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Louie Gravance

Customer Experience Expert - Translating Disney’s Service Principles to Other Industries

About

Gender: Male
Nationality:
Languages: English
Travels from: United States

Engagement Types

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Biography Highlights

  • Former Disney Institute Professor Who Wrote Customer Service Curriculums Customer Experience Expert – Translating Disney’s Service Principles to Other Industries SERVICE is a SUPERPOWER! (Lessons Learned in a Magic Kingdom) “The guy that can make the ‘Disney Thing’ actually work outside of Disney.” The Only Expert in Capturing Disney’s Essence to Create the Happiest Workplaces on Earth 7 SECRETS for Consistently Creating WOW Service!

Biography

Meet Louie Gravance

Louie Gravance is often referred to as “the guy that can make the ‘Disney Thing’ actually work outside of Disney.” For over 25 years at the Walt Disney Company, Louie enjoyed a distinguished career with Disney theme parks, designing everything from live entertainment experiences to customer service training programs through the Disney Institute in Orlando Florida.

Following his hugely effective tenure in Orlando, Gravance left Disney to pursue other opportunities and soon amassed even more success working as a consultant, customer service speaker, and corporate culture expert. Louie has designed multi-million-dollar service campaigns for companies such as ING Financial, Choice Hotels, Microbac Technologies, Nikon, and The American Council of Independent Laboratories based on his learnings at Disney and the curriculum he wrote. Money Magazine once credited the efforts of Louie Gravance for “literally changing the consciousness of business in America” through his service campaigns and initiatives that have included Bank of America’s “The Bank of America Spirit” campaign—deemed the most successful customer service training initiative in the company’s history. In 2014, his unique entertainment and training experience was called upon to be part of the opening team of Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley expansion at Universal, Orlando, where he currently remains a “Master Wandkeeper” with the Olivander Wand Experience.

At only twelve years old, he began working in California as a stage, film, and television actor and went on to appear in over thirty-five national television commercials. In 1987 (after nearly fifteen years of playing fifteen-year-olds in show business) Gravance was offered a summer job as a singing comic at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. This began what would become an adventure at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida spanning three decades. It was during this time that he sharpened his skills on stage as a performer, engaging audiences with his humor and high energy that met the caliber of Disney. Eventually, the pinnacle and finale of Louie’s Disney journey was being part of the creative team that made “Disney’s Approach to Quality Service” a staple of the Disney Institute curriculum to this day.

Gravance is the recipient of the Disney Partners in Excellence Award and the Spirit of Disney Award and has been recognized internationally as a Disney keynote speaker, having begun his professional speaking engagements on behalf of Disney in 1998.

Through his company, Louie Gravance Creative Content, in Orlando, Florida he continues to offer clients unique training programs with incorporated themes such as “Delighting Customers Makes YOU Stronger” and powerful initiatives including “Service is a Superpower!” We’re proud to announce the success of his first book: SERVICE is a SUPERPOWER! (Lessons Learned in a Magic Kingdom) published through Mascot books, and often purchased as a take-away from his live presentations. The book allows clients to take home a guide for developing “The Ten Skills of the Service Superhero“.

Louie brings the professional, top-tier training he garnered from Disney as a performer to every presentation he hosts. While corporate and employee growth is serious business, humor and heart remain at the center of every Louie Gravance presentation because he also knows, from experience, there’s no business BUT show business.

Videos

Popular Talks

When a service employee asks the question, “What’s in it for me,” the honest and correct response is EVERYTHING.”Your team members deserve to know that an investment OF themselves is an investment IN themselves.

This is not always an easy message to convey and convince your staff that “great service serves the server first.”

Let me Louie it for you.

Just as he convinced and inspired thousands of cast members at Walt Disney World on their first day; let’s illustrate to your employees how looking for opportunities to create magic for a customer can transcend their careers and lives.

When a WOW moment in customer service takes place it doesn’t happen only for the customer, it occurs for both, simultaneously. Inspiring your team to make that connection is the single, greatest tool for maintaining a culture of service excellence. It has been Louie’s pleasure to re-ignite the passion for service excellence with bankers, nurses, claims adjusters, and casino workers just to name a small few.

This power talk explores what a WOW moment looks, sounds, and feels like and why delivering it is good for everyone involved.

Every participant will come to understand that every customer interaction is an opportunity. An opportunity to define, not just what they’re willing to do, but what they’re willing to be.

I am deeply passionate about employee engagement. During my time at Disney World, it was both an honor and a responsibility to train and motivate tens of thousands of cast members around a shared narrative. While many of the techniques I used back then remain effective, others have evolved. Just as our customers have changed, so have the needs and expectations of our employees, necessitating new methods of engagement.

Today, neither your customers nor your employees want to be mere co-stars in your brand’s “show.” Instead, they seek to have their actions—whether through purchases or performance—reflect their own successes as well as those of your organization. They aspire to be heroes of their own stories. Is it possible to align everyone’s individual needs and goals with a common purpose? Absolutely, and I’m here to show you how.

Let’s delve into the four key quadrants of an engaged work culture:

Story: Reflect on this—have you been focusing on what you want your employees to do, or on what you need them to be? They will commit to your story as long as it clearly benefits them and defines their role within that narrative.

Language: This was the silver bullet in Disney’s training success. Achieve clarity, consistency, and discipline in your internal communications.

Behaviors: I will equip your team with the seven most crucial actions to become and remain engaged.

Recognition: Are you recognizing achievements based on what your customers or clients desire, or based on your own objectives? The way we recognize excellence is one of our most powerful tools and often the most overlooked.

Your organization can unite around a collective narrative. I’m eager to guide you through this transformative journey.

ALL organizations are constantly engaging their internal and external customers in a NARRATIVE of sorts. Regardless of what anyone is selling or providing, a story is conveyed through every single transaction, involving every single sense we possess. This narrative drives everything from customer expectations to employee satisfaction and even your very BRAND ESSENCE.

• What do we look like?
• What do we sound like?
• What do we smell like?
• What do we feel like?

Since all of your team members are telling a story with every transaction, shouldn’t it be the story you want to convey to your customers? Every day? Every transaction?

For over 40 years Louie has appeared on radio, network television, film, stage, and in theme parks, as well as worked with corporate trainers in medicine, retail, foods, manufacturing, automakers, and insurance companies to name just a few. They are all, at their core, show business.

This is a lively and comedic talk that can be customized to your event and purpose.

This workshop is the perfect companion piece with the keynote, “SERVICE is a SUPERPOWER!” We further explore the delivery of “magical” service moments consistently through the use of ten basic skills.

Serving with INTENTION, and serving with VISION are just two of the skills covered in this deep-dive into the practical application of the Disney service principles.

Participants will:

1. Learn ways of identifying the narrative of your business.
2. Create an intention statement aimed at supporting the goals of your event.
3. Isolate keywords that ground your customers’ experience.
4. Learn a fun exercise they can implement with their staff called, “Good Show/Bad Show.
5. Create an action plan for performance improvement.
6. Laugh a lot.

Aimed at leaders and managers tasked with modeling and inspiring service excellence, participants come away with a training template for sharing what they’ve learned back home.

Workshop

During this exciting and engaging session, you’ll explore the delivery of “magical” service moments consistently through the use of ten basic skills. Serving with INTENTION, and serving with VISION are just two of the skills covered in this deep-dive into the practical application of the Disney service principles.

You will:

  • Learn ways of identifying the narrative of your business
  • Create an intention statement aimed at supporting the goals of your store
  • Isolate keywords that ground your customers’ experience
  • Learn a fun exercise you can implement with your staff called, “Good Show/Bad Show”
  • Create an action plan for performance improvement
  • Laugh a lot.
  • Aimed at owners and managers tasked with modeling and inspiring service excellence, you will come away with a training template for sharing what you’ve learned back home.

Books

Service is a Superpower: Lessons Learned in a Magic Kingdom

In Service is a Superpower: Lessons Learned in Magic Kingdom, Louie Gravance uses his signature combination of humor and personal experience to narrate his journey through the realm of customer service. Part memoir, part self-help manual for businesses big and small, Gravance interweaves his tales of life at Disney theme parks with practical guidance gleaned during the course of a thirty-year career in the service and entertainment industries. Gravance teaches us that the importance of delivering the finest service experiences possible is not just crucial for the livelihood of a company—it also leads to developing a culture of respect and responsibility that is so coveted in the corporate world today. Throughout the book, Gravance crafts an intriguing tale that demonstrates how working at Disney theme parks changed the way he viewed customer service, and elucidates the transformational effects it can have on those who provide it. Service is a Superpower is a personal history and guidebook of best industry practices, offering a unique spin on a tale as old as time, all presented in the tone and style that only Gravance can deliver. From entertainer to training designer for the Disney University in Orlando, Florida, he shares the stories and lessons that inform his central philosophy: great service serves the server first!

Read more..

Service is a Superpower: Lessons Learned in a Magic Kingdom

In Service is a Superpower: Lessons Learned in Magic Kingdom, Louie Gravance uses his signature combination of humor and personal experience to narrate his journey through the realm of customer service. Part memoir, part self-help manual for businesses big and small, Gravance interweaves his tales of life at Disney theme parks with practical guidance gleaned during the course of a thirty-year career in the service and entertainment industries. Gravance teaches us that the importance of delivering the finest service experiences possible is not just crucial for the livelihood of a company—it also leads to developing a culture of respect and responsibility that is so coveted in the corporate world today. Throughout the book, Gravance crafts an intriguing tale that demonstrates how working at Disney theme parks changed the way he viewed customer service, and elucidates the transformational effects it can have on those who provide it. Service is a Superpower is a personal history and guidebook of best industry practices, offering a unique spin on a tale as old as time, all presented in the tone and style that only Gravance can deliver. From entertainer to training designer for the Disney University in Orlando, Florida, he shares the stories and lessons that inform his central philosophy: great service serves the server first!

Speaker Bureaus and Talent Agencies

Louie Gravance is available to book via these agencies
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Executive Speakers Bureau
Speaking Agency
Speakers Associates
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