No Dreams, No Magic

[huskies90]

Very good points. However, I will say that I think there is one way customer service is measurable to WDW, although it would be a lagging indicator: attendance.

True, of course, waiting until you lose customers is too late. Calgarygary is on the right track. You start by truly understanding what defines what tangeble items are critical to a successful service transaction. At one business it may be how long someone waits in line. Others might be delivery time. For a call center it may be time on hold or number of call drops or transfers. Once you have the statistical critical measurements you scientifically measure. Sometimes it can be done systematically like measuring call drops other times you survey your customers by asking these factual questions to derive the data. Keeps it objective.

Surveying customers to get subjective data is also important. Yes, statistically, you have to take into account outliers (like the customer you bend over backwards for and they still complain). But if you survery customers who continually give negative feedback, it is an indicator and you have to react.

I don't work for Disney so I have no idea what they do but I bet they have a good pulse on their service numbers regardless of what the attendence numbers are doing...But yes, skyrocketting attendence is an indicator they are doing something right.

 

[lucincia]

I don't work for Disney so I have no idea what they do but I bet they have a good pulse on their service numbers regardless of what the attendence numbers are doing...But yes, skyrocketting attendence is an indicator they are doing something right.

Skyrocketing attendence at WDW simply means that US dollar is so low against EU and other oversea economies that it's not worth it for "U.S. Americans" (taking a line from Miss Teen South Carolina ) to travel overseas and it is extremely cheap for people from other countries to visit US, and WDW. So, I am guessing, a lot of people who would have gone on cruises or Europe or Asia are now spending their dough with the Mouse.

 

[Reenybean]

Congrats on your upcomming wedding! Enjoy your life together

 

[lisa6373]

I haven't read through the entire thread, and I haven't been to Disney in years, but I think I understand what the OP is saying. I think he's saying that aside from the YOAMD promotion he didn't feel that the customer service was as good as it has been in the past. I believe he is saying that perhaps so much is going into granting dreams that just normal everyday customer service is getting over looked to a degree.

 

[mking624]

Skyrocketing attendence at WDW simply means that US dollar is so low against EU and other oversea economies that it's not worth it for "U.S. Americans" (taking a line from Miss Teen South Carolina ) to travel overseas and it is extremely cheap for people from other countries to visit US, and WDW. So, I am guessing, a lot of people who would have gone on cruises or Europe or Asia are now spending their dough with the Mouse.

Ok you cannot honestly believe that the reason for the attendance growth is only because of that. If that were true, then how do you explain away the fact that travel to these overseas destinations (that according to your reasons are not worth it to travel to) aren't declining in their attendance? Because really, if you take your thoughts to their logical conclusion, if people didn't find going some place as being "wprth it" and attended somewhere else instead, that would have to mean the "not worth it" destination would decline in its attendance. Funny thing is, it hasn't. The fact is that people are traveling to more destinations than ever before. This is why you see flights being added to all sorts of destinations (including overseas)...because the demand is there. And while I've never been one to complain about the "expense" of WDW, I've seen European vacations cost less money. Explain that one.

I see you're from Louisville. Remember how popular King's Island north of Cincy was in the 70's and 80's? It's not now. I attribute this to terrible service, trash all over the place, and exhorbitant prices for food. This is despite the fact that PKI has added an entire new Nickelodeon area for kids, several really good rides, and newer restaurants. Compared to PKI, WDW has incredible service, is pretty much immaculate from what I can tell, and has much better deals on food. This is why I'd much rather spend an extra 9 hours on the road to go to WDW for a week than to get to PKI for a few hours: better service.

Actually I'm not from Louisville. We've only lived here a few years while my DH has been in school (and we'll be leaving next summer when he graduates). We're from Chicago. We've never been to King's Island. And even if I had been, I was born in '81, so to be honest, at that age I could have cared less what park was popular in the 70s or 80s...my concern was what new toy I was getting. But anyway, I can make a similar comparison to Six Flags Great America...which is outside Chicago. I can't stand it there and in comparison, WDW has incredible service. But that still doesn't make it entirely measurable because I've heard opinions of the exact opposite (which I'll never understand the desire for Six Flags over WDW, but that's me).

 

[mking624]

True, of course, waiting until you lose customers is too late. Calgarygary is on the right track. You start by truly understanding what defines what tangeble items are critical to a successful service transaction. At one business it may be how long someone waits in line. Others might be delivery time. For a call center it may be time on hold or number of call drops or transfers. Once you have the statistical critical measurements you scientifically measure. Sometimes it can be done systematically like measuring call drops other times you survey your customers by asking these factual questions to derive the data. Keeps it objective.

Surveying customers to get subjective data is also important. Yes, statistically, you have to take into account outliers (like the customer you bend over backwards for and they still complain). But if you survery customers who continually give negative feedback, it is an indicator and you have to react.

Ahhh...and you are proving my point:
It's trends and patterns that can be seen. When you have to take into account subjective data and "outliers", then it cannot be an exact measurement. Why? Because it's based on OPINION. You cannot "scientifically" measure opinion. Not when it varies from person to person and can be dependent on anything (and that anything could have nothing to do with what they're giving their opinion about). Yes, you can get an idea and see how a company is doing well based on the trends and patterns of the guests. But that cannot be actually measured because what is great customer service to one is poor customer service to another. Take me for example...I hate it when a store's employee won't let me shop on my own. If I need help, I'll seek it out. But until then, I want to be left alone. I know many people who feel the exact same way. On the other hand, I also know many people who feel that if an employee does that, it's terrible customer service. So how do you scientifically measure that? You can't. It's subjective. You cannot measure subjective opinions. And when it comes to customer service, while you might be able to spot trends and patterns, you ultimately cannot specifically measure anything that is subjective. Another example: we have secret shoppers that come into our store. Supposed to be a measurement of how we do, right? Well we marked low if we don't greet the person within a few seconds of them coming into the store. It doesn't matter if we're extremely busy, it doesn't matter if we're dealing with an emergency (and yes, that has happened...also experienced us trying to deal with known shoplifters so our attention had to be on that)....nope, if that person isn't greeted within seconds (there is NO room for exception), our score is marked lower. Which is funny, because half the time we greet people, we get snapped at with remarks of "I'm just looking!!!" Good grief, I'm just saying hi. (note, I'm not saying we shouldn't greet people, just showing how varied it is in how our greetings are responded to and treated, to the point where we're graded lower if we greeted a guest 10-15 seconds rather than 5-10 seconds...I mean seriously....). Not to mention that whenever we get our secret shopper form back, half the information is wrong. Case in point, she listed me by name (since I'm the only Mary that works in the store) and said I was under 5'4" with brown hair. I'm 5'7" with red hair. She listed our manager as not wearing glasses...he is never without his glasses. If she can't get those facts correctly, then how are her subjective opinions of how we operate to be measured? And this seems to be a problem all the time with secret shoppers, and not just with our company. A friend who works for Cingular hates them because there are things he KNOWS he does and the shopper says he doesn't. So he's scored low. This is why many people hate the secret shopper program...because once it comes to them rating our store, they don't always remember half the things we did, so many times they mark it as saying we didn't do them (or do them correctly). So much for "measurement".

But anyway, yes, you CAN spot a trend and pattern for how a store (or any place else) operates (or even get an idea of how something should be in order to be considered acceptable) . But that's as scientific as it gets.

 

[katiebsmom]

What's wrong with being content with being at Disney World in the first place? That isn't magic enough?

ITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We never go to Disney expecting something "extra"...It's Disney for goodness sakes! That way we're NEVER disappointed...just happy to be there!

 

[RJD]

Just want to report that I just got back from 6 days at WDW and everyday I saw several people with Dream Fastpasses (lucky them). We never got a dream but had a great time just the same. One family told us how their KTTK had gotten screwed up and wouldn't work as their park passes. Guest services straightened this all out (in AK) and then gave the family dream fastpasses for the day.
This wasn't an official dream but we were in the standby line for Kali River (the wait time was 20 min or something like that) when the CM manning the FP entrance called us over and gave us fastpasses that were in effect. My youngest DS considered that a dream! I guess it's all how you look at it. We had a great time and I'm truly sorry for anyone who for whatever reason didn't enjoy their vacation.

 

[Tink6666]

We just came back from 6 days at WDW and saw a 4 dream team members, but no dream fastpasses or dream ears, etc for us. My DD & DH did trade pins with two of the dream team members and were given a single fast pass for each of us just for trading with them, we were at MK both times and never had a long wait for any of the rides that needed a fast pass so, we set out to find another family of 4 who would be staying in the park longer than we were and gave them the fast pass...it was more fun to give them away than to use them or keep them for a scrapbook!! DD's both gave away their wands from CRT also to two little girls who were visiting WDW for the first time..My DD's had such big smiles on their faces when they gave the little bit of magic away I was very proud of them

 

[huskies90]

Ahhh...and you are proving my point:
It's trends and patterns that can be seen. When you have to take into account subjective data and "outliers", then it cannot be an exact measurement. Why? Because it's based on OPINION. You cannot "scientifically" measure opinion. Not when it varies from person to person and can be dependent on anything (and that anything could have nothing to do with what they're giving their opinion about). Yes, you can get an idea and see how a company is doing well based on the trends and patterns of the guests. But that cannot be actually measured because what is great customer service to one is poor customer service to another. Take me for example...I hate it when a store's employee won't let me shop on my own. If I need help, I'll seek it out. But until then, I want to be left alone. I know many people who feel the exact same way. On the other hand, I also know many people who feel that if an employee does that, it's terrible customer service. So how do you scientifically measure that? You can't. It's subjective. You cannot measure subjective opinions. And when it comes to customer service, while you might be able to spot trends and patterns, you ultimately cannot specifically measure anything that is subjective. Another example: we have secret shoppers that come into our store. Supposed to be a measurement of how we do, right? Well we marked low if we don't greet the person within a few seconds of them coming into the store. It doesn't matter if we're extremely busy, it doesn't matter if we're dealing with an emergency (and yes, that has happened...also experienced us trying to deal with known shoplifters so our attention had to be on that)....nope, if that person isn't greeted within seconds (there is NO room for exception), our score is marked lower. Which is funny, because half the time we greet people, we get snapped at with remarks of "I'm just looking!!!" Good grief, I'm just saying hi. (note, I'm not saying we shouldn't greet people, just showing how varied it is in how our greetings are responded to and treated, to the point where we're graded lower if we greeted a guest 10-15 seconds rather than 5-10 seconds...I mean seriously....). Not to mention that whenever we get our secret shopper form back, half the information is wrong. Case in point, she listed me by name (since I'm the only Mary that works in the store) and said I was under 5'4" with brown hair. I'm 5'7" with red hair. She listed our manager as not wearing glasses...he is never without his glasses. If she can't get those facts correctly, then how are her subjective opinions of how we operate to be measured? And this seems to be a problem all the time with secret shoppers, and not just with our company. A friend who works for Cingular hates them because there are things he KNOWS he does and the shopper says he doesn't. So he's scored low. This is why many people hate the secret shopper program...because once it comes to them rating our store, they don't always remember half the things we did, so many times they mark it as saying we didn't do them (or do them correctly). So much for "measurement".

But anyway, yes, you CAN spot a trend and pattern for how a store (or any place else) operates (or even get an idea of how something should be in order to be considered acceptable) . But that's as scientific as it gets.

Sounds like you have issues with how your store is measuring quality. And believe me I know it is not easy. I never said it was. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one although, we are really not that far apart, yes, we are kinda saying the same thing. Turning the varying "opinions" into qualiative measurements is what first rate companies like General Electric have turned into a science with their Six Sigma programs. My company has adopted this philosophy and we do a pretty good job measuring it but yes, it is not easy and some processes are easier to measure than others. It is easier to measure the wrong thing or the right thing the wrong way than the right thing the right way:

http://www.ge.com/sixsigma/sixsigstrategy.html