Capitalize Your Customers’ Experiences: Meet CSAA Annual Meeting Speaker Dennis Snow

Noted speaker, trainer and consultant Dennis Snow is the author of the book Lessons from the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World’s Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. His customer service abilities were honed over 20 years with the Walt Disney World Company. There, he developed his passion for service excellence and the experience he brings clients and audiences worldwide. Today, Snow helps organizations including banks, universities and hospitals achieve goals related to customer service, employee development and leadership. He will present the featured session “Capitalizing Customer Experiences” at the CSAA Annual Meeting on October 25 in Marco Island, FL.

CSAA: Tell CSAA members how you came to be interested in customer service.
Snow: My passion for the subject comes from my years working at Walt Disney World. The philosophy at Walt Disney World is this: “We’re not selling rides. We’re selling an experience.” And the service provided by every cast member is a big part of that experience.

CSAA: What can CSAA Annual Meeting participants expect from your session, “Capitalizing Customer Experiences”?
Snow: They’ll learn about the core elements of an outstanding customer experience, tools for improving the customer experience, and how to engage their employees in continuous service improvement.

CSAA: What will CSAA members will take away from your presentation?
Snow: Specific tools they can apply in their organizations.

CSAA: Can you share a sneak preview of a data point that you use to help managers/companies evaluate their customer service? 
Snow: A study showed that 68% of customers who defect from a company do so because of poor service. When that 68% was asked to define poor service, they defined it as “an attitude of indifference on the part of the company.” We can never take our customers for granted. It’s the difference between doing our work with a task mentality (which makes customers feel processed) versus doing our work with an experience mentality (which makes customers feel valued).

CSAA: What is something you have found really surprising in your work with companies in your career?
Snow: I think the biggest surprise is the number of companies that have never really defined what they want the customer experience to be. There’s no clear vision of what’s expected, and the result is inconsistent performance.

CSAA: Are you an alarm system owner? 
Snow: I’ve been an alarm system owner for 26-years, and in all that time have triggered the alarm accidentally only about four times. I’m very proud!

CSAA: Tell us something about yourself that drives or influences the way you do business.
Snow: I have many, many books about Walt Disney, and when I need a dose of inspiration I know I can always open any of those books to any page. Walt died when I only seven years old, but no one else (other than my family) has such a big impact on my life.

Register now for the CSAA 2016 Annual Meeting.