What did the guests want? Flowers and a paved path. Photo: Offbeat Training LLC

It’s the simple things that deliver great customer service, as Walt Disney showed his team.

The art director was beside himself. So was horticulturalist. Disneyland had just opened, and the guests were cutting through a gorgeous display of flowers and shrubbery. The guests, hurriedly taking a short cut to an adjoining area, trampled everything in their way. Thinking it was the result of one guest’s imprudence, the art director had the area replanted. Again, it happened. Again, they replanted. Again. Again. And, yet again. Finally, in exasperation, the art director asked for a meeting with Walt.

As he, his assistant and the horticulturalist waited in the conference room for Walt, they shared their frustrations about the guests’ crude behavior. Then, approaching in the hallway, they heard it.

“Cough, cough, cough.” It was Walt, always the chain smoker, clearing his throat. The smoker’s cough was real, but like much else Walt did, used for an advantage. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. It was a small example of how considerate Walt could be. His cough prepared people mentally for his arrival.

Walt got right to the point, “What have you got for me?”

The art director began. He explained the situation that the guests had created. He complained about the guests. His assistant added that the guests were being inconsiderate. He complained about the costs. The horticulturalist agreed.

alt responded, “Well boys (he called everyone boys), what do you want to do about it?”

The art director proposed installing a sign or building a fence.

Walt cut him off, ““Now wait a minute boys! A path like that isn’t created by an occasional person cutting through, but many people cutting through. You’ve got to realize that people do this because they have a good reason to walk through there. Don’t fence it off. Pave it for them!”

That was the end of the discussion. Walt was, as in everything he did, taking the guest’s point of view and making decisions based on what the guests wanted. As a result, a new pathway soon appeared. The guests got to the attraction they wanted quicker than they had before. And the flowers and shrubbery? It bloomed forever more.

The morale of the story for us? If your customers, employees, or trainees are doing something repeatedly, they may be right and you may be wrong. It might be time to move your flowers.