This past weekend I took some out-of-town friends to EPCOT at Disney. It had been quite a while since I had been there, so I had forgotten just how well the Disney service providers (cast members) differentiate themselves from the typical employee. I was quickly reminded.

It was a beautiful sunny day. Translated... it was hot! Several of the ladies decided to find hair scrunchies to tie their hair back. We went into a large Disney store and asked about scrunchies and the service provider quickly found hair ties, but no scrunchies. He then radioed another department and pointed us to another cast member who took over. He didn't have exactly what the ladies were looking for either, so we thanked him and continued to shop for a few of our grandchildren. About five to seven minutes later, the cast member returned to the baby section with an assortment of hair scrunchies he had gotten from another shop in EPCOT. (Yes, I said another shop!)

We were all just flabbergasted at the effort this young man put into finding what his customer (or guest) wanted. The result of that effort is that this service story will be repeated time and time again, and that ripple affect can be significant. Do your service providers understand the value of such outrageously good service?

If you want your service providers to deliver outrageously good service, consider the following:

• Be sure employees know about your expectation of great service... with every customer. They should first hear about this expectation during the interview process, and then again at orientation or on the first day of the job.
• Hold pre-shift meetings and allow employees to share their own ideas for creating outrageously good service. Post some of those ideas on a bulletin board in the break room, stockroom, office or other employee gathering place.
• Recognize and reinforce the behaviors that lead to the expected levels of service. Remember, don't wait for the goal to be completely achieved before offering recognition, reinforcement and support. If you offer encouragement with each small step, the ultimate goal will be reached much sooner.
• Share any customer comments - good or bad. Celebrate the good stuff and discuss the not-so-good (without names). Don't use the negative to beat up on people, but as a learning tool to ensure the error is not repeated. Learning from mistakes can be more powerful than just hearing about an expected behavior.

Click this link to learn more about the totally functional and inspirational booklet, 180 Ways To Walk The Customer Service Talk. This booklet is full of ideas that will help you increase the outrageously good service experiences in your organization.