How to gain a customer for life.

A few weeks ago my family and I were at Disney World where I had a moving “Disney Experience”. How will this help you better your branding, you may ask? Read on to find out.

After waiting in line at Splash Mountain for what seemed like an eternity we finally reached the front and got to ride. The wait was worth every second. The only problem was the flash on the Disney stationed camera didn’t go off, so we couldn’t appropriately freeze in time our special family moment – plummeting over the waterfall and down through Brer Rabbit’s briar patch.

We visited the viewing counter just after, of course, but were apologetically told by the person working that the picture would be dark. Without looking, we turned away a bit disappointed.

Suddenly, another employee who had been watching from a distance motioned us over quietly but enthusiastically. “Come here. Come here.” She said.

We moved to her register, which she leaned across then whispered, “I’ll get you on right away again. Usually it’s a case of the camera flash not working from overheating and it’s fine the next time. Just come back to me before you pay.”

We thanked her profusely as we were ecstatic just to be going again. We decided we’d definitely by a picture no matter how it turned out.

The ride, of course, again was awesome. This time though it was immortalized on disc and captured in perfect light. We came through the shop and went right to the viewing counter. The picture was great.

Glancing over at the other counter and not seeing anyone, I handed the person my credit card and they rang us up. I felt badly as I was sure the employee who had helped us ride again wanted credit for the sale – and, deserved it.

Unfortunately we were in a hurry to get to the next ride, so we paid and prepared to move on. I figured and rationalized that employee would have other sales anyway, and our time was more important.

“Come here” a voice sounded out as we were almost to the door. There she was! My heart sank and I was instantly overcome by a terrible feeling of guilt. As I was quickly thinking of what to say, my wife preempted me. “They rang us up over there”. She said politely while pointing toward the other counter.

The employee looked disappointed and dismayed. “Can I have your receipt?” she asked. Then she requested we wait.

She returned a couple minutes later with a beautiful 8x10 of our family, not quite as well lit, but fantastic none-the-less.

Each of us was screaming a little differently - which was certainly fun to see. “No charge” she said. “Enjoy your time at Disney”.

Suffice it to say relative to both expert branding and life in general, there are many lessons to be learned from my story. So as not to infringe on the thoughts in your head though, I will leave you with just one.

Albeit human nature and my being only human, I clearly made the mistake of negatively assuming as per the employee’s intentions.

I’m hoping after your investment of valuable reading time you can learn from my example and think differently next time similar circumstances arise.

As per branding, you may not only positively effect a perception, but gain a customer for life. Disney did!