At Insights 2016, I had the pleasure of listening to the keynote speaker talk about something she called “service heroes.” During her speech, she walked through how The Walt Disney Company has triumphed time and time again for their impeccable customer service, and steps they have taken to get there.

 

Teri Yanovitch, the speaker, spent some of her teen years working at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. She talked about the training they went through, and how they were expected to do many things outside their core job – like picking up trash. While I personally have never been to Disney World, I’ve heard many people remark on how clean it is. Yanovitch explained that it’s so clean because not only has the part strategically placed trash cans throughout the park for optimal use, they also require employees – not matter their job – to pick up and throw away any trash they see. Yanovitch joked about how much trash she picked up, and said she still picks up garbage on the ground to this day. She laughed about becoming exhausted from all the trash she picked up during a visit to New York City.

 

Yanovitch talked about a lot of other elements within the Disney structure, and said in essence, what park-goers see is just the tip of the iceberg. Most of what keeps the company going is beneath the water, but that is the true foundation. Customers should only see the tip of the iceberg!

 

At Disney, employees are expected to own their jobs, and be willing to go above and beyond. Do you expect the same in your restoration business? Would your junior water tech be ready to console a customer devastated by a house fire? Have you taught them how? Or would your project manager be ready to throw on PPEs and help during a hoarding cleanup. In Yanovitch’s words, too many employees “rent” their jobs instead of “owning” them. 

 

Consider this: every single job is a stage and everything on that stage – people and objects – have a voice, and there is an audience. Make every single customer feel like a VIP – in Yanovitch’s words, a “Very Individual Person.” They should not ever just feel like another business transaction.

 

Take a look at your services through the eyes of the customer. And, train your people to respond the way you want them to on every job time and time again. By empowering your team through learning and training, you are also teaching them to be accountable and inspiring them to own their jobs… not rent them.