Last week I shared an experience of going to Epcot, of having to park in a designated space, of walking all the way to the front of the park, then entering incorrectly through the security area and being accosted by uniformed security cast members. I have since received considerable e-mail from readers about that experience. I will share some of that feedback with you, and in this second part of the article describe what you do to get customers to willingly comply to the things you ask them to do.
Reactions as to how security treated me were all over the board. Many were very sympathetic to how I was treated. Many offered their own experiences with security and how they were treated. Some shared experiences with security at locations other than Disney. One individual even felt that I was wrong—that as an annual pass holder I was acting with some sense of entitlement. Still, a senior leader of Disney’s own security concurred with me and took my side on the matter.
But after all was said and done, this was not an article about security. In fact, what most amazed me was the fact that no one brought up the fact that the courtesy trams were not supporting getting guests through security appropriately. The issue has never been whether security should be present in the parks, it’s about getting people to comply with what you want them to do. Indeed, I hold those over the parking lot as responsible for how that experience played as I do security. Hopefully I can explain in what follows. Here are several guidelines for how to get people to willingly comply with what you ask them to do. It’s known as R.U.L.E.S. & Principles.
R is for Relevant
Is it relevant that we adhere to this rule? Make certain that what you’re asking customers to do really matters. Otherwise, don’t hold them accountable for doing it. I mention this up front because some organizations create so many rules that they collapse from the weight of what they have to enforce. If the rule matters, then you are probably willing to do all of the other things I will suggest. If you find yourself, not wanting to trouble yourself by doing those things, then perhaps you may not want to trouble the guest in following that rule.
Part of this issue is whether we should ask whether a customer is more correct as it applies to adhering to a given matter. Here’s a great lesson from Walt himself. On one occasion he found workmen at the park placing some sort of fencing around a garden/planter area. He inquired what was going on. The workmen said that guests were cutting through and they were putting up a barrier to keep them from going through. He told them to trust where the guests were moving, and to create a path that guests could move through.
Now of course, there are planters and fences all over many of the parks. And the last thing we would want is to have guests cutting through all over. But take your cues from the Guest. If there’s something they consistently do, you may want to reconsider your enforcement of it.
U is for Uniform
Don’t expect compliance some of the time, only to then change the policy on other occasions. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is with the Transportation Security Administration at the airport. In some airports they insist that you take off your shoes. At other airports, they care less about the shoes, and much more about removing the belt. If the principle is one of random security checking, I would understand. But if it’s always one way at one airport and one way at another, it becomes confusing to those navigating through a rather stressful experience. Add to this TSA attendants who are either yelling at the crowd that they should do this or that or correcting you because you didn’t get it right. In one location if the shoes come off, they have to go in a bucket before going through the scanner. In other places, they’re short of buckets, so they’re frustrated if you don’t put it directly on the belt. As a frequent flier, I become confused, and can only imagine how stressful it is for the occasional flier. Uniformity supports customers in being compliant.
L is for Lead by Influence
What leading by influence means is to administer by honey, not by vinegar, or control. Our own MousePlanet editor Lani Teshima gave a great example of this as she described how Tokyo Disneyland cast members seek to lead others through patience and encouragement, rather than directive behavior. She writes:
“Reading your article made me think of the times I’d visited Tokyo Disneyland. You’re standing up during a parade so you can get a better view. A cast member comes by and says, ‘Very sorry for the intrusion but in order that everybody can have a good view of the parade we would like to ask that you kindly take a seat.’ If you just stand there because Mickey’s almost there and you wanted to take a picture of Mickey, the cast member will continue to stand there, and insist more insistently—”We apologize profusely, we are so very sorry but in order that everybody can view the parade safely and in comfort, we please ask that you sit down please. Thank you very much.” And on and on.
What a great example—and what a contrast to Disneyland who has an orderly system like no other for handling guests during the fireworks and Fantasmic! But their manner is very direct, and quite loud—so loud that standing anywhere nearby all you hear is their shouting out to others to move this way or that. Don’t miss me on this. There is a time you must be direct. If I work at a zoo and I see children climbing into the pen of a dangerous animal, I’m going to be direct—even loud. After all, safety is first. But if we really think about it, we could in most instances of compliance use a lot more respect and sincerity.
E is for Educate
Help others understand why compliance is important. Understanding the “why” is so important. People by and large want to understand. To say, “Mickey says so” can be fairly lame. Much better is to use reason and to gently remind others of the actual benefit for doing something. And often the reason why is for one’s own safety or for the greater good of all.
Returning to Lani’s comments, she notes the following: “Japan as a culture is very compliance-driven because you have such a dense population living close together in such a small geographical space (half the population of the United States stuck in space the size of California, with most of it consisting of uninhabitable mountains).
“When you do something they don’t want you to do in Japan, the cast members kind of remind me of the insistent little cleaner robots in Pixar’s WALL-E. They are extraordinarily polite. In fact, the more you resist, the more polite they get. But they are also quite firm in explaining why they need you to comply. And you know what? They never tell you to change your behavior because they want you to. They tell you it’s for the comfort and safety of everyone around you. So there you have it: Self through social conformity!”
You have to spell up front what you expect people to do. A great example is boarding an attraction like Splash Mountain. Disney does a great job of helping you understand what the height and ride restrictions are. They communicate it in their brochures, on tip boards, in any medium possible. Most importantly, they have someone at the entrance of a queue to measure. Imagine how disappointing and frustrating it would be if you got all the way to the boarding area after being in line for an hour only to find that you’re too short to ride the attraction? If you want willing compliance, communicate.
S is for Support
There are a number of things one can do to support. Going back to the example just given, you can reward those who keep those rules. So more than having a person at the entrance to measure the height, cast members usually have a certificate to give to guests who do not meet the height restriction. That certificate, a keepsake in and of itself, assures the individual that when they reach the desired height, they can go right up the front of the attraction without waiting. Those little touches make it rewarding for people to want to do the right thing.
Another way to support is to design the experience to make it compliant-friendly. The changes made in Epcot’s security entrance were designed to accommodate guests as they exited the courtesy tram. If that’s your design, then you have to support the experience with enough courtesy trams to pick up guests and drop them off. To charge $12 to park your car; to direct cars as to where you want them to park; and then to not provide a courtesy tram in a reasonable amount of time (and I would say that if I can walk all the way from the back of the parking lot to the front without being afforded a courtesy tram to be unreasonable), then you deserve hot, tired individuals walking straight through unmarked entrances instead of veering in a whole different direction to enter. I cannot emphasize this point enough—you must support the rule if you want people to adhere to it!
Or, beyond using R.U.L.E.S, act from…
Principles
Far better than rules is to be principle-centered. Be careful you are not acting from a culture of wanting to control everything that goes on. It is far better to be principle-centered than rule-governed. Let me offer an example of this that harkens to my days at a major water park. The owner asked that I create new signage for all of the slides and pools. I thought about how much signage should be created, and what should be written on the signs. I went over to Typhoon Lagoon to see how they did it. I was surprised that the signage had little verbiage. There were perhaps two to three things that were noted on any sign. Contrast this to what my owner wanted to do. His list went anywhere from seven to 12 items per sign. Now take the average kid going through the park. Who is going to read a sign that long, much less one sign after another?
But you say, wait—what if we don’t list the rule and they do something wrong—we can’t hold them accountable. Let me say that when it comes to a water slide and a pool I can brainstorm more ways than you can count as to how to be unsafe. You don’t have signs enough to count all the ways. At some point, you have to just say, “be safe”. If there are a couple of things that occur frequently, point those out. But stay principle-centered.
Well, those are several key lessons I share with others about getting customers to comply. It’s not an easy matter. In fact, it’s one of the most challenging aspects of customer service, trying to get people to do something, while still creating an experience so amazing and wonderful that they want to come back to what you have to offer again and again. We’d love to here how you get your customers to comply, while still offering great service. So please share. And in the meanwhile, here’s to making magic in your own business.
P.S. In returning to Epcot the other day, I noticed new signage around security, two courtesy trams in operation and additional personnel directing guests. I know Epcot is trying to get this right. And I applaud their efforts. It’s what makes them so great.
