“The customer doesn’t care about who did what. They want it to be right.”
Every organization makes promises to its customers. Marketing makes them. Sales makes them. Advertising makes them. But eventually, somebody has to deliver what was promised.
That is where operations comes in.
At Disney, Imagineering creates experiences that operators eventually have to run. That relationship works because the two groups communicate. Imagineering understands the creative vision, while operators understand what it takes to deliver that experience every day. Both perspectives matter.
The same thing should happen in every organization. If marketing promotes an offer, your frontline employees need to know about it. If a salesperson makes a promise to a customer, the team responsible for delivering it needs to be prepared. The customer does not care that one department failed to communicate with another. They simply know the experience did not meet their expectations.
You can prevent many of those problems by getting the right people involved early. Listen to the people with expertise. Encourage them to speak up when they see something that may not work. You will spend a lot less money solving an issue during planning than you will trying to fix it after customers are already disappointed.
Culture matters too. People need to feel comfortable telling the truth. If an operator sees a problem with something marketing wants to promote, they should say so. The goal is not to prove which department is right. The goal is to solve the problem and take care of the customer.
And remember, every great experience becomes another promise. When customers have an excellent experience with you, they expect the next one to be just as good. At Disney, that expectation is especially high. Guests arrive expecting excellence because that is what the company has taught them to expect.
Your organization is doing the same thing. Make sure the promises you make are promises your people can keep.
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Episode Chapters
[00:01:41] Can Operations Deliver What Marketing Promises?
[00:04:21] Keeping the Frontline Informed
[00:06:52] Creating One Purpose Across Departments
[00:08:41] Trust, Ethics, and Speaking Up
[00:10:18] Preparing Operations for Big Disney Announcements
[00:14:24] Meeting the Expectations You Create