Disney understands little things like language make a difference

#702 in the Project was taken from a post by Shep Hyken.

In Shep’s words:

“It was just a small thing that most people wouldn’t notice, but it was a detail worth noting in the quest for outstanding service. I’ll try and paint you a verbal picture of the situation. I was staying at one of the Disney hotels in Orlando. There was a line at the check in counter. I guess they were getting us ready for the lines at the theme park.

There were at least eight front desk personnel checking in guests, so the line was moving. When it was my turn to check in, the open spot was at the other end of the front desk. Rather than the front desk looking over at me and yelling, “Next,” she walked over from behind the desk to where the line was, smiled at me, greeted me, and asked me to come over to her area to check in. All of the front desk personnel did the same thing when their areas opened up for the next guest to check in.

Contrast that with the very expensive hotel I just stayed at in New York City. It was my turn to check in and the guy at the front desk yelled, “Next.” He didn’t welcome me when I approached him. He just said, “Name.” I guess that was his way of saying, “Welcome to our very expensive and well known hotel. I’m here to check you in. May I have your name please?”

This was just a little thing, and by itself is nothing significant. But if enough of these little things are good, they add up and eventually get noticed. Conversely, so do the bad ones. And once you have even a small, seemingly insignificant bad experience take place, it becomes magnified when another one happens.

Anybody and any company can manage the big and obvious things. It’s the little things that can make you stand out. Details can make the difference.”

Marketing Lagniappe Takeaway: Disney understands that the small details add up to a big difference.  They’ve entered the Project numerous times for Walt’s trademark plussing such as parades, eliminating brown spots, leveraging technology to reduce waiting and  early park hours for hotel guests.

Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra for good measure) – Check out Nick Pitera reaching both high and lows while singing a Disney classic, “A Whole New World”:

Lagniappe defined: A marketing lagniappe, i.e. purple goldfish, is any time a business goes above and beyond to provide a ‘little something extra’. It’s that unexpected surprise that’s thrown in for good measure.

How do you stand out in the sea of sameness? How do you win repeat customers and influence word of mouth?

Are you Giving Little Unexpected Extras? What’s Your GLUE?

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