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The Experience: The 5 Principles of Disney Service and Relationship Excellence
Bring Disney-level customer experience to your organization with insider guidance
The Experience is a unique guide to mastering the art of customer service and service relationships, based on the principles employed at the renowned leader in customer experience ― the Walt Disney Company. Co-Author Bruce Loeffler spent ten years at Disney World overseeing service excellence, and has partnered with Brian T. Church in this book, to show you how to bring that same level of care and value to your own organization. Based on the I. C.A.R.E. model, the five principles ― Impression, Connection, Attitude, Response, and Exceptionals ― give you a solid framework upon which to raise the level of your customer experience. You will learn how to identify your customer service issues and what level of Experience you are currently offering. You can then determine exactly what the "customer experience" should be for your company, and the changes required to make it happen.
The Walt Disney Company is the most recognized name in the world for customer service. The "Disney Experience" draws customers from all around the world,. This book describes what it takes to achieve that level of Experience, and how any organization can do it with the right strategy and attention to detail. When the Experience is enhanced, the opportunity arises to convert customers to ambassadors who will share their Experience with others.
Find "the experience" and what it means to the Organization Learn the five levels of experience, and why most companies fail at it Identify service problems that face every company in the marketplace Utilize the Experience Quotient and apply the I. C.A.R.E. principles Learn how to convert customers to ambassadors who share their story with others Customers are the lifeblood of business. A great product offering isn't enough in today's marketplace, where everyone's looking for an "experience.” Imagine the kind of value a Disney-level customer experience could bring to your organization. The Experience is a guide to getting there, from an insider's perspective.
The Experience is a unique guide to mastering the art of customer service and service relationships, based on the principles employed at the renowned leader in customer experience ― the Walt Disney Company. Co-Author Bruce Loeffler spent ten years at Disney World overseeing service excellence, and has partnered with Brian T. Church in this book, to show you how to bring that same level of care and value to your own organization. Based on the I. C.A.R.E. model, the five principles ― Impression, Connection, Attitude, Response, and Exceptionals ― give you a solid framework upon which to raise the level of your customer experience. You will learn how to identify your customer service issues and what level of Experience you are currently offering. You can then determine exactly what the "customer experience" should be for your company, and the changes required to make it happen.
The Walt Disney Company is the most recognized name in the world for customer service. The "Disney Experience" draws customers from all around the world,. This book describes what it takes to achieve that level of Experience, and how any organization can do it with the right strategy and attention to detail. When the Experience is enhanced, the opportunity arises to convert customers to ambassadors who will share their Experience with others.
Find "the experience" and what it means to the Organization Learn the five levels of experience, and why most companies fail at it Identify service problems that face every company in the marketplace Utilize the Experience Quotient and apply the I. C.A.R.E. principles Learn how to convert customers to ambassadors who share their story with others Customers are the lifeblood of business. A great product offering isn't enough in today's marketplace, where everyone's looking for an "experience.” Imagine the kind of value a Disney-level customer experience could bring to your organization. The Experience is a guide to getting there, from an insider's perspective.
- GenresBusinessLeadership
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 23, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 21, 2026
After reading this, now I know why I don't read business books that often. Here are some of the issues with this book:
Repetitive: This book is broken up into 5 principles, and each principle contains 10 categories, so in all there are 50 categories covered. As you might imagine, there aren't really 50 different things to say about these categories, so there is quite a lot of overlap. After reading a few chapters, I started feeling like I was reading sections over again.
Lack of focus: Since there are 50 categories, and it isn't clear what is really important, it is hard for the reader to figure out what to focus on. This would have been a lot more successful if the authors had stuck with the original 5 principles and ditched the categories all together. Also, the insinuation that everything is important that is received in the book is not very helpful. There is an additional problem with focus in that this is a book on customer service, but half the time it reads as a book on how to be a successful business person. I feel that is another topic, and that this book would have been more successful if it had focused purely on customer service.
Too much emphasis on the individual: For a book on customer service, this puts too much emphasis on the individual. It's about how you the employee can become better. In a sense, it's more about being self-serving rather than about serving others. I would have preferred more information about the social nature of business interactions.
Poor role models: As if there weren't enough pressure for individual employees in telling them that they need to focus on 50 different categories and that it is their actions as employees that can be the difference between their companies succeeding or failing, this book also provides poor role models for readers to follow. For example, under the category "passion," readers are told that they must love their work, and if they do, then working won't even feel like working. The examples of this that are given are Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison, and the book joyfully points out that they worked 20 hours a day and didn't mind it because they were passionate about their work. These are just impossible role models for us to follow.
Inaccuracies: The stories provided to back up the principles and categories are clearly made up or at least read like they are made up. When the authors dip into stories based in history, inaccuracies tend to appear. For example, in the category "ownership," the Spanish conquistador Cortes is given as a role model (let put aside the fact that this is a terrible role model for the time being) for conquering the fabled City of Gold. Here is a direct quotation: "For 600 years, numerous would-be conquerors had tried to capture the City of Gold, but every one of them failed." This would push back the Spanish conquest of the Americas to the 900's, which is not supported by any accounts of history that I've read. Additionally, no one conquered it because it is a fictional city that doesn't exist. Despite this, the authors of this book conclude the story by writing, "They [Cortes and his army] fought well and won their prize." I was at a loss for words when I read that.
To conclude, if you are interested in improving your customer service skills, this book is not the one to get. Give it a pass.
Repetitive: This book is broken up into 5 principles, and each principle contains 10 categories, so in all there are 50 categories covered. As you might imagine, there aren't really 50 different things to say about these categories, so there is quite a lot of overlap. After reading a few chapters, I started feeling like I was reading sections over again.
Lack of focus: Since there are 50 categories, and it isn't clear what is really important, it is hard for the reader to figure out what to focus on. This would have been a lot more successful if the authors had stuck with the original 5 principles and ditched the categories all together. Also, the insinuation that everything is important that is received in the book is not very helpful. There is an additional problem with focus in that this is a book on customer service, but half the time it reads as a book on how to be a successful business person. I feel that is another topic, and that this book would have been more successful if it had focused purely on customer service.
Too much emphasis on the individual: For a book on customer service, this puts too much emphasis on the individual. It's about how you the employee can become better. In a sense, it's more about being self-serving rather than about serving others. I would have preferred more information about the social nature of business interactions.
Poor role models: As if there weren't enough pressure for individual employees in telling them that they need to focus on 50 different categories and that it is their actions as employees that can be the difference between their companies succeeding or failing, this book also provides poor role models for readers to follow. For example, under the category "passion," readers are told that they must love their work, and if they do, then working won't even feel like working. The examples of this that are given are Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison, and the book joyfully points out that they worked 20 hours a day and didn't mind it because they were passionate about their work. These are just impossible role models for us to follow.
Inaccuracies: The stories provided to back up the principles and categories are clearly made up or at least read like they are made up. When the authors dip into stories based in history, inaccuracies tend to appear. For example, in the category "ownership," the Spanish conquistador Cortes is given as a role model (let put aside the fact that this is a terrible role model for the time being) for conquering the fabled City of Gold. Here is a direct quotation: "For 600 years, numerous would-be conquerors had tried to capture the City of Gold, but every one of them failed." This would push back the Spanish conquest of the Americas to the 900's, which is not supported by any accounts of history that I've read. Additionally, no one conquered it because it is a fictional city that doesn't exist. Despite this, the authors of this book conclude the story by writing, "They [Cortes and his army] fought well and won their prize." I was at a loss for words when I read that.
To conclude, if you are interested in improving your customer service skills, this book is not the one to get. Give it a pass.
December 21, 2024
Required for work. My God this is terrible. It just repeats the same basic statement over and over. I can't believe anyone gets anything useful from this.
June 2, 2017
This book is a very informative tool for a company - or any individual - in customer service. Even though I found some of the info repetitive, the book still highlighted items that should be addressed.
I had to read this for work; got the book months ago, and read around half of it. Since there is a work-related retreat TOMORROW, in which this book is supposed to be read and discussed, I had to cram this shit in a few hours today. lol
I had to read this for work; got the book months ago, and read around half of it. Since there is a work-related retreat TOMORROW, in which this book is supposed to be read and discussed, I had to cram this shit in a few hours today. lol
April 27, 2016
While the focus on exceptional customer service is worthwhile and using Disney as an example is effective, the execution of this book is severely lacking.
Just take a glance at the table of contents and you'll see they selected 50 buzzwords having to do with customer service and grouped them under the 5 acronym-y categories, so each "chapter" is a two-page write-up about how that buzzword is important. Many of the chapters repeat the same ideas or even sentences to the reader's exasperation (e.g. how many ways can they say that Disney provides an exceptional customer experience? how many times do they have to tell us they spoke with the former CEO of Tractor Supply Co?).
I took a few useful tips from this which I can apply, and may take a glance again in the future -- but on the whole this was nearly 300 pages of words with less than 30 pages of actual content.
Just take a glance at the table of contents and you'll see they selected 50 buzzwords having to do with customer service and grouped them under the 5 acronym-y categories, so each "chapter" is a two-page write-up about how that buzzword is important. Many of the chapters repeat the same ideas or even sentences to the reader's exasperation (e.g. how many ways can they say that Disney provides an exceptional customer experience? how many times do they have to tell us they spoke with the former CEO of Tractor Supply Co?).
I took a few useful tips from this which I can apply, and may take a glance again in the future -- but on the whole this was nearly 300 pages of words with less than 30 pages of actual content.
December 12, 2024
I find it hard to take a book seriously that quotes Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes as great businessmen and people. Hard pass. I only finished it as it was required for work.
To me, the “experience” is common sense and decency. Not sure anyone in business would see garbage on the ground and leave it in their workplace. And if so, they don’t belong in the workplace.
To me, the “experience” is common sense and decency. Not sure anyone in business would see garbage on the ground and leave it in their workplace. And if so, they don’t belong in the workplace.
March 29, 2019
Not a great read, very focused on the front line of customer experience. Struggled to get into this
November 5, 2017
I really liked how did the authors structure the book, the language used was simple and easy to understand, I highly recommend this book for every customer experience professional ... it is a must to read book.
One con I spotted during reading was the inability to link some explained concepts directly to the customer experience.
One con I spotted during reading was the inability to link some explained concepts directly to the customer experience.
December 21, 2018
I struggled with how to rate this book. The tips and techniques are wonderful, but the book is just so horribly repetitive that's it's a struggle to get through. Int he end, it gets 4 stars for content and 2 for presentation, averaging out to 3. Worth reading if you don't mind hearing the same thing over and over and over and over and over...
February 17, 2019
The authors are sharing out of a wealth of analylitical compilation and have done their homework. Whatever experience you are hoping to bring about or improve, implementing what aspects of this advice you desire to try can only be a benefit. It is well written and engaging to the reader.
August 30, 2022
I love Disney and have always been impressed with the service and experience provided. This book perfectly outlines why so many people are devoted to the company and go back again and again to have the same experience over again. The ICARE model is a great way to model any customer interactions a company may have. Highly recommend!
December 29, 2022
Rating 3.5. I am not giving this a solid four because it was written prior to our new reality but it has good tips for those in leadership on how to create a successful customer service culture. I think that some of the points were a little redundant. This book is also 7 years old so it might be time for a refresh as it relates to digital customer service.
December 13, 2015
The 5 principles have really changed my outlook on customer service
April 23, 2016
Great customer service advice!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews