Maximum Loyalty

What is “maximum loyalty” and how do you create it with your customers?

Disney consistently ranks at the top of customer satisfaction surveys, so they know a thing or two about creating customer loyalty. I recently had the opportunity to attend a Disney Institute event to learn more about their methods.

Disney believes that great financial results begin with a culture that drives employee excellence. In the Disney Loyalty Profit Chain, leadership excellence drives employee excellence which drives guest satisfaction which results in great financial results and repeat business.

Disney is constantly striving for what they call “maximum loyalty.” They believe maximum loyalty is achieved when you can successfully accomplish three concepts. Those three concepts are having a brand that identifies with an individual’s identity, creating experiences that deliver superior value, and making contacts that build relationships.

In order to provide this experience to customers (guests in Disneyese), employees (cast members at Disney) must be experiencing it themselves. As Walt Disney would say, “You’ll never get an employee to treat a customer better than he or she is being treated themselves.”

So if quality customer experiences depend on quality employee relationships, what are you doing as a leader to create a culture that delivers?

Are you building an emotional connection to your brand with your employees? Do they understand and appreciate the history and culture of your organization and what your product provides to your customers?

Are you providing superior value? Have you correctly identified their strengths and placed them in the right seat to deliver on those strengths? Have you provided all the tools and training necessary to succeed?

With whom are you building relationships? As a leader, it is important to manage relationships with your employees. You need that connection so that when you need them to step up in a situation, they feel compelled to deliver.

Disney keeps their focus simple in recognizing the behaviors that matter the most to their success.

What behaviors do you recognize that support your culture?

What recognition tools are available? At the session I attended, the Disney presenters used miniature plastic Disney character toys as recognition for participation and they playfully made a big deal out of it every time they awarded someone. “This is a ‘very rare’ Daisy Duck—don’t be putting this on Ebay tonight,” one said, “I’ve got your name, I’ll be checking (big smile).”

These rewards drove the behavior that the moderators desired…active engagement. Every time a question was asked that had a reward attached to it, hands shot up across the room. People competed to be called upon. It was one of the most effective uses of recognition to motivate I’ve witnessed.

If moderators at a seminar can create that amount of excitement, participation and smiling faces with plastic figures…imagine the potential of your recognition program.

What are you waiting for?