Improving customer service doesn’t have to come with a big budget: 5 lessons from Disney Institute

Great customer service doesn’t mean everything always goes perfectly. It means your team knows what to do when it doesn’t, your customers feel seen, your employees feel trusted and your business can deliver a consistent experience — even when things don’t go according to plan.

That kind of customer service may sound like something only a company with Disney’s scale and resources can pull off. But Christopher Fults, a senior facilitator with Disney Institute, says that misses the point. In a series of mainstage talks at Chase for Business’s Experience events, he’s been helping small business owners learn how to deliver Disney-level service, regardless of budget or team size.

We spoke with Christopher about how small business owners can start improving customer service in ways that are practical, personal and sustainable.

Here are five takeaways.

1. Start with consistency, then keep listening

Consistency is one of the foundations of strong customer service. But it doesn’t mean every employee sounds the same or follows a rigid script. It just means everyone understands the same purpose.

At Disney, Christopher says that purpose can be boiled down to three words: “We create happiness.” No matter the role, team or line of business, that shared purpose gives cast members a clear North Star.

Small business owners can create their own shared purpose by asking a simple question: What do we want every customer to feel when they interact with us?

Once you determine your answer, you can turn it into a set of service standards that your team can use for every interaction. Those standards should be clear enough to train, observe and coach. For example, a café could focus on greeting customers quickly, keeping the space clean and handling problems warmly. A service-based business could focus on responsiveness, transparency and follow-through.

The goal isn’t to give your team a script to repeat verbatim. It’s to establish guardrails that help them make good decisions in the moment.

Feedback helps keep that consistency strong. Customer surveys, reviews and informal conversations can all show what’s working and what might need attention. But you should also listen to your employees. As the people with the most direct contact with customers, they’re often closest to the points of friction.

Ask them what they’re hearing, where customers are getting stuck and what they think would make the experience better. Then close the loop. If someone gives feedback, show how it was heard. That could mean saying: “You told us checkout was confusing, so we simplified the process.” Or: “We heard customers were asking the same questions every day, so we added clearer signage.”

When people can see that their feedback leads to action, they’re more likely to keep sharing it.

2. Look for the moments that matter

Customer loyalty is shaped by the full experience, not just the product or services someone buys.

That experience starts before the sale and continues long after it. It includes the first time someone finds your website, the way they’re greeted, how easy it is to get answers, what happens when something goes wrong and whether they feel remembered the next time they come back.

Christopher calls these “moments that matter.”

For every business, those moments will look different. A contractor might find them in the estimate process. A salon might find them in the booking experience. A retailer might find them in the return policy. A professional services firm might find them in how clearly it explains next steps.

To find your own moments that matter, map the customer journey in three parts:

From there, Christopher says Disney drills down into “micro moments.” Check-in at a hotel, for example, isn’t just check-in. It’s whether someone was greeted. Whether the space felt clean. Whether the environment was calm. Whether the person at the desk noticed what the guest needed.

Small businesses can do the same thing. Break the experience into smaller pieces, then look for simple ways to make each one better.

The most powerful experiences often come from treating customers as individuals. Christopher describes a shift from thinking of VIP as “very important person” to “very individual person.” That small change matters. Customers don’t want to feel like an order number, account number or appointment slot. They want to feel like a person.

3. Make customer service your competitive advantage

More than a nice-to-have, customer service can be one of the clearest ways to stand out, — especially when your competitors are offering similar products, services or prices. The experience can be what makes someone choose you, return to you or recommend you.

Christopher encourages business owners to think about service in three parts:

The recovery step is especially important. No business can deliver perfectly every time. Orders may be delayed, appointments may run behind or expectations may not be met. What matters is how you respond.

A strong recovery process does two things: It solves the problem, and it repairs and reconciles the relationship.

That may mean acknowledging the issue, apologizing sincerely, explaining the next step and following through quickly.

Small businesses can prepare for service recovery by giving employees a clear framework for common problems. For example, what is an employee empowered to do if a customer receives the wrong item, has a billing concern or is unhappy with their service? When employees know how to respond, they can act with confidence instead of waiting for approval at every step.

That confidence can turn a difficult moment into an important opportunity to build trust.

4. Let leadership show up at every level

Leadership is more about everyday actions than job titles.

That idea is especially useful for small businesses, where every employee can have a direct impact on the customer experience. A front-desk employee, cashier, technician, server or account manager may be the person who shapes how a customer feels about the entire business.

But employees need more specificity than just being told to “create a great experience.”

As Christopher puts it, a great experience can mean different things to different people. One employee’s idea of great service may not match the business’s standards. That’s why owners need to define what it looks like for the business in clear, practical terms.

Christopher uses a memorable phrase: Employees can “make the show their own,” but they shouldn’t “make their own show.”

In other words, give people room to bring their personality to the interaction, but make sure everyone is working from the same purpose and standards. That balance helps service feel both consistent and authentic.

Business owners should also model the behavior they want from their teams. If a clean space matters, leaders should treat it like it matters. If courtesy matters, leaders should show courtesy. If quick follow-up matters, leaders should be sure to follow up quickly, themselves.

Employees notice what leaders do, not just what they say.

5. Take care of employees, so they can take care of customers

Your employee experience and customer experience are intrinsically connected. Employees who feel valued, supported and trusted are more likely to deliver consistent service.

But that doesn’t have to mean expensive perks. Here, too, Christopher says it’s all about relationships.

Leaders need to know the people behind the name tags: what motivates them, what challenges them, what they care about and what support they need.

A few simple actions can make a big impact:

Even a quick pre-shift meeting can help. Christopher says Disney teams often use short meetings before cast members go “on stage” in guest-facing roles. In that time, they may share updates, recognize strong service moments, talk through challenges or ask employees to share stories tied to service standards.

For a small business, a version of that could be a 10-minute team huddle at the start of the day or week. What’s happening today? What should the team know? Who handled a customer moment especially well? What can everyone learn from it?

Those conversations build connection. They also give employees more tools to use in their own customer interactions.

This also applies to your partners like vendors and suppliers. Those relationships can affect the customer experience too. Keeping your network strong can help you deliver more reliably and recover faster when challenges come up.

Where to start improving customer service

If you only have time to make one service improvement this month, Christopher says to start with relationships.

Set aside time to ask your team what they’re seeing, hearing and experiencing. Use that input to identify one customer touchpoint you can improve. Then communicate what you heard, what you’re changing and why it matters.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. You could rewrite a confusing email, adjust your greeting process, simplify a handoff, create a clearer response for common customer issues or start a weekly team huddle.

The important thing to remember is that customer service is built one human interaction at a time. By creating clear standards, listening to feedback, empowering employees and valuing relationships, small business owners can create experiences that help increase customer satisfaction and build long-term loyalty.

Get more insights like these

Christopher will be leading a breakout session at Chase for Business’s Make Your Move Summit on October 20–22 in the greater Atlanta, GA area. To hear his insights directly as well as take advantage of a range of opportunities to support your business and network with other small business owners, register for the Make Your Move SummitOpens overlay today.