The Experience. Loeffler Bruce

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      Bruce Loeffler

      The Experience

The 5 Principles of Disney Service and Relationship Excellence

Bruce Loeffler and Brian T. Church

      Cover image: Jaimie Whitebread

      Cover design: David Litwin (Pure Fusion Media)

      Copyright © 2015 by Bruce Loeffler and Brian T. Church. All rights reserved.

      Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

      Published simultaneously in Canada.

      The Experience is in no way authorized by, endorsed by, or affiliated with the Walt Disney Company, Inc., Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or the Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney World and Epcot are registered trademarks of the Walt Disney Company. All references to such trade-marked properties are used in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine and are not meant to imply that this book is a Disney product for advertising or other commercial purposes.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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      ISBN 978-1-119-02865-9 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-119-02877-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-02867-3 (ebk)

      FOREWORD

      Few companies truly understand the value of creating a great customer Experience – and no organization has ever done it better than Disney. More than any other vocational encounter, Walt Disney World left an imprint in my mind and on my life. As one of the original cast members at Disney World in 1971, and during my 25 years as a member of the management team, creating an Exceptional Guest Experience was the foundation of our culture, as it still is today. We set out to build the “Happiest Place on Earth” and to design an Exceptional Experience like no other company in the world. I felt honored to be a small part of Disney's success.

      “We work while others (our guests) play” was the motto we lived as we created a destination for guests around the world looking to escape their day-to-day routines for a world of fantasy, family, and fun. As a manager in the Merchandise Division for Walt Disney World and later the Disney University, it was part of my job to help instill the importance of building an incredible experience for our Disney guests through encouraging the idealism of service above expectation. I've long felt that someone needed to write a book and reveal the principles of excellence used to build an Exceptional Guest Experience…and now they have.

      In 1983, a number of key leaders from across Walt Disney World united to form a team that was designed to take the Disney Experience to the next level. Within that team was a young man who created a new position to assist in enhancing the service and presentation skills of the Disney cast. His name was Bruce Loeffler. Since that time, Bruce and I have worked on a number of projects while working at Disney as well as apart from Disney and have remained good friends over the past 30 plus years.

      The principles presented in Bruce Loeffler and Brian Church's new book, The Experience, are an extension of many of the principles both Bruce and I taught during our years with Walt Disney World. What I found most beneficial in their book was the simplicity of the 5 “I. C.A.R.E.” Principles. It is so important that companies and every person within those organizations understand how each individual is responsible for the “Impression” they create, the “Connection” that is formed, the “Attitude” they possess, their “Response” in the face of trials, and how well they deliver on the “Exceptionals” of serving their fellow cast members (employees).

      As I read through the manuscript, I kept reflecting on each of the specific actionable steps that serve as a blueprint on how to develop a service culture, both on a personal level as well as professionally. The Experience is really a guide that is designed to take you and your organization to the next level of the Experience your company provides.

      It is my pleasure to recommend The Experience to you. I encourage you to take some time to study it and determine how you can best apply it to meet your desired results. Bruce and Brian's desire is to help you determine where your company currently stands and how to apply the Principles in this book to achieve the next levels of service for your customers and clients. My congratulations to both Bruce and Brian for their creation of this helpful tool, and I thank them for their continued efforts in making service and the guest Experience a primary component of corporate culture.

Dr. Spencer Craig

Former Manager of Disney University and the Walt Disney World Merchandise Division

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      The level of effort that went into this book was staggering, and we certainly did not do it alone. We want to begin by thanking God from whom all ideas flow. We would like to thank our wives for putting up with our wild ideas and for sharing the vision to create The Experience book. A special “thank you” to Danielle Wingate for her help on spearheading the development of the tools that have helped to make this project so unique.

      The work that you see before you was not without heavy collaboration from our writing coach, Jonathan Street. His skill certainly helped round out the special nature of this book. We would like to thank Ariel Benjamin for being our Director of Research and for captaining our team of Vanderbilt University students. The testing and researching of 500 companies could not have been done without their enormous efforts.

      We want to thank Dr. Spencer Craig for his insight, stories, and direction. They called Spencer “Mr. Inspiration” at Disney, and he has certainly been an inspiration to both of us on the project.

      We also would like to recognize Joe Scarlett for taking the time to share insights from Tractor Supply, one of the country's true masters of the customer Experience. Joe's stories, ideas, and insights led to many of the supporting ideas within the manuscript.

      There are just too many people to acknowledge in this small section. We want to thank everyone who was pivotal in making the manuscript and this tool possible. You know who you are, and we humbly thank you for being a part of this awakening and for sharing our commitment to a customer-relationship- and service-based revolution.

      PART I

      PRESHOW