What a Theme Park Can Teach You about Business
Say what you will about theme parks. (Too expensive! Too cheesy and artificial!) But at least some of them get one thing right: They bend over backward to make the customer experience as good as it can possibly be. Take, for example, a few conveniences for visitors with young children that I noticed on a recent trip to an unnamed park in Orlando. (Funny … I never even saw these things until I had a little one of my own.)
- Baby care stations with private rooms for nursing mothers, diaper-changing tables, and comfy couches for quick naps for fussy kids.
- Special seating in the back at shows for parents with infants sleeping in strollers.
- A variety of play areas for every age group from infant onward.
Sure, you could make do with changing a diaper in a regular, crowded bathroom. Or have one parent wait outside a ride while the other takes the older kids through. But it wouldn’t be pleasant, and it would probably make parents think twice about a return trip until the kids are much older.
And that’s a lesson you can apply to your own business. Find out your customers’ special needs and figure out if you are addressing them.
Are you making it difficult for them to order? (Maybe some customers don’t feel comfortable giving credit card info over the Internet.) Could your products be tweaked and made easier to use – making them more appealing to a larger portion of your target market? Are your marketing messages filled with too much jargon – so much that your prospects don’t understand?
The questions you pose about your own business might be different. And your list should be much longer. But by taking a critical look at it in this way, you could recapture millions in lost revenue.
