During the past summer I visited one of the larger amusement parks in Sweden, Gröna Lund (means the Green Grove) in the middle of Stockholm. I was there with my family. What struck me on arrival at the park were the friendly faces and the friendly way that people spoke to us. It was “Hello and welcome†everywhere. Smiling people that made me feel important and also made me feel very good inside. The large city outside was forgotten and I felt transported into another place and time. A place and time of joy, joy for the children and for adults too. The children were always greeted with respect and smiling people. They felt important and could focus on having fun.
What Gröna Lund has been able to do is to make a general concept work, as have Disney amusement parks. Disney has been long known for their very good leadership training and for getting the culture in the company to show, more than that…. to actually shine, meaning something to the customer. You feel that you ARE at a Disney amusement park. Now Gröna Lund has been able to do the very same.
It starts from the people that sell the tickets, to those at the entrance and on every stand and every ride, and even further into the restaurants. Everywhere you turn they give you the same pleasant experience.
The people at Gröna Lund look like they really enjoy working there, and they do! It is more or less impossible for a person to consistently act in that positive way and not be affected by all the smiling and giving of good feelings. If someone starts their day by being grumpy, it will not take long until they have turned their mind around as they are following what they have been taught.
How is your environment? How do you greet your customers? Do you have a common consensus on how you are greeting your customers, or is it up to each and every individual to decide how to do it?
I suggest that you think through the way that you meet and greet. Find the Moments of Truth, where you interact with your customers. Then decide the general rules of thumb, or policies if you like, of how you in your organization greet your customers. Then apply those policies to each and every one of the identified Moments of Truth. You will find yourself having an organization full of pleasant customer interactions, and that will give the personnel even more positive feedback.
The Moments of Truth, are of course found by designing your processes.
A couple of months after my pleasant experience at Gröna Lund, I met one of my friends and partners: Peter Berg. We got into a general discussion regarding service and I told him about my pleasant experience. He smiled and thanked me for the appreciation, as it turned out to be he who had worked with Gröna Lund to apply the new concept of how to greet the customers.
No, this is not a made up commercial trick. If you would like to find out more about his work look at www.personaliaab.se.
If you want to visit Gröna Lund next time you come to Stockholm, look it up at www.gronalund.com.
To your Excellence!
Matts
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