Disney is recognized as one of the world’s leaders in customer experience. Their seventy percent return rate for first-time visitors reflects that.

Walt Disney believed that the key to creating magical experiences and memories was factory-precision processes that create a consistent positive experience for everyone, every time. Every employee is trained, and every aspect of the park cultivated so as to create that experience, and there are processes in place that ensure that certain standards are met.

In order to maintain and improve these processes, feedback is crucial. The Disney Institute classic handbook Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service demonstrates the importance of feedback and how Disney uses it to improve the customer experience.

For example, customer feedback exposed that visitors were becoming frustrated when leaving the park on trams because they couldn’t remember where they had parked their cars. Disney implemented a solution whereby tram drivers now keep a list of what rows they work each morning, which is distributed to team members at the end of the day. Guests relay what time they arrived, and the tram drivers will know where the guest parked. Problem solved.

All service professionals can learn from Disney, including lawyers.

Gaining client loyalty through exceptional client experience 

In your law practice, you want everyone who works with and for you to be on the same page, delivering the same consistent service. You want to have processes in place for all contingencies so your clients know that no matter when they call, or who they speak with, they can expect the same exceptional service. And when something isn’t working, finding ways to get honest feedback and incorporating that feedback is critical to providing that next level of service.

Tell people that your goal is exceptional service

On their first day of training, every member of the Disney team is told that their job is “creating happiness”. Every person on the team, at every level, feels empowered to make sure the visitor’s experience is one that creates happiness. You can do this too, by making sure that your team and your clients both know that your goal is to give exceptional service, and empowering everyone to seek and provide it.

Genuinely seek feedback and use it to improve

Ask your team and your clients for feedback, letting them know that you are trying to reach the standard of exceptional service and that their feedback will be invaluable in helping you achieve that. This gives both your team and your clients a stake in the success of your practice.

Use the feedback you are given to evaluate if you really are providing exceptional service, and to help you continue to innovate and grow in your service offering.

Obviously getting legal service isn’t the same as riding Space Mountain or enjoying breakfast with Mickey Mouse and his friends, but client service is surely no less important, and arguably more important. So why not take some time to see how you can incorporate some Disney-inspired client service theory into your legal practice today?