Episode 195: Excellence Wins (Part 1)

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit podcast. This podcast will give independent insurance agents all of the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromsol.

Foreign.

Welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This is going to be such a special series and we're just talking about it, right, Joel McKinley.

Right.

And this is in the first P. The affectionate People, Processes and promotion. Excellent people. Well, we're going to raise the bar in this very special series on recent experiences that I've had and I've been working with my team, including the unstoppable Joel McKinley. Welcome back, Joel McKinley.

Hey, thanks for having me once again, Mike.

Yeah, fantastic. Of course. Super excited. Because, you know, you're working with teams within the UP community, helping them, helping them grow, continue to be better leaders and everything around that. So this couldn't be more timely because as we were just talking about, as well, as much as we preach it and preach it and preach it again seven times to Jack Welch. Right?

Seven times.

You cannot invest enough time in your number one customer. Right, Right. And who's. Who's. Every business has number one customer. Your team, your team. Together, everybody achieves more. You can't invest enough time because there's people out there gunning for your team.

Absolutely. They would love to take your rockstar talent.

They are taking rockstar talent. We've had it happen this week in our UPP circles. They are companies out there. And after it happened within the last couple days, I looked it up online and there are recruiters out there galore, gunning for your team members. And so I strongly encourage you to take copious notes. Don't think it. Ink it so you can sync it right up to your brain. And after that, you want to implement through the 12:3:1 philosophy every single day in every single way. You've got to take care of your team and you've got to always be recruiting. Please always be recruiting. Use our systems, install them in your business. Because of course, it's not going to happen to you. Please always be recruiting. But let's get into this series and before we get going, you had something else you wanted to wish everybody well.

Mike, because this episode is going to air this Saturday. I would be remiss if I did not wish everyone A absolute fantastic National Blueberry Pancake Day and a national Lego Day, which is another company we could.

Definitely study a hundred percent. And I've studied the LEGO company. What a phenomenon. And you know what? There was a lot of involved in with a LEGO company when they started.

What was it?

There's wins and there's lessons. Tons of lessons with the LEGO companies. AKA failure, nobody died, you can recover and move on lessons. They are prominent in the business world, period. End report. You have to know that. So I got a question about blueberry pancakes. What do you got? We talking blueberries inside the batter or just sprinkled on top?

I prefer them inside the pancake. What do you do, Mike?

100% inside the batter. And every time the grandkids come over, I also put secret ingredients inside the waffle and pancakes and I don't tell them. And we make a whole teaching situation out of it. Like can you taste the secret ingredient in the pancake or waffle?

That sounds exciting.

Yeah. And I have a very, very secret proprietary ingredient that I put in all of my pancakes and waffles. Stay tuned to the podcast. You may learn about that on a future podcast. Let's get started on excellence. You ready?

Let's grow.

Let's grow. Absolutely. So we've got to be coming. We have to be getting better every single day, by the way. And my calendar says today. Don't let small minds convince you that your ideas are too big. Don't let it happen to you. I had a phenomenal, incredible opportunity recently with my bride. We were celebrating our wedding anniversary of almost three decades now. And I wanted to take her to a very special place that neither of us had ever been. Now we're in a position where we can do that without blinking an eye. And I said, honey, I want to take you to the Ritz. And we're going to spend some time at the Ritz enjoying each other, celebrating our anniversary. I had no intention going there. And I know I've told you this and you're supporting me on this. Right? Right. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. So saying to her, hey, honey, I just want to take you and have you pampered and enjoy the experience. I have no intention of checking out the Ritz. I have no intention of checking out the Ritz because it came up multiple times in my intense study of culture a couple of months ago. Over two months. Haha. Right. So what happened is we've talked about as a team already.

The first morning we were there, she was dreaming sweet dreams in the Bed, the luxurious bed in the luxurious.

Over looking, overlooking the ocean room. You know, hearing the ocean breezes. She had the door open and so I was up early doing my thing. The daily habits. Right, right. You think daily habits are important, by the way? Jfum.

Well, it's all about consistency, Mike.

Oh mean the number one reason that businesses don't achieve their goals and people don't achieve their goals in life.

Lack of consistency.

Lack of consistency. 100. So anyway, I went out to do my thing and I ended up at the coffee shop because I couldn't make a coffee in the room because it was a very fancy espresso coffee machine that made noise. And so I had to go find a coffee. So I ended up in the coffee shop downstairs with my new friends Kelly and Surinan and these. This is Kelly and Surinan for everybody. If you are. By the way, if you're watching this podcast on our YouTube channel, just go to YouTube, okay? Search Unstoppable Profit producer. Click on videos and you can see all of the visual audio of our podcast. If you're watching this on YouTube. This is Kelly Brennan and Suranon, her teammate. And I got to know them very, very well. And I was so pumped and excited because you started receiving my text messages, right?

I did.

And so they gave me after I built a conversation with them and I started asking the questions and you know, the things that people want. Two things. The two things more that people want more than sex and money. Right.

Well, it's written on their face for those that are watching. It's praise and recognition.

Praise and recognition. Exactly. Thank you. And so I started praising and recognizing them for what they are and who they are as an organization. I had heard about it, but now I'm experiencing it. I told them about Guy who checked us in. Yes, I still remember his name for a reason. And I talked about Guy who had a. A title on his name tag, Learning coach. And I asked Ghee about his tag and what was a learning coach was. And he told me, he goes, I just help lead people in the Ritz Carlton basics and I help make sure that they consistently practice the Ritz Carlson basics. How often?

Every day.

Every single day. Exactly. And then I met Kelly Brennan. And what was Kelly Brennan's title on her name badge?

Learning coach.

Learning coach. And so I got to spend time with Kelly Brennan learning more about the Ritz Carlton basics and what excellence means to them. And I was down there every morning huddling with Suranon and Kelly Brennan. And the first day I was down there after I built a quick conversation with Kelly and she could tell I was engaged, I guess just by the look of my face and everything. She said, well, we all have these cards, and I have my original card right here. And she said, we all have these cards and we focus on these cards daily and everything on the cards. I said, everybody in the company and what do you think? She said, Joel McKinley.

Yes, of course.

Everybody in the company, right. They have the cards in their pockets. And Suriname actually pulled her out and showed it to me as well. And she said, it's what they focus on every single day. She said, it's who we are as an organization.

All of the time.

It's how we treat people. And she started going through stories and everything else that happened within the company. And she said, actually, my card's getting kind of worn out. Would you like to have it? And I tried to calm myself and not get too excited. I said, you're going to give that to me? She said, yeah, you can have it. I need to get a new one anyway. I said, oh, twist my arm. Okay, I'll take it. So I took it. And so now I am proud and privileged to possess my very own Ritz Carlton service values card. So every team member in the company has one of these. And do you know what I found, Joel McKinley? My experience there.

What did you find?

Every single team member practices these.

Question for you in the.

Yeah, go ahead.

So her offering to give you the card because it was slightly worn out speaks absolute volumes that even the card that they keep, that they study on a daily basis must be kept in a pristine condition. Yes.

Excellence.

In the book that I'm going to be studying very, very soon. And you've smartly already downloaded Good for you.

By the co founder of Ritz, Horst Schultz. Excellence wins.

Only the best, not the best available. Right? You can only be satisfied with excellence.

You can only be satisfied with hiring the best, not the best available.

Because you're only as good as your weakest link. Yeah, exactly. So that's why this is such a timely topic. Let's keep diving in. You ready?

Absolutely.

So we have downloaded the Ritz. I had the down. I had the Ritz Carlton 20 basics with me when we went to the Ritz Wink wink. And so I had studied it and I wanted to see if it was all going to become reality in my experience there. And I'm here to tell you that it did.

And what Joel McKinley and I will do over the upcoming podcast on this topic, that excellence wins we're going to convert this thought process to your insurance agency business to help them, right? Absolutely.

They need.

All we want is your further advancement, achievement and ultimately success in everything you do. But it's on you. You've got to own it and you've got to own the excellence within your insurance agency business. And you've got to prepare yourself every single day.

Every single day. So I'm looking at the R. Carlton 20 basics. They have a brand promise, ladies and gentlemen. Serving ladies and gentlemen, that's who they are. And we help people within the UPP circles on their core values and their core purpose, right?

Absolutely. Mike, Something about that is when I was reading through your notes that you sent me last night, now that I have over two pages of notes. Thank you. Is they are very, very clear on their ideal client and their ideal teammate. And it is absolutely clearly defined in.

All the ways, transparently. I mean, you walk into the environment and you can feel it. I mean, you walk. I mean the facility that we were in, you walk into the lobby, there's at least one person greeting you outside the door. And I think the second or third day that we were there, I got into a conversation. My Cindy and I were coming back from an outing. We went out to something and we came back and kind of mid morning there's this gentleman standing at the door and he goes, how's it going today? I said, fantastic, how are you? And he goes, I'm great. My name's Ted Haas. What's your name? I said, my name's Mike. He goes, well, welcome back. Is there anything more that we can do for you type scenario? Of course, Music to my ears. And all of a sudden we were in a conversation and he wants to learn more about me and he dropped something. He goes, well, you know like an Atomic Habits. I said, atomic Habits by James Clear. He goes, you know the book? I said, I not only do I know the book, I've been through it two times and it's got absolute gold in it. He goes, you like to read? I said, oh, I love to read you. And all of a sudden we're trading phones and we're trading books that we've been reading. We got into this conversation right there. Ted has, I mean, just incredible. Very smart, worldly gentlemen. So that's the kind of environment you walk in. And they've got roses, fresh, real roses lined in the lobby and this place where, you know, ladies can take pictures and all this kind of stuff. Phenomenal, amazing stuff.

So Mike, you just.

They set the Precedent right off the get go.

So, Mike, I have a question for you. You just said we were coming back from somewhere and you didn't know, but you immediately remember his name, the conversation and everything about it that took you completely out of where you had just been and brought you to something where you remember everything about it because it was a unique experience.

Right. And that leads. That leads into the first of three steps of service.

Which lead into their Ritz Carlton 20 basics.

That we're going to go into detail over this series. We're not going to get into it all today. Let's be clear on that. We're going to go deep, delivering excellence in every process. We're going to go deep on this to make sure all of you have all of the ammunition you need to be excellent because excellence wins. Okay, Ladies and gentlemen, Serving ladies and gentlemen. So that gentleman was so kind to serve us at the highest level. He lived it out. He used my first name. He wanted to know my last name. He wanted to know how to. To spell it. Wow. His name was spelled T, E, D, J, A, S. It was a unique name. Pondahadi or something like that was his last name. But I'm still repeating it. Phenomenal stuff. So, I mean, I remember everybody. And we'll get to this as we, you know, before we wrap up today. Even the bellman, Michael and the valet, Steve, which are the last two people that I interacted with when we left.

I still have their first name.

And there's a story behind it because they built the relationship from the beginning, right off the get go. You know, money follows trust. Yeah, exactly. But it's the depth of the relationship and that's why this is so important.

If you don't continue to build that relationship with your team every single day in some way, you're missing the opportunity and you set the tone and the precedent right from the. The moment one. Okay, so their brand promise. Aha. Mission statement. We call it a promise, right?

Yep.

Their brand promise. We're ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen.

They say and they live this by actions. This motto exemplifies what people can anticipate when they are a guest at the RIT at a Ritz Carlton property worldwide. They don't do this at just one property. They do it at every.

Property. Gold, Right?

Right. They set the expectations exactly and they deliver.

We were talking about that yesterday in our training and social proof, right? Ask absolutely, yes. Earn absolutely, yes. But delivering is what it's all about. Kelly, Surah, Nun, Michael, Steve, Ted has ghee and everybody else that I encountered there delivered. Absolutely. So let's talk about. There are three steps of service. And then in future episodes on this subject. Excellent wins. We'll wrap up the 20 basics and how you can build that into your agency business. Sound good, Joel McKen.

Sounds good to me.

Yeah. So number one, the three steps of service, which is number three in their 20 basics, a warm and sincere grace greeting. Use the guest's name if and when possible.

And we just talked about that. They did. I didn't have a name badge, name badge on, but they wanted to know my name. And so can you envision every agency, an entrepreneur and team member that we work with, getting into that habit?

It.

How much does that cost? I mean, it's nothing, right? Yeah. The bottom line is two things. One, no one cares how much you know until they know you care.

Right.

And if they don't know you care, they may not pay attention to anything you have to say.

But what's unique about your name, Joel McKinley?

I mean, it's my favorite word in the English language. Mike.

I wasn't thinking about that one, but that's accurate, too. I mean, everybody's playing their favorite radio station.

I mean, Mike, if. If somebody yell. If you're in a room full of people and somebody yells, mike, your head's gonna turn. That's the only word that will make your head turn immediately.

Right.

It's your favorite word. So you're giving that to every customer. So I have a question for you on that, Mike. After that, you had their initial reaction, and they asked for your name. Did they remember your name throughout your entire stay and engage in conversation with you every time they saw you?

Yes. Wow. So I went down the next day because I was up again early, and she was dreaming and listening to the ocean breezes in the extremely comfortable bed. So I went down and Kelly said, hey, Mike, good morning. I'm like, wow. Now I have a fairly easy to remember name. I don't know if it was that or just the silly look on my face or the unique shirt that I had on. Because she said something about the second day. She goes, lions, not sheep. Tell me more about that. And of course I did. I said, it's a unique thought process. It's not for everybody, but we stand and believe in who we are and what we do. She goes, that's kind of like the Ritz Carlton. I said, exactly.

Wow.

Yeah. So anyway, a warm and sincere greeting. Think about those words.

Warm.

People want to receive it because of who you are. And how you treat them and sincere, sincere from the heart.

Not like you just have to answer the phone because you have to, because you have a J, O B. No, you have a C, A R E E R.

And you, you're happy and excited.

And my wife was telling the, the lady who was cleaning our room every day, she goes, you need to give her a big tip now. We need to make sure she gets it. And I'm like, honey, why? She goes, because she is awesome. She has taken such good care of me. Wow. Right. So of course I got to pull some money out and make her day. So anyway, a warm and sincere greeting and use the guest's name if and when possible, all the time. What I was going to say about people's name, it's theirs and theirs only. And nobody has, you know, normally the same name. Like you said, when you're crowd somebody says, Joel, you look and you probably feel better than I do because when I'm in that environment, there's a lot of mics.

Right.

It's obviously very popular at a certain point and still is. Right. So that's number one of the three steps of service. Number two, anticipation and compliance with guests needs.

Anticipation and compliance with guests needs. Is that just some of their stay or is that in every area they might enter into?

This is it ties into a thought process you've shared with me before is how can I help Blank get what Blank wants?

Exactly. That's how you motivate people.

Right.

What can I do today to help Joel achieve what Joel wants? It's that simple. And if you're looking for a takeaway from this podcast today on how to motivate your people. Let me repeat that. Write this down. What can I do today to help Blank achieve what Blank wants? And what you're going to fill in. The blank is the name of your teammate. That's it. And so they're living and breathing that as well at the Ritz for all of their guests. So Kelly Brennan might have been thinking, what can I do today to help Mike have what Mike wants per se. And same for Suron, same for Guy, same for Tedas and everybody else. Anticipation and compliance, Right. So I used to think it was Wayne Gretzky until high achieving UPP member Bill Butler corrected me and went did the research and said it was Gordy. How skate to where the puck's going to be. Right?

Right.

That's anticipation.

And it's thinking in every situation.

What can I do to make this experience? It's about the experience for this customer, the best it can be. How can I anticipate that? And if I don't know, what do you need to do? Because if you don't blank, you don't get.

If you don't ask.

That's right, ask. If you don't ask, you do not get, period in any element. Number three of the three steps of service. A fond farewell. And this is what I mentioned earlier, A fond farewell. Shall I interject my own word? A fond, memorable farewell. Give them a warm goodbye and use their names and if and when possible. And they kind of put that in there if and when possible. But I think it's known that you need to use their first names. Right?

Right.

Or their complete names. Because I had multiple people say, what's your last name? Mike. I said, Stromso. And I just am in the habit of s T R O M, S O E. Because it's been repeated so many times. Oh, Mike Stromso. And they repeat it and subconsciously, what is it? It's music to my ears because I'm human.

Right.

So a fond farewell. We called down and asked for a bellman to come up and get our luggage because I got a beautiful array of flowers for Cindy for the room. I planned that in advance. Hint. I have planned to things in hotel rooms around the world for clients of our insurance agency business over the years. When I'm listening, two ears and one mouth, right?

Right.

When I'm listening to them tell them, telling me all about what they're going to be doing. And so I identify. They're going to be in a hotel room down in Tahiti. I call the hotel room and say, I want to have flowers and a nice tray, maybe a bottle of wine and cheese in the room, compliments of Mike Stompso. When they get there, is that going to be memorable for my clients?

Absolutely.

I hope you're paying attention to this, everybody. It's so the little things. Big doors swinging, little hinges. So same thing here. A fond farewell. Give them a warm goodbye and use their names if and when possible. So called to the. To the desk and said, hey, can you have a bellman or bellwoman bring a card up to the room so we can get our luggage? And Cindy need what? She said I got to make sure my flowers are well taken care of. And I get it, honey. After I got the bill, I understood why she wanted to take him. It was. I'm just kidding. Not. Anyway, with that being said, the bellman who came up, his name was Michael. And almost instantly he had Cindy, because what do you think? He said he followed number three.

Not only was he building up a fond farewell for him, he said, madame, I'm here to get your luggage and help you in any way possible. By the way, what's your name?

And she said, my name's Cindy. What's yours? My name is Michael. And she goes. And Cindy jokes about this. Maybe she's not, oh, I'm sorry about that. My husband's name is Michael.

Right. So anyway, all of a sudden, Cindy was in conversation wanting to know all about Michael. And we later found out that Michael was married to a gal from Colombia. And he's telling us all about his dreams and his family and how he got to work at that Ritz location. He's telling us about all the other Ritz locations. And I just happen to remember. And it's back in your neck of the woods. What is it? That place in North Carolina? Is it Ashford?

Asheville.

Asheville. He worked at the Ritz in Asheville or near Asheville.

Wow.

Right? Now, why do I remember these things?

He created number three, the fond farewell, the investment. He's creating the memory through personal relationship.

Teach your team. Create your core values. Create your service structure. I mean, I've got the card right here. These are.

The 12 service values. And I wanna. And I'm gonna. I'm gonna share this so many times, you're gonna get sick of me hearing it on this card. And the light's not letting me show it to you. Service values. And before they go into number one, it says, I am proud to be Ritz Carlton.

Think about that. That's our goal at upp, Right? Right. We're looking for every one of our members to say, I am proud to be upp.

Because at the end of the day, if we don't have members to serve, there is no upp.

Right.

And they say, I am proud to be Ritz Carlton. Fawn farewells the bellman, Michael, his wife from Columbia. He's showing us pictures of his daughter, showing us pictures of other, you know, adventures he's had as part of Ritz Carlton. He's proud to be.

Ritz Carlton. And then we got out to the car, and the valet happened to have our car sitting right there. And I said, oh, our car's right there. He said, I'm glad to make it easy for you. My name's Steve. What's your name? I said, my name's Mike. He goes, where are you from? And we're talking about, where are you from? He goes, so, what Brings you to the Ritz and how was your stay?

Wow.

I mean, just building it up. He goes, it's a beautiful day for a drive. Because he, you know, he figured out that we're not. We're driving about an hour to our house. He goes, it's a beautiful day for a drive. I said, it is. He goes, what do you have on your agenda for today? You have some sports or whatever? I said, the most important thing I have on my agenda today is sending out my rowing in the same direction.

As part of my Sunday planning system to my business teams. He goes, I love that. Tell me more about the rowing in the same direction. That interaction, it's just like standing there and he's looking me right in the eye, enjoying the conversation. And of course, I want to share with him about what I have going on in hopes that'll help them. He said, that sounds like something that they would be possibly could be doing at the Ritz from a leadership perspective. I said, I think you should share that with them. In fact, I've got right here on my phone the book page from the book can't eat you by Mark Sparks, where I learned that. Would you like me to send it to you? Wow.

Boom.

A fond farewell. I will suggest a fond farewell with a capital F on fond and a capital F on farewell. As we wrap up our session today, Joel.

Let'S remind everybody of the three steps of service. A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest's name if and when possible. Number two, anticipation and compliance with guest needs. And number three, a fond farewell. Give them a warm goodbye and use their names if and when possible in future. In part two of Excellence Wins, this podcast, all about the experiences at the Ritz. We're going to start diving into the 20 basics. Sounds good.

Sounds good to me.

Fantastic. All right, let's get this wrapped up. Thank you, everybody. I hope you got great value out of this episode. And if this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromso. I'm recognized as the leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can learn more about us @unstoppable profit producer.com if you're interested in one of our live virtual training events, please go to upfast start.com and if you want to join us in one of our live events to learn all about these kinds of strategies and more to grow your business, create wealth so you can have more freedom to enjoy your life on your terms, including learning about the Ritz live, please visit Be Unstoppable Boot Camp.com all of events are specifically designed to share our greatest money making strategies developed over 35 years in a 100% of the time independent insurance agency to help you grow, create wealth and have more freedom. Thank you for joining us on this podcast and please go to unstoppable profit podcast.com if this is your first time or anytime, go up to the top and click subscribe so you don't miss one valuable episode. And if if you got great value out of this podcast, please share it with somebody else that you know. Just share unstoppable profit podcast.com have them subscribe because the law of reciprocity is always in effect. Joel McKinley thank you sir. I will see you on part two of Excellence Wins.

Looking forward to it. See you then.

All right everybody have a great day. Until then, make a difference. Be unstoppable. Leave no regrets. You got this. We believe in you. I'll see you on the next episode.

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