Ed Baklor is the former Disney/WestJet/JetBlue Executive with a solid business foundation focused on Operational Excellence and Guest Experience. Ed is skilled at curating an excellent guest experience from very little. Learn from his experience as a service expert in taking whatever is given you and crafting an experience that will leave your guests wanting more.

Here are a few highlights from this episode:

With you experience in the airline industry, how do you deliver on the guest experience with minimal margins?

“It doesn’t always have to cost you a whole bunch of money. That’s the differentiator. Spirit Airlines invested a whole lot in their service spirit because they realized that they had such a reputation 10 years ago of not caring about the service experience. They realized real quickly that if they were going to be able to continue to grow at the rate they wanted to grow, they did have to care . . .

. . . And that’s where, with those razor, thin margins, you know, somebody an ultra low cost carrier thought it was important to to focus on and and again, take this across anybody in the service and hospitality industry. If you don’t focus on it, you’re not going to grow.“

Having worked at Disney, what are some philosophies they teach to resolve guest issues?

“I remember my first day I had to go to ‘traditions’ which is the orientation. It’s called traditions because you really learn from the very beginning. Even the design of the classroom is built around storytelling. It starts with the culture and heritage of the company which is about caring for the guest . . .

. . . They’d welcome everyone and say ‘I want everybody to raise your hand. Everybody. Raise your hand, keep your hand up, keep your hand up, raise your hand. Don’t put it down. Now picture that visual because we are all responsible for keeping the park clean. We are all responsible for the guest experience’ . . .

. . . Whether you’re in custodial, or me as a leader, or or someone working in and merchandise at the shop next door, we are all responsible for the guest experience.”

How do we continue to improve the guest experience?

It starts from within.

“If you hire people and can tell they’re going to be somebody that will quickly aid int he guest experience and help someone. Post COVID has been tough because every service energy has just been bringing on staff to be able to stay open. Now we need to make sure that they understand why what they do isn’t just put food on a table but that they’ve invited these customers to their home, and how would they treat them if they’re in their home? And that’s how we want them to treat their their customers at their at their locations“