What Do Disney and a Blitz Have in Common?

If I asked you whether customers are important to your business, I’m quite certain that 100% of you would vigorously agree. So why do so many businesses segregate their customer-facing team members from their internal folks, even in a de facto manner?

Healthy, growth-oriented businesses come in lots of shapes and sizes, but in my experience, they’re nearly always marked by an obsession with the customer that’s shared across functional areas. One of my favorite personal stories comes from a trip my family took to Walt Disney World a decade or so ago. We happened to be in Orlando at the same time as some friends, so we arranged to go to Hollywood Studios together. As we walked towards the entry gates, our friends’ toddler got sick in his stroller and all over his clothes. Tough start to the day, and could’ve been the end of it.

Almost immediately, a custodial worker from the park came to the little guy’s aid, helping clean him up and calming his parents’ nerves. The next part was the thing that stuck with me. He instructed us all to stay put, then walked into the park. He returned with a complete new outfit from one of the merchandise stores near the gate. He gave the clothes to my friends and refused to accept payment. They changed their little one into the new outfit, gave him some water, and after determining he was okay, we proceeded to have a great afternoon in the park.

Disney is legendary for their customer focus. Empowering employees at any level to make that kind of decision to delight a customer is a conscious manifestation of that focus. It probably cost the company $20 that day, but I’ve told that story 50 times, and I bet that’s worth more in terms of goodwill - and I’ve personally spent more money than I want to know at Disney properties since then.?

Consumer entertainment is a different world than B2B industries, but the principles apply. Allow people to make customer-centric decisions, and they’ll generate positive outcomes. And showing them how they impact customers is part of the process.

One of the coolest things I got to do in my last role was participate in our annual Customer Blitz. The brainchild of my colleague Scott Smothers , the Blitz was a 2-3 day event each spring where we paired internal partners from Finance, Product Marketing, Product Management, Legal, Corporate Affairs, and other functions with field sales and account management team members. The internal partners traveled to the field and got to see how customer-facing folks spent their days. The first time I did it, my sales rep partner had me walk a dozen miles through downtown Atlanta, cold call on several prospects, and sit in with him on multiple sales meetings.

I thought I knew about customers, and that week taught me how much I had to learn.

Over time, the Blitz created camaraderie across functions, helped field sales and account management personnel better understand the roles of their internal partners, and helped connect those internal partners directly to customers’ experiences.

Teams work best when everyone understands how their role helps the enterprise succeed. There’s no substitute for spending time with customers in building that understanding. Create space for all of your team members to be exposed to customers - it’ll pay dividends.