Creating Customers For Life
By Jim Lewis, President
Disney Vacation Club
Think for a moment about the last time you purchased a soft drink, breakfast cereal, or appliance. Chances are there’s a good reason why it earned a place in your home.
Brand loyalty.
That’s the exact same reason why nearly every consumer on earth (myself included) pledges allegiance to a particular product. Once you’ve taken that cautious first step to sample an item, chances are you’ll stand by that brand provided it retains the power to meet or, even better, exceed your expectations. And when it stays true to the quality you’ve come to expect, you may even become a customer for life.
I see evidence of this every day at Disney. The same principles of brand loyalty that apply to everything from fashion to furniture to home computers is also applicable to us: A worldwide company with products ranging from resorts and theme parks to television networks, motion pictures, a cruise line... and a vacation club.
FOCUS AND LISTEN
The evolution of brand loyalty begins the very first time someone weighs their options and selects a certain product or service. Since it’s far easier to take care of an existing customer than it is to find a new one, I believe it’s of absolute importance to nurture that initial experience, and every experience thereafter, so brand loyalty has a chance to take root.
If you’re conflicted as to where you should direct your attention, follow our lead. At Disney Vacation Club, we tend to focus on the number one issue, and that is meeting (and hopefully exceeding) the needs of our Members and Guests. Our efforts are paying off, with more than 90 percent of our Members rating their overall Membership satisfaction as being “excellent” or “very good.” Even Market Metrix, LLC, our industry’s leading provider of customer feedback, has consistently given top ranking to Disney Vacation Club. Why is this so important?
Think about the last time you received exemplary customer service? Chances are you shared stories of that experience with five, maybe six, people.
This positive word of mouth is more powerful than any marketing campaign. Here at Disney Vacation Club, more than half of our revenue comes from sales to our existing Members and their referrals, making word–of–mouth advertising one of the most important elements of our success formula.
Now think about the last time you were subject to poor service; service that may have been further damaged by a noticeable lack of recovery. My guess is that you may have felt compelled to share tales of this negative experience with a dozen people or more over several weeks, months, or even years.
While good news travels fast you can bet that bad news travels even faster. And when a story of poor service is posted online, it’s an irretrievable message that can circle the world in a flash.
Providing superior service delivery and living up to the expectations of your customers is a necessary step in creating brand loyalty. One key to delivering outstanding service is knowing what your customers want. For that, what you need is a willingness to listen.
At Disney Vacation Club, we listen very, very closely to our Members and Guests. We read opinions shared in surveys and we hear what they have to say at our annual meetings. While we’re always pleased to accept their compliments, we’re especially anxious to pay attention when they offer constructive criticism. With their input, we know exactly what they want which in turn tells us exactly what to do to strengthen our relationship.
It reminds me of a bit of advice that I received years ago when I arrived at Disney. Someone reminded me that we are working not only for our Guests, but because of them.
I’d imagine that’s a rule that applies to your business as well.
CUSTOMER (AND CAST) SATISFACTION
There’s an interesting and essential dynamic that ties together the idea of brand loyalty into a neat package. At Disney, our highest profile Cast Members are those on the front line, the people who are greeting our Guests, putting them at ease, and ensuring them that, from the outset, their faith in us and in every Disney product and service, is well–founded.
For our Cast Members to convey this philosophy, to embody the Disney principles that let our Guests know that our mission is to deliver on our promise of quality while always increasing our standards, they need to know that they are valued. So that’s what Disney does. Through a variety of ways, Cast Members are made aware that they are part of a team that has the power to create magic and that, by working together, they are part of something greater than themselves. Our Cast Members are also aware that we provide fun, rewarding careers where they have an opportunity to do things in line with their talents. With this working relationship creating a type of brand loyalty between Disney Vacation Club and its Cast Members comes a fringe benefit which is the goodwill that leads back to fulfilling our initial promise to our Guests: We continually strive for perfection, settle for excellence and, if we don’t deliver, we’ll recover – and very quickly.
They receive quality service, we receive an impressive bottom line.
TAKING THE STEP
So with exemplary Cast Member service generating high levels of Guest satisfaction, there can only be one outcome.
That’s right.
Brand loyalty.
Visit www.disneyinstitute.com to learn more about Disney’s Approach to Brand Loyalty, a professional development program where you can study techniques used to retain customers for life and identify reliable strategies to deliver more effectively on your brand.
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