Intro (00:01):
Pixie Dust and Profits is a podcast for small business owners who love Disney and want to sprinkle some of that magic onto their own businesses. Join your host, Nicole Boucher and Yasmine Spencer. As they explore the mouse’s $12.6 billion operation and break down exactly how you can apply these big scale concepts to your own business.

Nicole (00:26):
Welcome to this week’s episode of pixie, dust and profits. And today we’re talking all about creating your own world. Have you ever been to Disney world and wondered why the employees are called cast members and not associates or employees? Well, there’s a very good reason for that. Walt Disney started in the movie industry. And the big thing about this industry is that everything is onstage or offstage and cast members are part of the show that they’re putting on for the guests. So you’ll see this phrasing throughout all of Disney property, where there is onstage, which is wherever a guest may be, and you’re not called a customer. You’re called a guest because you are a guest of the show and you’re watching a performance while you’re at Disney world. Now there’s also offstage areas which are for cast members only, and that’s where all of the magic happens to make the magic happen. Now, we’re going to talk a little bit today about how this applies to your small business and why it’s important and the messaging that you use for your customers versus the messaging you use once they are in your world.

Yasmine (01:30):
So before I get into the key takeaway that we want you guys to go home with a few other things that I just want to mention is if you are as diehard of a Disney fan, as we are, you know, all the Disney terms, rope drop two wishes, does that ring a bell for anyone? Now that’s a term that we use when, you know, we started a super early, when the rope drops, that’s physically, when they actually let people into the park at 8:00 AM, 9:00 AM, whenever they’re opening for the day and wishes is like the now defunct, sadly fireworks show that Disney used to run a magic kingdom every night, but you know, those terms still stand. If you ever go into like a Disney Facebook group or talk to another Disney fan, it’s kind of like hearing kids speak and not quite understanding what they’re saying, but you are, you’re following along a little bit because they’ve actually developed their own language.

Yasmine (02:23):
And it’s really interesting how Disney has created that culture, not only with their cast internally, but with their customers as well. So what does that mean for you, Nicole and I are big firm believers that when you were trying to attract your audience, you want to use language that they understand you want to use their words to bring them in. But once you’re through the door, you can create a custom customized experience. You can bring them into your world by using your own language and your own words for how you describe things. So we’re going to go into like a few examples of that. But what we mean by using their words first and foremost is when someone lands on your website, when you’re talking to them on Instagram, you can pepper in a little bit of your own language, but what you don’t want is for someone to read what you’re saying, and then not quite be a hundred percent clear on what you mean and what kind of point you’re trying to get across.

Nicole (03:18):
So an example of this is on your own website. You want to be using words that your customers are using when they visit, and you don’t want to be using things that are like jargon, that they wouldn’t understand. So if I were selling pixie dust and profits to people who have no idea about Disney world, I wouldn’t make mentions to like, Oh, this is your 180 day window to get things done. You don’t know what that means. I would say something like, you only have 180 days to take part in this offer. And they would understand that I would understand that. And then once they’re in the door and they’ve become Disney fans, I can use phrases like it’s your FastPass day. And that will make sense to some people after you’re in my doors.

Yasmine (04:01):
So Nicole, your client, Amber does a really great job of doing that. Do you want to give a few examples of how she’s applied that sort of strategy to her business? Yeah.

Nicole (04:08):
Yes. So Amber Housley is an amazing marketing coach for a creative and female business owners. And she has this entire world that once, you know, Amber, you know what you’re getting because you come in, there’s bright colors, hot pinks, oranges, yellows. There it’s very floral. She uses terms like bloom and grow flourish. I’m inspired. So you know what you’re getting, you might find Amber through any other way. And once you come in, she’s talking to you and she’s a friendly smiling face. But once you were in her world, you were buying into the flourish, the bloom and grow, yes, I am ready for more in my business and I want it to be pretty and fun while I do it. So Amber is a great example of someone who talks to the customer that might not know who she is upfront. And then once you’re in the world, you are just going to end up wearing a pretty pink cocktail dress. At some point,

Yasmine (05:04):
She has gotten both of us to do that in the past

Nicole (05:08):
Photo, in our show notes of wearing excuse show dresses.

Yasmine (05:13):
And we’re not really like the overtly pink type, Nicole and I. So she has that magic. So moving on, I want to give another example of someone that I worked with in the past. Not a client, but actually a coach of mine who does a great job of this as well. Her name is Reyna Pomeroy and Reyna is for Marina and co. And she is a coach for really busy creatives who just want to sort of streamline things and get focused. And one thing I love about Rayna is like, when you talk to her, like, you can just connect with her right away. She talks to you as a friend. That’s how she brings you into her fold. But once you’re in there, you start to speak her language. So one of the things that I love is that Reyna’s term for networking is social glue.

Yasmine (05:56):
And she talks about how to be gluey and how to be sticky. And it takes something like networking, which is kind of intimidating. And, you know, in some ways, how does he feel a little bit like, you know, skeezy about it, just because it feels like you’re being social and friendly for your own personal benefit, but Rena reframes it and talks about how social glue is. Not that at all, it’s connecting one-on-one with someone it’s having a virtual coffee chat, which many people use, but I always associate that term with Raina and connecting and learning about them, not with the intention to sell, but just to understand, you know, who else is in this industry, who’s in your community. And by connecting genuinely like that down the road, there may be opportunities where you can refer someone and connect someone with someone else. I know that the people that I’ve had my virtual coffee chats with my fellow Louise, I’ve referred out, brought into programs when a client needed someone with that expertise, they’re the first one to come to mind. And it wasn’t a massive networking event where you had to show up and hand out your business card to 50 people you didn’t know and practice the same old, tired elevator pitch. So she’s a really great job of creating that language. Another word that I love that she uses is Dreamies to describe your ideal clients. Again, I go client tiny bit sterile sometimes, but Dreamies, that sounds a little bit more soft and friendly.

Nicole (07:17):
Yeah. So you can see the importance of using phrasing in the public facing space and then using your own terms for something that might not even be a brand new idea, just putting your own word on it can make it that much more powerful. Yasmin mentioned how networking she calls it glue. Now, you know, it’s never going to be networking in her head and that’s because of Raina. And so she will forever associate that with Reyna. The other side of this that I want to talk about, that’s just as important is that, does he put a lot of emphasis on putting on a show for all of their guests? And you should be thinking about that in your own business, because every time someone is onstage, you should be performing for your customer. So in what areas of your business, can you look in that the customer experience needs a little bit of help, a little bit of polishing, you know, Disney spares, no expense.

Nicole (08:04):
They scrubbed down the trash cans. The benches, every little piece of the place gets looked at every single night. And so what can you do in your business to make sure like those corners aren’t being cut, that the customer experience is good? Do you have an onboarding sequence where a link just doesn’t work half the time, or, you know, you kind of have put something together that wasn’t completely ready to go out yet. Can you go back and revisit that and make sure that all of the pieces are connected properly, that you’ve finished all of her thoughts as complete thoughts, because we get busy, everyone gets busy, you try to take shortcuts, you duplicate something you already had and you put it out there. And then you’re like, Oh, I’ll get back to that. But we never actually take that step to go back to it. So I encourage you today to think about that stage. Think about that show that you’re putting, putting your customers through and go back and fix a little of those things that you may have quickly put together.

Yasmine (09:03):
Yes. And like, one thing I want to stress is Nicole is not saying that we need to move away from the done is better than perfect approach to things as entrepreneurs. If we wait for things to be perfect, let’s be real. It’s never going to get out there, but you can constantly optimize. You can constantly reiterate what you have and improve it to create that better customer experience for you.

Nicole (09:22):
Yes. If you’re getting a piece of feedback from someone in your inbox, do something with it, you might not need to take action right away. It might just be one person out of 300 who think that, but they might have a valid point. Maybe it gives you an opportunity to look at something with a different lens. But yes, definitely don’t chase perfection because then nothing will ever get out the door. The other thing I want to mention is that Disney does this and every facet of their operation, I actually went on a backstage tour and I got to see the cast member side of life. And it was mind opening to say the least if you were inside at CA for example, and you were looking at the world pavilions, every inch of what you see is perfectly orchestrated for the show. You can see that the clocks use the correct Roman numerals, that everything is to scale in a building that looks like it’s three floors, but it’s only two.

Nicole (10:16):
And everything is carried through your sight line. As the guests, you will never see the cast member side because every vantage point of that park has been looked at through the eyes of someone who is not a cast member. Now, once you exit those backstage doors, the show stops. It’s all about function and there’s no more scaffolding or creative decoration anywhere. The buildings are blank and bare. They’re actually painted green or blue to blend in with the landscape. It is completely dingy by any stretch of the imagination when you go backstage. And it is amazing to see that they are actually putting on that show on the front side and they are getting it done in the backside. And it’s completely about efficiency and the experience that everyone is having in the park. So think about that in your own business. All those front-facing places should be bright, shiny, polished. You can go over it with a comb and nobody will find anything, but in the backside, it’s all about efficiency. You don’t need to have the fancy stuff. If you can get things done with a paper to do list, you’re getting things done.

Yasmine (11:22):
That’s really funny because we work with a lot of clients and on the front end, we do everything we can to make sure things are as polished and put together and well thought out as possible. But on the backend, you know, not to say that things are like messy, but we sometimes have like four different tools connected to carry out a single action that all the customers end is just like something that you know, is a duh. Like, of course it would do that. But you know, we try to work out how to piece together, all these different tools to make it happen. And again, all to make things efficient and to make a business more operational. So you’re not doing so many things manually because that can get way, way, way too messy. And you don’t want to deal with that.

Nicole (12:04):
So this episode about creating your own world, our biggest takeaways are one to use messaging that will bring people in, but then use your own branded messaging to keep them around, keep them immersed and to understand that they are part of your show. They are part of your movie. And the second one is to look at everything from the customer’s perspective and see, as far as they can see on those sight lines.

Yasmine (12:28):
And if you subscribe to our newsletter, which if you haven’t signed up for it, it’s at magic.pixiedustandprofits.com. We shared a tip on how you can actually audit your own website, materials, your own marketing materials, and make sure that you’re not using anything too jargony. And we’ll share our secrets on how we do that for our business. So make sure you subscribe to our list. And if you haven’t followed us on Instagram, follow us on @pixiedustandprofits, we will be sharing a lot of fun, little tips behind the scenes of our own Disney adventures and just a lot of fun Disney facts that you just might not know about.