Mickey mouse customer service.

• Author: Snow, Dennis
• Position: Feature - Brief Article

A former Walt Disney World Co. trainer explains: how your financial institution can achieve lasting customer service excellence by emulating the Magic Kingdom's ingrained corporate culture.

"Now it's time to say hello, To al our customer, MIC... See you at the bank! KEY... Why? because we like you! MOUSE

Many financial institutions today are focusing on customer service as their competitive differentiator. They are finding out, however, that creating and sustaining a corporate culture of service excellence is not easy: Service excellence is more than smiling employees who make eye contact with customers.

There is no shortage of vision statements, service strategy formations and service program roll-outs. It is in the execution of these initiatives that organizations often come up short. The virtues of customer service have been preached for years, but the results of all that sermonizing have been unimpressive. Why? The main is that reason that most banks and financial service organizations want a "smile pill" that can be taken with little or no disruption to the current routine. To truly generate lasting service improvement, however, the organization needs a top-down commitment to changing processes, behaviors and measurements.

Demonstrate a commitment

To execute a vision or strategy effectively, leaders must be committed in the long-term. Employees at all levels are watching to see how pledged to the cause their leaders are. Glues to commitment include:

* What does my manager spend most of her/his time talking about?

* What do our meetings focus on?

* What does my manager hold me accountable for?

* What gets rewarded and recognized?

* How well does my manager "walk the talk" when it comes to providing excellent service?

There are three key leadership behaviors that will demonstrate commitment to executing a service improvement strategy:

1. Walk the talk.

   Before employees take personal responsibility for a commitment to excellence, they must see that their leadership team is committed. If, for example, you expect employees to promptly acknowledge customers entering a bank branch, it is vital that you do the same. If you expect employees to pay attention to detail, then picking up a piece of trash off the floor as soon as you see it will have more impact than anything you put in a policy manual.

   A recent article in the Orlando Sentinel highlighted Erin Wallace, vice president of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Part of the story emphasized that whenever Erin walks the park she carries and uses a "nabbie grabber," which is a device custodians use to...