Tweet

What you can learn from Mickey Mouse to grow your business

Guest post by: Sue Henry

Article Overview: A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida and was amazed at the efficiency, professionalism and marketing strategies used to make the customers experience an unforgettable one. That day has stayed with me and I have shared the simple and effective strategies with clients many times since my visit. In this article I summarise the four key things Disneyworld do exceptionally well in engaging their customers and delivering a quality product. These practical activities any business can do, take a minute to see what you can adapt into your world with these four activities.

What you can learn from Mickey Mouse to grow your business

A fewyears ago I had the opportunity to go to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida and was amazed at the efficiency, professionalism and marketing strategies used to make the customers experience an unforgettable one. That day has stayed with me and I have shared the simple and effective strategies with clients many times since my visit.

Here are the four key things Disneyworld do well in engaging their customers and delivering a quality product:

1. Exceeding expectations

First impressions last! When purchasing my entrance ticket I was greeted by a Disneyworld customer service representative and the tone was set for the day. I was greeted with a genuine smile and welcome to the park, informed of the layout, things to see and do and an overall schedule of how things run.

The most significant thing that I became aware of during the day was the stated expectations and surprisingly how they were exceeded. All rides displayed signs indicating how long to expect to wait and on all rides we were on board for our experience at least 5 - 10 minutes less than advertised.

During the day on all the rides Disneyworld customer service representatives asked with a genuine smile "how I was enjoying myself?" leaving me with the feeling that I was the most important person at the park that day! An excellent feeling to leave a customer with especially when there were probably 10,000 other people there that day.

2. Timing

All activities in the park ran to an impeccable time schedule. If a show or activity was stated as starting a 10:00am it started at exactly 10:00am not 5 past or 5 to but at exactly the time advertised. It prompted me to thinking about all the extra things I could do in my business if I implemented a tight regime like the Disneyworld one. I have been trialling myself on small tasks to see where I could introduce the "timing" philosophy and have discovered that I am getting at least 30 minutes extra productivity by starting my work day at an exact time each

day!

3. Merchandising and Ongoing Marketing

It's hard to get out of Disneyworld without spending money on Disney merchandise. The park is structured so that as soon as you exit a ride you come out into a merchandise store that carries merchandise in the theme of the ride.

An excellent sales technique! Placing the merchandise in front of the customer at the exact moment they are feeling great about their experience. (Lucky for me I was travelling with a sensible shopper or all my family and friends would be getting Disney products as gifts for the next ten years!) Everything, and I mean everything is branded in the Disney theme. You can even get an ice cream in the shape of Mickey's ears! The biggest learning for me was the reinforcement of

consistency, frequency and placement of your brand in front of the customer. Remember the saying "if you are not in front of the customer someone else will be".

4. Attention to detail Never before have I seen such extraordinary attention to detail as I saw at Disneyworld. Every ride, theme, garden and building had an incredible amount of detail. There was nothing out of place, no distractions; everything was designed to keep your attention focused on having a good time.

As a big picture person my attention to very small details is less than perfect so to take a lesson from Disney I am now delegating the detail tasks to ensure my customers receive the appropriate attention.

As an overall theme at Disneyworld I can summarise my experience as "Feel good, happy customers - it's all about the customer". It left me thinking long and hard about my customers and how they feel after an experience with my business.

There are some valuable lesson here for all businesses what can you learn from Mickey and his friends to implement in your business? How do you want your customers to feel long after they have spent money with you?

Related Articles
  Sales Training – Salespeople Add Four Stars To Your Own Movie Premier
  Lesson #4: Take Control
  Walt is Rolling in his Grave
  About Walt Disney
  Walt Disney World
  Social Media: Set Your Employees Free
  Living A Fairy Tale: Disney’s Rise To The Top
  Faulty Laptop Touchpads and How to Fix Them
  All ya need is Attitude and Ownership to have selling success
  Your Setbacks and Cynics Don't Define You. Your Responses Do
  MLM Problems And Why You Can't Succeed
  Exercises to Keep Your Mouse From Biting You
  Mice and Men
  What's Your Dream Worth?
  Working At Home Gives The Freedom To Wreck Your Business
  Exercise Your Charisma Muscle
  Lesson #1: Do Not Put All Your Eggs Into One Basket
  Proceed and Succeed
  Don't Be Defeated By Inaction
  Why C-Level Executives Are Flocking To The Internet To Start Their Own Home Based Businesses.

Article Tags: disneyworld, efficiency, marketing strategies, mickey mouse, orlando florida, professionalism, quality product



Related Forum Posts
Re: Who Did You Learn Most From and Why? - Hi Martin, You missed out on the most essential community that helps you grow - Your Clients. Well, I believe that my Initial Clients have been the ones who have given me the moments of 'aha' in my business. They have stood by me even when I was a starter and that has helped me shape and build my stand. They have helped me grow as an entrepreneur, learn to have loads of patience and make the most of what comes across. They have also helped me to strengthen me as a person. btw, personally speaking, my Grandfather always kept me on track and lent me emotional support when I was down in any matter - be it business or otherwise.
Re: Off to Disney World - Hi Evan, If you catch this before you go then I hope you have a fabulous time with the family (and Mickey). regards, Mal.
Persistence gives live to small business. - While I was reading about the 10th year anniversary of google, I counted back 10 years and what I see was persistent. Every small business can grow big if we will be persistent. Persistent actually brings consistence. There is no business that cannot grow big if the owner will not be too haste to succeed. Hastiness has always been the bane of colapsed small business. Whatever you do as antergreneur keep at it and be innovative about it, you will soon be celebrating growth. To me, there is no business that cannot grow be if persistence is employed.
Hi from New York. - I'm new here, hoping to learn and make some more money. Hopefully will learn and grow with some of the members here. Hope all is well.
Re: Internet Marketing is the best business in the world - (Great contribution, Ros. Way to go!) 31. You can learn and grow and conduct your online business activity at your own comfortable pace.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

SEO and the Entrepreneur

Work Place Counselling

10 Golden rules to survive the Global Crisis

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.