighted in the extreme. The
hard truth is that it costs five times more to attract a new customer than it does
to keep an old one. According to Frederick F. Reichheld, director emeritus
of Bain & Company and author of Loyalty Rules! How Leaders Build Lasting
Relationships, a 5 percent increase in customer retention results in a 25 to 95
percent increase in profits.
So if the payoffs are so great, why do companies fail when it comes to
dealing with customers? The answer is lack of leadership. Without question,
the CEO is the primary role model for every company value, and service
is no exception. In an example of a leader who just didn’t understand his
responsibility, the CEO of a well-known rental car company was quoted as
saying, “There’s nothing more irritating than having the person next to you
on a plane say, ‘And what do you do for a living?’ I used to be polite and tell
them about my company, only to have my ear bent about the story of the
dirty car in Chicago. Now when people tell me that story, I empathize with
them and say, ‘I know it’s a lousy company. That’s why I’m quitting.’”