The Bad Employee Who Defined Her Bank (Told by Ritz-Carlton Founder)

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There's a better way to fly private. What up, it's Dramos. You may know me from the recap on L.A. TV. Now I've got my own podcast, Life as a Gringo, coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday.

We'll be talking real and unapologetic about all things life, Latin culture and everything in between from someone who's never quite fit in. Listen to Life as a Gringo on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. 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 podcasts. Up next, a story by Horst Schultze, 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 Horst to tell the story about what he taught a bank about its own customer service. Here's Horst.

I'm not not telling you what you have to do, but understand you define yourself every moment. I tell the story about the bank there in the book. I lived in Chicago and I knew the bank very well, the advertiser. I've never been in a bank, but in the meantime, I was, I have started here in Atlanta and I was invited by them, by that bank to talk to the 300 manager, don't forget it, about customer service, customer satisfaction, service. The day before, I still had my apartment, I was trying to rent and went to look at the apartment, go 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 outside building already, magnificent, stately, 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 to tell us and 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, complying to the wishes and farewell. That's service. Welcome, comply, farewell. What's the expectation of the customer when they come by 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.

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, so if I know as a business, this is what people expect from me. I build processes to deliver it. So I'm in the maze.

Not long timeliness now. Number one, I look left and somebody on the right screams, next! That was the first step of service. I come to her teller, was a woman.

By the way, men are usually worse in service. Was a lady. As 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 want to change $50. She exercised. And she said, 10, 20, 45, 50, next! And I look at my product. My change is a product. No defect.

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, 20, 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, the next gentleman, please. When I come to her teller, ideally, she would have called me, welcome, Mr. Schulze.

No, in this case, she wouldn't know my name. I understand that. But that is the ideal service, personalized.

Welcome, Mr. Schulze. How may I help you? Just want to change $50. Ideally, she would have said, 10, 20, 45. And here are four coins, five coins.

Because I know you collect coins. Individualized to me. Now, that is great service. Then I would have moved immediately to a level of trust and loyalty. But what did she do? 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 15 years, I used them for an example as a 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 she mistreated me.

I said, that bank is a poor bank. And a thanks to Greg Hengler for the production and editing on the storytelling. And a special thanks to Horst 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 by Horst on our website.

Go to alamericanstories.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 stem-liner 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 right there.

These days, when you can just be really good at something, it stands out. The story of how to treat people. Horst Schulze 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 the 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 alamericanstories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot.

Go to Our American Stories. So you never became a soccer star, but you could still show out during the FIFA World Cup 2022 with cool soccer swag from Frito-Lay, the official USA snack of the FIFA World Cup 2022. Add your picture to the Golden World Soccer Ball, then pass the ball to fellow fans for a chance to score custom swag.

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