From Disney to Acadia Bay: What Shaped Me

Before I ever touched a Salesforce org, I was trained in real customer service while working at Walt Disney World.

Lesson #1: Angry customers aren’t (usually) mad at you - they just want someone to listen to them.

I was working as a professional intern in the Labor Operations department at the time. We were allowed to pick up extra hours working in the parks where they needed extra help. On this occasion I was in the Magic Kingdom parking lot (wearing a very attractive yellow and white striped polyester outfit I might add - see picture lol). Our only job was to turn away guests because the park was closing early for a special event. 

Cue entrance of a family of 5 driving up in their minivan. They pulled up and I politely explained the situation through the mom's open window. The dad put the van in park, got out, and walked around to where I was standing. He was clearly fuming. He yelled that they had driven X number of miles to get here and why would the park be closing early and myriad other choice words. 

I calmly listened to his rant, then I apologized that he was having to deal with such a stressful situation, especially with a car full of disappointed kids, BUT I also gave him some options - the other parks were still open, and actually Epcot was open late tonight, so if they headed over there they would get even more time in the park than they would have here. He immediately calmed down and apologized for his behavior. By the end of our interaction, the whole family was thanking me and headed merrily on their way.

This story has always stayed with me and that mindset is key to what makes Acadia Bay successful. Customers don't come to "experts" to be told that something can't be done or that they're being unreasonable. But what they want isn't always what's best either. Just like in any relationship patience, understanding, and empathy are where you need to start. From there, presenting solutions becomes easy.

This is how you earn trust and lifelong customers.