This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. That feeling when you're trying to build your credit, and it's like over and over again. Good news! Chase Credit Journey can help you with a personalized score improvement plan provided by Experian, so when you still need that credit built.
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It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Fall is here, and the Home Depot has everything you need for an outdoor refresh.
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Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job. For indeed sponsored jobs. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people.
And to search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the iHeartRadio app. to Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Up next, a story by Horst Schulze. Who is the co-founder of the Ritz Carlton Hotel and knows more about customers, customer service, And how to really take care of business when it comes to taking care of customers. Nobody, nobody is better.
here's horse to tell the story about what he taught a bank. about its own customer service. Here's horse. You define yourself. Forgive me anybody who doesn't, but let me tell you.
If you, as a young man, spike your hair and f a colour em green, and and and look like a bum, you are defining yourself as a bum. Period. Forgive me, but that's a fact. You define it. And it's up to you what you define.
I'm not telling you what you have to do, but understand. You define yourself every moment. I tell the story about the bank there in in the book. I lived in Chicago and I knew the bank very well. They advertised.
I've never been in a bank, but in the meantime, I was have started here. In Atlanta, and I was invited by them, by that bank, to talk to the 300 manager, I never forget it. About Customer service, customer satisfaction, service. Got there the day before. I still had my apartment.
I tried to rent and went to look at the apartment, got around. Again, I knew them well. They advertised service all the time. On the radio station I have sat in my car. But the day before I thought, gee, I've never been in that bank.
Tomorrow somebody is bound to say Have you been in our bank? And I better be able to say yes.
So I went to that bank.
Now Walking into this And outside the building already, magnificent, stately. And and you walk in, I mean, marble floor, marble pillars, you can feel the money all around you, it is very impressive, very wow And all the way over there, a long counter the tellers in front of the maze So I walk into the maze.
Now, what is service? We have to establish here what is service, one more time. It starts with welcome. compliant to the wishes And farewell. That's service.
Welcome. Comply farewell. What's the expectation of the customer when they come in? Buy anything. We must understand that.
You or I or anybody has the same subconscious expectation no matter what you buy. If it is legal service Or a bottle of water, or a car, or radio. You have the same subconscious expectations. You want no defect. You want your product to be right.
You want timeliness, you don't want to wait for your bottle of water, you want when you want it. and you want the people who give it to you to be nice to you. Those are the three things that are so if I know as an As a business, this is what people expect from me. I build processes to deliver it.
So I'm in in the ba in the maze. No no s not long. I'm Timeliness now. I'm it. Number one.
I look left. And somebody on the right screams, NEXT! That was the first step of service. I come to her, tell her I was a woman. By the way, men are usually worse in service.
was a lady I she when I reached her teller, she looks down, finishes some transaction for one second or two. I see her face, I don't know her, she doesn't know me. but when she looked up it was very clear that she hated me. And she said yes. Yes, I said just one change fifty dollars.
She exercised. And she said ten, twenty, forty five, fifty next And I look at my product, my change is a product. Not effect. The timeliness was good. But the individual service was non-existent.
What could she have done? She could have said the next gentleman, please. Come to tell her, welcome, sir. How may I help you? Just want to change $50.
That's my pleasure. 10, 12, 45, 50. Have a wonderful day. Bang. What happened to me, I was dissatisfied.
Or there could have been a third way of serving me. She could have said, Next gentleman, please. When they come to a teller, Ideally, she would have called me welcome, mister Schulzer. No, in this case, you wouldn't know my name. I understand that.
But that is the ideal service, personalized. Welcome, mister Shortset. How may I help you? Just want to change fifty dollars. Ideally, she would have sent ten twenty forty five.
And here are four coins, five coins. Because I know you collect cons, individualize to me.
Now that is credit service. Then I would have moved immediately to a level of trust. and loyalty. But what did she do? Dev she did the first thing that I explained.
She said next And she treated me As if she was angry that I was there.
So what did I do? For the next fifteen years, I use them for an example as as lousy service. What happened here? She defined the bank. She defined her fellow workers.
That can't happen. You can't let that happen in an organization. that one employee defines you And I didn't say Susie mistreated me. I said that bank. as a poor bank.
And a thanks to Greg Hengler for the production and editing on the storytelling. And a special thanks to Hor Schulze for sharing his wisdom with us. Excellence wins a no-nonsense guide to becoming the best in a world of compromise is his book. By the way, we have a bunch of stories. Buy horst on our website, go to ouramericanstories.com.
and just type in his name, just put in H-O-R-S-T, and you'll get story after story, including his life story, which is a stemwinder and a real beauty about the American dream and about excellence. And it's so hard to find these days when you can just be really good at something. It stands out. The story of how to treat people. Poor Schultz here.
on our American stories. Lee Habib here, the host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country. Stories from our big cities and small towns. But we truly can't do this show without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to ouramericanstories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Go to ouramericanstories.com and give. That feeling when you're trying to build your credit.
And it's like over and over again. Good news! Chase Credit Journey can help you with a personalized score improvement plan provided by Experian, so when you still need that credit built. You have the guidance you need. You can even get a Chase Secure banking account with no monthly service fee if you're 17 to 24 years old.
Hallelujah! This tool is for education purposes and doesn't guarantee you'll reach your credit score goal. The score you receive uses Vantage Score 3.0 model and may not be the model used by lenders. Member FDIC. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans.
It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues.
Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected.
That's why sun protection and timely Detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. Yeah. You've watched racing.
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Mm.
