Fresh, Friendly and on the Front Lines

I heard that tram drivers at Disney have one of the toughest jobs in the park. They must deal with kids and their mamas and daddies who are anxious to get inside. Or, worse, they have to transport those weary souls back to the parking lots at the end of a long Disney day.

How does Disney respond to what could make for a less-than-good customer service experience? There is no tram driver who spends an entire eight-hour day shuttling Disney customers to and from parking lots. It rotates drivers every few hours to keep them fresh and friendly.

A great idea--but one that probably met some resistence at first. The argument was likely made that tram drivers were hired to drive trams. Disney spent money teaching them how to drive trams. So, trams they would drive.

But that’s not Disney thinking. Disney thinking is: Okay, this is a hard job. There’s no way those cast members we hired to drive trams can deliver Disney service if that’s all they do every day. We’re here to create a delightful experience, and that will start in the parking lot with fresh, friendly tram drivers.

I once worked with a company that depended on incoming phone calls from senior adults to sell its service. The company’s telephone reps collected customer information, which began the selling process. It was a tough, low-level job that came with very little training.

The company’s success absolutely depended on those reps doing their jobs effectively. Think of it. On the one end of the phone: senior adults. On the other: inexperienced, underpaid, largely untrained phone reps.

This was no way to drive a tram.

We very often place our lowest-paid, most inexperienced employees on the front lines of customer interaction. And we tell them: “Here’s what you will do from 8 to 5, weekdays.”

Your company has “tram driver” jobs. Think Disney for a minute and consider a couple of ways to ensure you have fresh, friendly employees doing those jobs.