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Lee Cockerell is the former Executive Vice President, Operations of Walt Disney World Resort. He led a team of 40,000 cast members and managed 20 resort hotels, four theme parks, and two water parks. He is the author of three books: Creating Magic, The Customer Rules, and Time Management Magic. He also has a podcast called, Creating Disney Magic with Lee Cockerell, hosted by Jody Maberry.
Talking with Customers
- What is the most important thing you can share about pricing?
- Pricing is truly about value.
- It's not the burger, it's how great is the burger.
- Quality wins out.
- What can I add to make me worth more and have the customer consider me an investment, rather than a cost?
- Lee helps people figure out how to pay for him.
- Things like the exchange rate can affect the price to the customer.
- Be flexible with non-profits and exchange rates.
- If you do the right thing, better things will happen in the future.
- Do not be greedy.
- How does Disney decide how to price?
- Research how customers spend their entertainment dollars.
- Interview two million customers per year.
- Give a good experience so they will come back.
- Movies and ski lift prices are discretionary entertainment spending and is competition to Disney.
- Limit the number of people in the park per day so that everyone can see multiple attractions.
- People with iPads are talking to the customers everywhere in the park – food lines, ride lines, airport, hotel check-in.
- Disney thinks about things like the single moms, children with special needs, and dietary considerations when creating a package.
- Treat people like individuals to offer huge value.
- Why did Disney lower its prices during the 2008 recession?
- People were not going on vacation during that period.
- Even employed people were scared.
- For $1200, a family of 4 could come for 4-5 days.
- Children ate free.
- The overhead is big, and the parks needed people to keep coming.
- The margin was affected, but Disney was able to keep its employees and attendance at the same rate.
- The experience was not affected.
Time Management and Value
- What advice do you have regarding time management and value?
- The number one problem most people have is time management.
- Where you spend your time is how your life will turn out.
- You should be aware of the top three places you will spend your time every day before your day begins.
- Taking care of yourself is important as you cannot help others if you are not healthy.
- Family is next. If you do not have your family, the money does not matter.
- Business and finance should be the third priority.
- You can then plan what you want to accomplish for each area.
- Have a system for your life and be very intentional about it.
- Raise your expectations – be clearer.
- What is the most important mistake a business can make with pricing?
- Businesses do not think about all the value they can add.
- Many companies under-price their products.
- The ones who are pricing too high are not adding enough value.
- Keep getting better every single day.
- See what your competitors are doing.
- When someone is doing a great job, customers do not go looking.
- Buckle down and find out who is in your business and closely related to your business.
- Ask questions to find the truth:
- Is the spending discretionary or necessary?
- Ask your employees what complaints do you hear most often.
- Ask your customers, “What os one thing we could do better?”
- If you are a leader or a parent of a teenager, you are going to have to work hard to know the truth.
- Your customer should be part of your team.
- The feedback from your customer is more important than the price they pay.
The Customer Rules
- Can you explain the rule, “Great service follows the law of gravity?”
- Does the CEO want to have great service?
- Does the CEO have an environment where everyone matters and they know they matter?
- It starts at the top and goes downhill like gravity.
- The CEO/President has to set the example.
- Can you explain the rule, “Become an expert at creating experts?”
- In business, creating leaders is the job of an operations director.
- Find the right people.
- Train them correctly.
- To be the expert, be better than everyone else.
- Experts are in high demand today.
- Put the responsibility on yourself to keep advancing.
- Be reliable and have a good attitude and you will succeed.
- Southwest Airlines is a great example of how this can be successful.
- Can you explain the rule, “Fish where fishermen ain't?”
- Do not do what everyone else does.
- Find ways to do what others are not doing.
- Amazon and Chick-fil-A are great examples of how this can be successful.
- Can you explain the rule, “Don't make promises; make guarantees?”
- Guaranteed, no questions asked; that is better than a promise.
- Guarantees and reliability matter.
- If you have strong reliability, your guarantee is not necessary.
- You gain customers one at a time; you lose them thousands at a time.
- Empower employees to fix the problem.
- The Amazon call center has only one rule, “Make the customer happy.”
- What is one of your best stories about creating value for a customer?
- Self-publishing gives Lee more flexibility to create value with his latest book.
- He always wants to make sure he is enough for his customer and family.
- “Do you considering yourself a teacher?”
- The people he works with will get more than they expect.
About Lee Cockerell
- Investor and teacher at Thrive15.com
- Website: LeeCockerell.com
- Twitter: @LeeCockerell
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