I have written all week on how profit is hot again and my cheat sheet for finding more profitable decisions in your business. Today I want to show you a real world example of a company doing this really well.
Disney is the behemoth of the entertainment world. Box office hits, Disney parks, TV shows and a never ending stream of toys are all parts of the complex Disney world.
I want to focus on one area in particular, Disney Parks. Parks is where Disney really made many different and profitable decisions. To understand how Disney got here, let’s go back in time to 2021.
Like many related travel industries, Disney Parks was hit hard by the pandemic. Even if Florida tried to pretend that COVID didn’t exist, most people couldn’t travel and Disney Parks saw a decrease in visitors. They had a tough 2020 but their 2021 brought record profits with fewer visitors than ever.
They did it by following the principles from the Profitable Decisions Finder. Specifically, they found better decisions under the categories of Value, Technology and Customers. Here’s the guide in case you haven’t seen it.
The first decision they made was to change their ideal customer. Instead of focusing on local customers who visit Disney Parks multiple times per year (and even per week), they shifted their focus to once-in-a-lifetime customers. Going to Disney is akin to visiting Mecca for Muslims. It’s a special trip that deserves everything money can buy. You can imagine that these customers will spend more per visit than local customers.
The second decision was capturing and increasing all the value provided to customers. Many free perks became paid add ons giving customers options in their experience. For example, skipping the line was an add on as well as specific hotels. Some customers saw this as nickel-and-diming but not the new ideal customer. They saw it as getting more flexibility in their experience.
The third decision was introducing a new app, called Genie+, to facilitate the customer experience. You can buy all kinds of add ons through the app and it becomes the central way in which you manage your visit. It’s a fantastic use of technology to drive more profits.
Disney Parks has become a bright spot in an empire that is showing some cracks. While Disney Parks is cracking out record profits, Disney+ is losing billions of dollars with no end in sight. Perhaps Disney should be applying the same lens of profit to other parts of the business.
For your business, use the cheat sheet above start finding more profitable decisions in your business. I also recorded a short video walking you through how to use it.