Your business is slowly falling apart. Hour by hour and day by day. The bulbs are burning out, the signage is getting ragged, your merchandisers are wearing out, and the rug is wearing thin.

We don't perceive these changes. At work 50 hours a week, this stuff happens too slowly to notice. Like watching your front lawn grow, day to day, nothing really happens. But, go away for a week holiday, and it grows to a jungle.

This is the jungle that your customers experience.

When they were last at your business, the light above the register hadn't blown out yet, and it was pleasant and bright. The front door didn't squeak each time it shut. The WiFi sticker on the window hadn't been peeled and torn by that little kid. The floorboards hadn't been scraped and marked by the mop bucket.

Now a week later, these small changes add up. Individually, each change is  hardly noticeable. When seen all at once, they leave a poor impression.

How do you maintain the quality of the experience for your customers?

Out of college, I went to work at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. as an attractions host (someone who operates one of the rides).

The way Disney ensured quality from day to day was with a full-show walk-through check list. Every single light bulb, every show element, each animated character, every painted surface and square-foot of carpet is examined to confirm it is working and contributing to providing guests with a "good show."

Broken items were immediately reported to the night-time maintenance crew who fixes them by the next morning.

If it could not be fixed and was considered critical to the show, instead of exposing guests to a "bad show," Disney would shut the attraction down. Disney's philosophy was: "No show is better than a bad show."

This worked at Disney for two reasons. It had the systems and discipline to 1.) spot problems immediately and 2.) fix them quickly.

At the theme parks, it may not have been your specific job to fix a cracked sidewalk or re-paint scraped hand rails---but it was everybody's job to notice these things and report them. This way, there was a team vigilant for elements that may potentially break the magic for the guest.

Maybe you can't afford to shut your store down for the day if you found it presenting a "bad show" for your customers. But ask yourself:



  • Do you pay enough attention to your customer experience?


  • Can you view your business the way your customers experience it?


  • How do you pay attention to the details?


  • Do you have systems in place to rapidly fix what's breaking?


How do you ensure a "good show"?

Enter your email address to continue reading

Give Your Customers a Good Show

Don't worry...it's free!

Already a member? Sign in now.

Sign in with your preferred account, below.

Did you like this article?
Know someone who would enjoy it too? Share with your friends, free of charge, no sign up required! Simply share this link, and they will get instant access…
  • Copy Link

  • Email

  • Twitter

  • Facebook

  • Pinterest

  • Linkedin


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hi there!

I'm Paul Williams... guest writer on Daily Fix and founder of Idea Sandbox.

I'm a professional problem solver. Through brainstorm facilitation I help people create remarkable ideas to grow their business. As one client put it, “Idea Sandbox turns brains into idea machines.”

Prior to launching Idea Sandbox in 2005, I spent 15 years building marketing, branding, and customer-experience strategy for The Disney Company, the Aramark Corporation, and Starbucks Coffee Company.

I founded Idea Sandbox driven by my passion to help others create remarkable ideas. I blend the skills and lessons I have learned to build a sandbox---an idea sandbox.

You can reach me on Twitter via @IdeaSandbox.

Through Idea Sandbox, I have helped solve challenges, grow brands, think-up remarkable ideas, and create innovation for companies including: Starbucks Coffee Company, Starbucks Coffee International, Panera Bread Company, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Woodhouse Day Spas, The Microsoft Corporation, and Wells Fargo Mortgage.

I am a writer, speaker, columnist, and brainstormer living just outside Washington DC, in Alexandria, Virginia.

If you like what you've read here, you can find more of my thoughts at my Idea Sandbox blog.

I always welcome comments and reactions to what I've written. I'm on Twitter: @IdeaSandbox

Nice to meet you,


Paul