“Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.” - Walt Disney 

Disney is known across the world for its exceptional customer experience (CX). 

Boasting numbers such as a 70% customer return rate to its parks and the top retention rate across all streaming platforms at 78%, Disney stands out. 

With an emphasis on the creation of “magical moments” for their customers, the practices and principles that have made Disney a global leader in customer experience can smoothly be adapted to your B2B sales team. 

Keep reading below to find out the top ten lessons that B2B sales teams can learn from Disney’s customer experience strategy.  

Before any tips can be considered and applied, you need to have a good understanding of what the customer experience (CX) encompasses and its importance to your organization as a whole. 

Customer experience refers to the overall perception and impression that customers have of a company throughout their entire journey, from the first point of contact to post-purchase interactions. 

It encompasses every touchpoint and interaction, whether direct or indirect, and includes customer service, product quality, communication, and the ease of doing business. 

Exceptional customer service, a key component of CX, involves not only resolving issues efficiently but also anticipating customer needs, providing personalized support, and creating memorable interactions throughout the sales cycle.

Disney recognized decades ago that investing in and prioritizing CX is not just about maintaining good relations - it's a strategic move that can drive long-term success, growth, and profitability.

“Do a good job. You don’t have to worry about the money; it will take care of itself. Just do your best work - then try to trump it.” - Walt Disney

The old business adage of “You win customers one at a time, and you lose them one at a time” is outdated. 

In the age of social media and social selling, a business can easily lose hundreds or thousands - or even millions - of customers in a moment’s time. With just a few sentences, a single frustrated customer can now tell their whole network of followers why they should not do business with you. 

Delta Airlines discovered this when they made a group of soldiers returning home pay extra baggage fees for their fourth bag. One of the soldiers made a video of the incident, and within 24 hours the airline received thousands of complaints, and was forced to apologize and change their policy. 

On the flipside, satisfied customers are often the best sales reps you can possibly have. The average consumer will tell 9 people about a positive customer service experience (but will tell 16 people about a negative experience). An in-person recommendation has far more worth than a snappy advertisement. 

Badger Maps CEO Steve Benson calls this the land and expand strategy - “Work closely with your customers to make them really successful and happy with your product, and they will tell their friends, colleagues, ex-coworkers, new coworkers, etc. about your solution. That is how your current customers become your best salespeople and help you grow your business.”

If your customer service can turn someone’s day around or add value to their situation, they will look forward to coming back and have no problem telling others about you. You and your B2B sales team must recognize that sustained, long-term profits hinge on your ability to provide consistent, ongoing, friendly customer service that will keep customers subscribed and give them a reason to give a review or recommendation.

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“I can teach anything to anyone, except to smile.” - Walt Disney

During Disney’s hiring process of new cast members, candidates are faced with a role-play situation where they must help a distressed customer. If a prospective candidate does not exhibit empathy or care during the first few sentences of the interaction while trying to solve the customer issue, it is not likely that they will move on to the next hiring stage. 

Disney understands: problem-solving skills alone are not enough to justify hiring someone onto a CX team. Of course you should be assessing candidate skills, but you also need to assess two other mandatory traits of great customer experience employees: attitude and passion. You’ve probably heard the business adage of “hire the attitude, teach the skill” - if your CX team members do not have caring, can-do attitudes, they aren’t going to magically acquire them at a later date. 

Look for sociable reps who will love and find satisfaction in helping customers. 

Real passion for the work that one does is one of the most powerful motivators there is. These three ingredients - great skill, a caring can-do attitude, and real passion - lead to employee commitment, and committed employees are indispensable. This is true in any industry, but is especially powerful when exhibited by customer facing employees.

Listen to this Outside Sales Talk podcast episode with Amy Volas who teaches her tips on finding and hiring exceptional sales talent!

“Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.” - Walt Disney 

Walt understood that everyone must be on the same page and pursuing the same goal. 

Disney Experiences’ stated common purpose is “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages everywhere.” It is simple enough for their employees to remember “We create happiness” and it shows. 

The customer service department of Netflix has the straightforward purpose of “We’re here. We’ll fix it. Stream on.” Like Netflix CX, your stated purpose doesn’t have to be anything revolutionary, but an effective one will go a long way in uniting your CX team. 

Having a common purpose helps your CX team prioritize, while also cultivating a sense of belonging and communicating what you stand for. All of these results in happier and more motivated sales reps.

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“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” - Walt Disney

Walt Disney recognized that successful projects are rarely the result of a single person’s effort. While imagination and vision can form a good foundation, it is the work and collaboration of many empowered people that bring projects to life. 

Empowered sales reps feel some sense of autonomy and freedom to get the job done as they see fit, rather than asking for the go-ahead for every task or situation. Equipping your reps with the right sales tools and sales training, and uniting them under a common purpose are the first steps to an empowered CX sales team. 

The more that reps feel empowered, the more engaged they will be in not only the technical aspects of their role but in the quality of care that they give to customers. If your CX department has the right tools, the right training, a common purpose, and an encouraging leader, then you need to trust your employees to use their discretion. 

For decades Nordstrom, another CX master, has emphasized the value of empowering customer experience employees. In 1979, a “local hermit” walked into a Nordstrom location in Fairbanks, Alaska with a pair of tires, looking to get a refund. The only problem was that Nordstrom had never sold tires. Nevertheless, the floor sales associate carefully considered the situation and his position, and soon issued the man a refund. 

Observing the situation, the manager could have stepped in at any time to handle the unusual request, but did not feel the need because his employee had the proper tools, the proper training, and knew Nordstrom’s simple company purpose of “Make customers feel good”. The associate was allowed to handle the situation at his discretion, and the customer left happy. 

While the exact refund amount the customer received is unknown, there should be no doubt that the money has been earned back a thousand times over when considering the resonance and effect of this story on Nordstrom employees today. Empowerment is important. 

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” - Walt Disney

Regardless of their role or level in the organization, each new Disney employee undertakes a first day training class known as “Traditions”. This first day of training is not technical training or training related to their hired task. 

Instead, it helps each employee understand the organization, grasp their purpose within it, and see the big picture or common goal. 

Conducting this training and sharing this common goal empowers every sales rep right from the start to begin supporting the organization and providing excellent service to customers. 

B2B companies can benefit from similar practices in their CX training programs, focusing not only on the technical, problem solving aspects of their roles but also the broader purpose of their work. Like Disney, you should have initial training programs that cover company values, customer expectations, and brand vision.

 Technical training should not just be a one-time event - the best CX departments are offered regular training sessions, mentor programs, and professional development opportunities. Your employees should be up to date on the best practices and new technologies, and they cannot do that if it is not offered to them. 

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“Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.” - Walt Disney

We are living in an era where customization, personalization, and attention to detail is demanded more than ever before. 63% of consumers will not purchase from brands with poor personalization. On top of that, 66% of consumers expect brands to understand and cater to their individual needs.

If Disney theme park employees can interact with millions of customers each year and find a way to give each and every one of those customers a personalized experience, you and your CX team can too. 

In B2B sales, this might involve tailoring your CX communications or offering up various listening posts, such as surveys or interviews, to better understand your customers’ experience. Developing detailed client profiles will enable your CX team to effortlessly enhance each customer experience. 

It could be as simple as addressing your client by their preferred name or acknowledging milestones you’ve had together, but personalization and attention to individual preferences go a long way in fostering customer loyalty.  

You cannot ignore tools that can significantly aid in this process. One such tool is Badger Maps. Badger Maps is a route planning tool that helps you plan, route, and maximize your time in the field, cutting down driving time by 20%.

With its customizable fields for adding detailed customer information, Badger Maps helps you provide a personalized experience at each interaction. 

Sales teams have reported that they sell 22% more and drive 20% less when using Badger Maps, in fact, the average team of 10 reps sells $936k more the year they start using the app.

Badger Maps also allows you to mobilize your CRM, providing instant access to important customer information as you work in your territories. your team can keep track of customer preferences, needs, and check-ins. This ensures delivering a level of service that not only meets but exceeds expectations, helping every customer feel valued and understood.

You can also enable a two-way, real-time native integration with the most popular CRMs such as HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Insightly, and many more. 

Additionally, field sales teams increase their CRM usage by 50% when using Badger Maps.

Badger Maps reduces sales reps’ average drive time by 20% and frees up an average of 8 hours a week.  

Sign up for a free trial today or schedule a demo to see how you can benefit from this route-planning app!

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“We can ill afford to rest on our laurels, even to pause in retrospect. Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.” - Walt Disney 

Whether you’re a creator, innovator, or CX team member or manager, your work is never finished. And like Disney, you need to keep the customer experience fresh and efficient. Innovation can cost, but with 52% of Americans being willing to pay more for good customer service, you can't afford not to invest in CX innovation. 

Thus B2B CX departments should also prioritize continuous innovation. 

Even if you don’t feel like an innovator, remember that innovation can take many forms. Maybe you need to embrace a new technology or tweak your service interface. Maybe you need to analyze various customer feedback to develop a new service. Maybe you need to integrate relevant CX tools to speed up your solutions. 

Regardless of what your innovation looks like, providing your team and your customers with the latest and greatest in customer experience innovations will not only help foster a reputation for being responsive and forward-thinking, but also positions your company as an industry leader. 

“Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.” - Walt Disney

Innovation can sometimes take the form of taking an existing idea or product and improving on it. 

For example, Apple revolutionized the home computer industry when they released the Macintosh in 1984, which featured a graphical user interface and a point-and-click mouse. Neither of these technologies were developed by Apple - the graphical user interface was taken from Xerox and the mouse was invented by IBM! 

But Apple saw the potential of both technologies, adapted it to their system, and blew the minds of consumers worldwide. Like Apple, don’t hesitate to take the competitions’ best practices and run with them. 

Companies often run competitive analyses, but how often are those analyses related to customer service or customer experience? Analyze the customer experience strategy framework provided by some of your top competitors, and adapt their best practices for your purposes. Maybe you discover an innovative procedure, a helpful policy, or even just a handy phrase that puts customers at ease. 

If you can implement an existing idea in a way that’s cheaper, better, or faster, you are doing smart business. 

And if you're looking to improve your customer experience strategy, you don’t just have to focus on your direct competitors when looking for things to copycat. Whatever industry you are in, you can learn from and copy great CX ideas wherever you find them. 

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“When we consider a project, we really study it - not just the surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way.” - Walt Disney

If you’ve visited a Disney park lately, you probably utilized their FastPass system or used their mobile app for mapping, reservations, or itinerary creation. These overt efficiency measures ensure that customers have positive experiences even during peak operating hours. Behind every magical Disney interaction is a well-oiled machine of efficient policies and processes.

 Your B2B CX department should strive for the same efficiency - map out all customer-facing processes to help identify pain points or general areas of improvement. 

From there, you can determine what actions need to be undertaken. Do you need to implement sales automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks? Is there value in establishing new key performance indicators? Or do you need to add a simple new standard operation procedure, such as assuring customers that you will get back to them within 24 hours if the situation cannot be resolved immediately?  

Of course these actions are going to vary business to business, but no matter the industry, regular reviews and refinements will ensure that each CX interaction is streamlined and effective.

“Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust authority to a person who has shown judgment, wisdom, personal appeal, and proven competence.” - Walt Disney

It is a business fact that employees take cues from their leaders. It is also a business fact that an organization’s service culture starts at the top. From there, it works its way down to every level and department, flowing like a faucet. At Disney, leaders are not only expected to constantly articulate the company’s common purpose but also to embody it in their actions. 

In a B2B setting, it is just as important for leadership to set the tone for customer experience. If your words and actions demonstrate proactive sales communication, empathy, and problem-solving, it reinforces these values across the team. 

Actions such as personally responding to customer feedback or participating in training helps demonstrate commitment to exceptional customer experience. Lastly, leaders must recognize and celebrate success stories and exceptional service, demonstrating that these efforts are valued and noticed. 

And even if you’re not in a leadership position in your CX setting, you can do a lot to spread the culture of good service, no matter what your title or position. Yes, the “law of trickle down” starts at the top, but the top is wherever you are. Never forget that role modeling is one of the greatest teaching methods. 

“The difference in winning and losing is most often not quitting.” - Walt Disney

In conclusion, Disney’s CX strategy offers clear lessons that B2B sales teams can adapt to enhance their own customer interactions. 

You may not be a cast member at a Disney theme park, but you and your B2B sales team can create your own “magical moments'' that impress customers and turn them into loyal advocates for your business. Many companies meet customer expectations with their customer experience strategies and protocols, but don’t forget that great customer experiences are created when customer expectations are exceeded. Making customers feel understood and valued is key. 

With these insights and customer experience tips taken from Disney, your B2B sales team can elevate its own customer experience strategy and services, guaranteeing long-term success and continued growth. 

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