How can I become your dream CM?

[darby95]

Hello I have been accepted for the Spring 2018 Disney College Program with a Merchandise role! I do not know if I will be working in the parks or the resorts yet, but I wanted to know your experiences with CP CMs. I have a passion of Disney (clearly if I'm on here) and I don't want to be the stereotypical, bad CP. How can I make your Disney experience magical? Thanks!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Hello I have been accepted for the Spring 2018 Disney College Program with a Merchandise role! I do not know if I will be working in the parks or the resorts yet, but I wanted to know your experiences with CP CMs. I have a passion of Disney (clearly if I'm on here) and I don't want to be the stereotypical, bad CP. How can I make your Disney experience magical? Thanks!

You may want to post your question on the Cast Member forum to get assistance from other CMs. Disney Trainers will make sure you don’t become the “bad” CM.

email doc@wdwinfo.com to be allowed access to the CM board. Hope you have a great CP experience!

 

[Skywise]

Always give out golden fastpasses to me. Upgrade me to super-deluxe club level at whatever resort I'm at...

 

[yulilin3]

Hello I have been accepted for the Spring 2018 Disney College Program with a Merchandise role! I do not know if I will be working in the parks or the resorts yet, but I wanted to know your experiences with CP CMs. I have a passion of Disney (clearly if I'm on here) and I don't want to be the stereotypical, bad CP. How can I make your Disney experience magical? Thanks!

Congrats. The fact that you have the desire to give a magical experience is a great start.
Keep the magic at the surface as much as possible, I honestly think most cm, including cp cm want to give out a magical experience but the pressure on the job and the unmagical guests that yell and complain on an hourly basis might deplete your magic pixie bag.
Don't take anything personal, try and brush off the cranky situations and bathe in the magical moments you are certain to create.

 

[estherhead]

The magic of Disney is kindness. See people as people and treat them with kindness and you'll be a great CM.

 

[disneyvoice]

Congrats!! Just wanted to say that we have never had a negative impression of the CP CMs. In fact my DH and I have found ourselves, many times, commenting to one another that a CP CM we had just interacted with really seemed to exude the qualities that Disney wants and probably has a great future with the company if that's what they want. Just be yourself - they hired you for YOU.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Don't put up with crap from bratty customers. The customer is not always right. Behaving like they are will only exacerbate the problem.

 

[PSUGuy]

The fact that you're asking this question indicates that you probably will be a Dream CM.

Bill From PA

 

[Skywise]

On a more serious note - always be helpful at 140%. Treat every customer's problem as a crisis (and when it is an actual crisis be reassuring that everything is under control).

Mainly - no more about DW and the system then the customer's do. I've got a friend that works at DW and I know more than he does about what's available and how certain scenarios/systems work and he's been there for more than 5 years! Now, granted he's not customer facing anymore but he was when he first started.

For example I couldn't find a particular Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom station on Main Street and was asking one of the CMs on main street where it might be - her response? "Oooh - I don't play SOMK". Now while that's a perfectly valid response - It's not helpful. I don't expect the CMs to play SOMK but if you work on main street you might want to know where those SOMK stations ARE.

Another example from an earlier trip - was trying to figure out if Celebrate the Magic was going to do two shows that night (this was just as MDE was getting started so I couldn't check the schedule online) As people were grabbing spots for the fireworks I asked one of the crowd control CMs in front of the castle if there was going to be a second show after the fireworks. "I dunno".

 

[KittyKitty]

Some advice I got from my manager when I was working retail.

1. Smile, even when you don't feel like it.

2. If you don't know the answer to a question, be sure to know where you can go or direct the guest to find the answer.

3. Even its the 5000th time you've been asked where the bathrooms are, treat it like the 1st time.

4. 9 out 10 guests truly believe they have a valid concern. 1 out of 10 are trying to take advantage. Don't treat the 9 like they are the 1.

Have a great time!

 

[Mrs Geek]

Your final answer to a guest question should never be "I don't know." If you don't know the answer, you should respond with, "I don't know, but-" and then either point them towards someone more knowledgeable who you think may have the answer (if you're not able to drop everything and go searching right that second) or, if you are able to, you should turn to the resource that would have that information (if it's something you could look up on a computer or a park map). For me, the best CMs are not the ones who necessarily give you freebies (I mean obviously that's great when it happens) but rather the people who genuinely care about helping you solve your problem, even if they're not the ones who can solve it. I work with a different kind of customer in my professional life- it's not retail- but it's still a rule I live by: never stop at "I don't know."

You're going to encounter a lot of terrible guests and it can be incredibly demoralizing, but, as difficult as it is, try to mentally give every jerk the benefit of the doubt. When I worked in fast food, I had to make myself believe that nobody is born a jerk; bad things happen to people that turn them into jerks. So when a guest is being a jerk to you, try- difficult though it may be- to feel sorry for them, and assume that something bad has happened that makes them act the way they do. If you approach them from a mentally sympathetic place, you're less likely to take the abuse personally, and less likely to respond with your own abuse. And remember that there are good people out there! You just might not encounter many of them working in retail

 

[FastPasser.]

Don't put up with crap from bratty customers. The customer is not always right. Behaving like they are will only exacerbate the problem.

That's a very difficult line to walk and requires practice and patience to deal with it effectively.

Don't take anything personal, try and brush off the cranky situations and bathe in the magical moments you are certain to create.

You should be a CM.

 

[TavieP]

If you're asking this question, you're well on your way. Kindness, friendliness, "being present" (engaging in conversation, offering a sticker, anything that shows that you're happy to see us.) I know this isn't easy in the fact of the constant barrage of cranky, sweaty people you have to deal with daily - I marvel at the CMs who make this look so easy when I must be the thousandth person they've smiled at that day.