With training, staff can be your best marketers

Last summer, I took my wife and two daughters to Disney World to celebrate the July Fourth holiday. Yes, I was crazy enough to brave the almost 100 degree weather with kids that were just 3 and 1 years old.

It's was a lot different since I last saw Mickey and Donald as a kid. Now that I am a professional marketer, my eyes were wide open to the thousands of messages about things to buy and do.
I was not most impressed by the slick theme park presentations, but moved by the marketing conducted by the people that work at Disney.

On my first day there, I was trying to find the right path to Epcot from my hotel and I stopped one of the gardeners mowing the lawn and asked for directions. He shut down his piece of machinery, took off his safety glasses and explained which way to walk to find Epcot. Surprisingly, he took the time to ask where I was from and if it was my first time there. Unsolicited, he then proceeded to tell me what attractions my kids would love most and the best places to eat at the park.

What pride this man had in the place he worked! That's not an accident. Disney spends an enormous amount of resources training and prepping employees for customer interaction, even the people mowing the immaculate lawns. Disney's staff members practice an unwavering religion of being the world's gold standard for customer service. Unless you go there to experience this never-never-land first-hand, words don't do justice to the customer service levels offered at their resorts.

Disney offers a powerful model and corporate value system for companies large and small: Your most important people are at the front lines. You can have the brightest CEO and executive team and the best advertising campaigns, but if you fail at the critical customer touch points, you lose the war.

Providing a positive customer experience is the biggest part of the game. That means providing your staff with comprehensive training in dealing with customers, education about all company products and services that can be cross-sold and in knowing what and what not to say to clients.
These areas of training need to be very specific and taught in a formalized program. Well-informed front-line team members are worth their weight in gold when they can educate your customers and provide a good customer experience.

A solid effort to organize and prep your work force to create positive customer experiences will result in your front-line becoming marketers you can rely on to advance your business.