Episode 196: Excellence Wins (Part 2)

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. I'm back with my episode partner and teammate, Mr. Joel McKinley. How you doing, Joel? I'm doing great, Mike.

Ready to dive back into this great subject.

100 agree. And we've been talking about this all week after we have been influenced by a world class company, the Ritz Carlton companies. And since we got influenced by them, we've been studying them and we've got so much more for you. And it really all started with our own experience, right?

What? Your experience? But it's on my bucket list now.

We're all in this together. So I like to spread the wealth of my own experience to everybody else. And that's what we're going to do on this episode of the podcast. So I was at the Ritz Carlton, blown away by their people, processes within the organization. And that's why we're sharing this in part two of Excellence Wins. And we're going to dive in today. But before we start that, I just wanted to share with everybody a book that I know you're ready to dive into, Joel. Oh yeah, you haven't already? And it's this book right here. And if you're on the YouTube version of the podcast, and if you don't know about that, just go to YouTube, search Unstoppable Profit Producer and go to the videos and all the visuals and audios of the podcast are there for your enjoyment and greater learning. So back to the book, Excellence Wins. So once I started learning more about Ritz, I immediately did some research, immediately studied document documentaries and immediately ordered a couple copies of this book, Excellence Wins by Horst Schultz. And I finished it last night in my travels. Absolutely incredible, unbelievable book. You remember the book the four inch prescription, right? Joel McKinley.

Oh, I love that one.

Oh my gosh, I went through that four times. This will be a three or four timer as well. I can't say enough good things about this book, Excellence Wins by Horst Schultz. So, I mean, there's two books you should be paying attention to right now, Excellence Wins and of course the Unstoppable Profit Producer, because that's Got the principles of the three P's in it, right, Joel McKinley.

They should be rinsing and repeating 100%.

And it's got the action guide column sections behind every chapter. So let me read to you why you should pay close attention to what we're going to talk about today and why it's important to not only think it, but ink it. Taking notes. Taking note so you can sync it right up to your brain for immediate implementation. This is why. And the good news is I want to let everybody know this is the kind of stuff that I've done in my now 36 year plus career journey. I would learn something phenomenal and game changing. And I know you did it in your career, right, Joel McKinley all the time. And you continue to do it as part of our team. I know you are an absolute sponge. You know, taking three pages of notes at about a 15 minute conversation.

That's true.

And you guys, everybody out there too can do the same thing.

All of you can do the same thing. You just got to make the commitment, Right? So this is what Horse Schultz said in the inside flap of the book. As co founder and former president of the Ritz Carlton Company, Horse Schultz fearlessly led the company to unprecedented multi billion dollar growth. Setting the business vision and crafting the people focused standards. I hope you're getting all this. Everybody that made Ritz Carlton brand globally elite.

Success leaves clues, right, Joel? Right.

So in the book Excellence Wins this right here, Schultz shares the industry changing and disruptive principles. I hope you all caught that. Yes, we want to be industry changing and disruptive through our principles and what we're working to improve. And he talks about in the book, it's really all about the improvement that we're making every day. If you, if you hear the word change and you get that little bit of fear and you don't worry about it, it's simply improvement in our business. These industry changing and disruptive principles that have produced unparalleled international success over the course of his exceptional career, these innovative principles will catalyze your work performance.

Schultz's principles are both versatile and utterly practical for leaders of every age, career stage and industry. So the bottom line is, doesn't matter how old you are, where you're at in your career, or what industry you're in.

So in your study of this as well as mine, Joel. Right. You know, all of these principles can be immediately implemented in the insurance agency business, right?

Of course, again, yeah.

And success leaves clues. You don't need a powerful title or a Line of direct reports. You have everything you need to use these insights right now. And what makes me so excited every single day, Joel McKinley. And thank you for the work that you do with our members and other agents out there. When it gets tough, when they need redirection, when they need accountability, you're there to stand by their side.

And I love it.

Yeah, yeah. You a great job with it. I get phenomenal reports from our members, so thank you for doing that. So let's dive in. You ready?

I'm ready. Let's do this.

Yeah. In our quick recap from last week, we. We really focused a lot last week on the three points of service and the brand promise of the Ritz. The three steps of service to remind you of that. Because we all need to hear it. What, six, seven times? Two.

Seven.

Jack Welch, right? Yeah, seven. Go ahead.

Seven to Jack Welch.

Seven to Jack Welch, baby. We all need to hear things at least seven times or so many times that we want to vomit. Right. But that's really what the Ritz Carlton companies do through their daily habits. And I learned it there, and I learned it when I studied them before I went there. And it in the book, it is their culture. It's who they are. So last week, we talked about a warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest name if and when possible. By the way, after we recorded the podcast last week, Joel, did you find yourself when you're out there in the world thinking about doing that more often.

Trying to remember people's name or use their name?

Use their name.

You know where I do it more often than not? At a restaurant.

Right.

Server always introduces themselves with their name. And I have found through my own study of this, you get much better service when you use their name because you. You're using their favorite word in the English language.

And something about reciprocity and mutual respect. Right?

Right.

This is a rocket science. It's something that anybody that's watching or listening can do.

But they just have to make the commitment and take the steps. Right? Right. And they can do it. Starting right now. Starting right here, starting today. That's what I love about this three steps of service. Number two, Anticipation and compliance with the guest needs.

Kind of skating to where the puck's going to be. Right? Right. You observe something and try to anticipate what they might need. Or if you don't know, ask them. Them. Right. And that's how we learned a lot of this. Go ahead.

When you ask, you G, E T.

A hundred percent, 100%. And then lastly, a fond farewell of number three of the three steps of service. Give them a warm goodbye and again, use their names if and when possible. And I know I had that with the bellman, Michael, and the valet, Steve, and we talked about that in the last, last episode. So sets the tone, sets the precedent and makes all of the Ritz Carlton 20 Basics, which is what we're going to talk about today, so integral and so critically important that has led them to become globally recognized as an excellent institutional business. So, super excited. You ready to dive in?

Ready. And Mike, you know, with the Fawn farewell, you know what that really does?

What?

It solidifies the memory.

Ah.

It's the last thing you remember.

Right.

And it just puts that last little stamp and just lets you go, like with, you know, that warm feeling as you leave.

Right. And sometimes we got to let it go. It's not about all about us, it's all about them. Them. A hundred percent. So. Yeah. And it makes them want to what, Come back. Exactly. And that's what we want. In the book, it talks about their number one goal in business, meaning the Ritz Carlton, is repeat business or retention.

And they study their numbers. And I kept thinking about that as I was listening to Horse and going through how they became so successful. I'm thinking, numbers don't lie. Numbers don't lie. Numbers don't lie. He must have his own numbers don't lie sheet at the Ritz. And he does. Right. And he kept talking about he's got the numbers at his fingertips. It's so awesome. Highly recommend you dive into it and then implement what you learn in your agency business and implement what you learn here as well. So thanks for awesome. Let's go. So today in part two of our series on excellence wins, we're going to dive into 10 of the 20 basics today. And then part three coming again next week. We'll talk about the last of the 20 basics. So we're going to dive into the 20 basics, the 20 core daily habits practiced day in and day out by the Ritz Carlton team. They have these cards that I have one of their original cards in my hand. If you're watching this, you see it in front of you. I was able to get my hands on this just by learning and asking when I was there at the Ritz. So. And they have daily huddles talking about one of the 20. And when they get to the end of the 20, what do they do, Joel?

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat. If they get to number 20, they go right back to number one.

Right.

Because 20 days have passed and they might have forgotten it. Or more importantly, what has happened in the 20 days?

New experiences. Right, right.

And they can look at it with fresh eyes.

Exactly. Fresh eyes, fresh ears, and a fresh mind. And a different mind because we're different people than we were 20 days ago. And so are the teammates. So that's just awesome. So the first one is the first of the 20 basics. The credo. The credo is the principal belief of our company. It must be known, owned and energized by all. Known, owned. And we're going to talk a little bit about ownership today of the teammates as well. It's got to be known, owned and energized by all. I happen to have the Ritz Carlton card in my hand and if you're watching this on YouTube, you see the credo in front of me.

So what does it say right there, Joel McKinley, about the credo? Can you see it?

Yeah.

It says, the Ritz Carlton is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission. We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for. For our guests who will always enjoy. Enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambiance. The Ritz Carlton experiences enlivens the senses, instills well being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

Absolutely. That is absolutely awesome and couldn't agree much. And we liken that in our preparation for this to our own core purpose at upp. Right, right.

And.

And it's simple, but it's intentional and planned. And our core purpose at UPP is.

Impact people's lives personally and professionally.

Impacting people's lives personally, professionally. And we balance a lot of the things that we do in our L5 huddles and our L10 meetings at UPP.

And.

And we did it in the agency for a number of years as well, off of our core purpose.

Right.

If we're going to make a decision on something, we're going to take action on, does it reflect well and is it part of our core purpose? Yes or no?

Right. Every time.

100%. That's. That's a great thing about installing all of these things in your agency business. That's why we developed the tools that we've developed and including the vo, which is something that we teach all of our members to use, which includes your core values and includes your core purpose. Thank you, Joel McKinley. So, number one, the credo is the principal belief of our company and must be known, owned and energized by all 20 basics. Basic. Number two, our motto is we are ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen. As service professionals, we treat our guests and each other, meaning teammate to teammate, with respect and dignity. And I learned in the book Excellence Wins that this motto, or if you will, core value, was born in Germany with Horst Schultz and his history when he was a very young man. I want to say he was between 12 and 14. And I haven't talked to you about this, Joel. You know what else happened? I'm super proud of the fact that Horse and I have commonality.

He started working in his dad's restaurant and pub when he's 11.

Very cool. Not the.

So I would imagine he learned if he's not the hardest mech working man in the room, he's going to fire him.

No, he didn't tell him that, but he told him something similar. It's. It's a great storyline, but anyway, so number two, we're ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen. As service professionals, we treat our guests and. And each other with respect and dignity. And I looked up motto and did some research. Really, it's core values. And we have core values here at UPP as well. Right, Right. So number one is growth. What's number two?

Impact.

Number three is passion.

Number four is commitment.

Right. Number five is gratitude.

And number six is integrity.

Integrity, exactly. And we have written that out in our quarterly planning sessions. We each wrote out what each of those core values mean to us as a team. We've shared it with the team, so we all have an intimate understanding of our core values and how it applies. So it's super, super important to have that present in your business so that we all understand why. Why we do what we do.

So important. Right, Joel? Right. All right, so let's move on to number three, the three steps of service. And we started out this podcast and we talked about it in detail in the most recent podcast, Part One of Excellence Wins. And by the way, if you didn't see that podcast, go back and check that out when you're done with this one so you can get fully up to date on implementing this in your agency business. So the three steps of service. This is a basic number three. The three steps of service are the foundation of Ritz Carlton hospitality. These steps must be used in every interaction to ensure satisfaction, retention, and loyalty.

Back to their number one goal as an organization.

Retention.

Right.

And the fact that they. They list the foundation.

Right.

How often have you seen in your experience, in all of your years, people look for that third P, the big sexy P. But they haven't built the foundation, got the right people, built out their processes for those people to work in and they just want to jump to the sexy P. How often does that work, Mike?

From a sustainability standpoint and longevity. And longevity standpoint, not very often. See, that's the key. Of course it'll work in the short term, but is it going to sustain itself over the long run? And more important for anybody who's in any business, can you scale on top of it? You see, it's like building a house. If your foundation, when you go to build a house is not rock solid, if you're building on a concrete slab, fine. If you're building on a raised foundation or whatever you build on, fine. But is that foundation rock solid? Because if you're going to build a multi story house and that foundation is not rock solid, it's going to crumble sooner or later. Right? Right. You got to build that foundation and it's got to be rock solid. I'm thinking of multiples of our members who have taken it to heart to build their people and processes first, not 100% of the way, but at least maybe 80% of the way back to the 8020 rule.

Right.

Before they begin to really build their company on top of that. So great point. Thanks. Joel McKinley.

Basic number four. The employee promise is the basis. The basis back to kind of that foundation. Right, right. Of our Ritz Carlton work environment. The employee promise is the basis. It will be honored. It will be honored by all employees. And I've got the employee promise in front of me. So I'm going to engage you again, Joel McKinley. I'm going to hold it up and go ahead and share with everybody the employee promise at Ritz Carlton.

At the Ritz Carlton, our ladies and gentlemen, are the most important resource in our service. Commitment to our guest. Wow, Mike. Their number one client is your team. By applying the principles of trust, honesty, respect, integrity and commitment, we nurture and maximize talent to the benefit of each individual and. And the company. The Ritz Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspirations are fulfilled, and the Ritz Carlton mystique is strengthened.

The Ritz Carlton mystique is strengthened. That is absolutely phenomenal. And on the front of the card here, I've got the. The Ritz Carlton mystique.

And it says emotional engagement. Emotional engagement. So the team is emotionally engaged. Very important. Right, Joel McKinley. Right. Whether it be an insurance agency team, a hotel team, or an army team, emotional engagement. Now, the. The environment, if you will, in bringing up new recruits is a whole different scenario, right?

Just a little bit.

It's a different type of engagement.

But thank you for being one of our heroes who served our country for 20 years in that environment. And thanks to all the vets out there. If you're a veteran, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for defending our freedom, for putting it all on the line for all of us. We are grateful. Thank you. So let's go to basic number five. And by the way, we had a promise back to number four, the employee promise. We also had a promise in our agency that we developed. It wasn't necessarily an employee promise, but I like the way that they think about that. I've got our promise from the agency business as well. To have open communication about protecting everything you work so hard for while passionately serving you in a manner that consistently exceeds your expectations. We promise to work together as a unified team with genuine honesty, integrity, transparency and a caring, fun attitude that makes our relationship dynamic. Our promise is that Stromso Insurance Agency is where going the extra mile is part of your experience with our total Protection team. That is our promise to our teammates, to our clients and to our communities from our agency business. That was developed a number of years ago and I'm so proud of the fact that we develop that as a team in an off site training session. And you know, I look back at the promise and everything that the Ritz has built, I'm seeing similarities. So that makes me like uber proud. The great news for everybody, either watching or listening to this, you can do it too. And I hope we are the seed that gets planted to help you. Right, Joel?

Right.

100%. So basic number five of the Ritz Carlton 20 basics. All employees will successfully complete annual. An annual training certification for their position.

Wow.

So every position in the company, regardless of how long the teammate's been there, they're going to go through an annual training. Vitally important, right, Joel?

Absolutely, Mike. This, this one really jumped off the page at me because it's. You can train people, but over time, people tend to take things and modify them a little bit to what is comfortable for the way that they want to work. But if you want the standard and you want the foundation and to have the same experience all the time, they train and they retrain constantly and they don't just train it, they have a certification that is evaluated with a measurable standard. This is what you must reach every single year to continue to deliver what Our customers are going to expect when they keep coming back.

And that's why they keep coming back. Right, right. And, you know, it's a.

Fast action world out there, I guess we'll say. I mean, you set the standard. You set the standard. You meet the expectation. You meet the expectation, but the time, you don't, they're going to start maybe to grumble, complain, may not come back.

Oh, absolutely.

And Horse chronicles that in the book. Multiple examples. So we've got to consistently back to the number one reason businesses don't achieve their goals or exceed their goals. Right.

Which is lack of consistency.

Exactly. So you have to consistently train your team. And the day we stop learnings, the day we stop growing. And the day we stop training.

Oh, I got a new one I just made. Made this up. You ready?

Yes.

The day we stop training is the day we stop retaining.

Let me repeat that because I see you jotting that down. I like that, too. I better write that down myself because if I don't ink it, I won't think it. Right. The day we stop training. Oh, man, I love that. Is the day.

We stop retaining. I like that. So anyway, yeah, so we got to keep training on the retention. The number one goal. If you have an agency business, if you have a business, period, retaining your customers is your number one goal. We talk about growing your business, creating wealth. The number one core.

Principle, your core basis, foundation of your ability to grow that and grow that wealth is your existing agency or your existing clients, period. Agency, clients, business clients, whatever they are.

Right.

You've got to take excellent care of that as we affectionately share with the world. Right?

Your acre of diamonds.

Your acre of diamonds, baby. And that is a key component of it.

All right?

Basic number six, the risks of the Ritz Carlton 20 basics. Basic number six. Company objectives are communicated to all employees. It's everyone's responsibility. Some of them are.

All of them.

All of them right. Everyone's responsibility to support them. And when we're talking about this, we both immediately went back to the incredible book by Mark Sparks, they can't eat you. And you may have heard me talk about that before. And Mark talks about this same principle in his book. I hope you're getting this, ladies and gentlemen. Business principles are business principles. It's time tested and proven. All you get to do is take action. So take notes and take action. Mark Sparks in his book on over communication. And Mark Sparks is a serial entrepreneur who's built and turned over 30 massively successful companies, a couple of them in the insurance Industry. He said over communication to your team is crucial. It doesn't matter if you have one person or a hundred people on your team. I've been a serial entrepreneur all my life and it still amazes me. No matter how much over communicating I do, there's always someone on my team who doesn't get the information. As a leader in your organization, your number one goal is to make sure that everyone is rowing in the same direction. Do you receive communications consistently? Joel McKinley on this subject, I know.

For a fact I will never go to bed on a Sunday without receiving our rowing in the same direction document or series of documents. With your email outlining what we're working on, what you have coming for the next week, and then how we could all support each other and, and it's all right there. I know for a fact I will not go to bed on a Sunday without having that.

As long as I'm alive and breathing and able 100%.

And if you're not, I'll just hear always be recruiting.

Exactly. Now, I'm not trying to fuel competition within the organization because none of us are competitive. I know. I just wanted to let you know I received a teammate an email from one of our teammates. I'm not going to name names here live and in public on the podcast, but she sent me an email talking about how she's going to start a rowing in the same direction Communication weekly. I like that. Just saying. Anyway, let's move on. On the risk. Carlton Basics number seven. To create pride and joy in the workplace, all employees have the right to be involved in the planning of the work that affects them. To create pride and joy. Now, you weren't expecting this out of left field and I'm going to throw it and I'll see what you say. Create pride and joy. What does that come from? What is the activity that happened?

Well, they're being that by, you know, being, allowing them to be a part of what's going to affect them, they're being a part of it. They're included in those decisions. Whether they're, whether their opinion is what ultimately gets, you know, they, the company goes with. At least they're heard, they're. They're included and that makes it our business. I've heard you say this a million times. Just because you're the person that, you know, makes a majority of the revenue, it's still our business.

100%. There are. It's our business, it's our clients, it's our communities. And together our goal is to back.

To Our core purpose impact people's lives personally and professionally.

Exactly. See how that works, everybody? It's really pretty simple once you develop it. And that's what we do is help people develop it. Awesome stuff. And my notes were also on that. Daily habits. That's why they have the basic daily habits. They review one of the 20 basics every single day so that everybody's always on the same page. And one of the things I learned from Horse, Horst Schultz, he had an absolute open door policy. And I heard that and I thought back to my own career journey. I had an open door policy. I wanted to hear what they had to say. I mean, I wasn't available 100% of the time. Don't get me wrong. They couldn't come in and interrupt whenever they wanted, but they knew if my door was open and I was there, I had an open door policy. Now I had a very specific strategy on empowering them and teaching them when they came running in with something they could have figured out themselves. That's a whole nother training. Right. But they, they want to feel heard and they want to feel included. Great stuff. Basic number eight. Each employee will continuously identify defects throughout the hotel. Each employee will continue to identify defects throughout the hotel. So they're setting the precedent. Right, Joel? Right. That it's everybody's responsibility.

To participate in identifying what may not be working within the business. Right? Right. And they call this Mr. Bib, Mr. Bibb, M r, B, I V. So I took it upon myself to learn more about Mr. Biv. And here's what it is. The Mr. Mr. Is mistakes and rework. So they're looking for mistakes and things that need to be reworked. And Mr. And BIV is breakdowns, inefficiencies and variations. Variations meaning, all right, we're doing things this way, but is there a way that we can be doing it better?

A, a quick implement opportunity for all of you watching or listening. So do you have a documented the way a client wants to be communicated with? Of course, you might want to just always email them, but is that what they really want?

Is that what's going to make them refer you? Their neighbor, their co worker, their friends, etc. Think about that. Variations on the way we do it. Great stuff. Let's move on to number nine, Joel McKinley of the Ritz 20 Basics. It's the responsibility of each employee to create a work environment of teamwork and lateral service. And you had a comment on this. Of, you know, and I'll let you comment on that in a minute. So that the needs of our guests and each other are met. So if there's a team teammate at the Ritz and they identify something, what do they do? Even if not, they.

They stop and they get it fixed.

Right. Even if it's not their responsibility, it does not matter.

They stop and they get it fixed. I love that because all too often you see there's trash in the parking lot. Well, I'm not the maintenance person that cleans that up. You could be the manager of the hotel. You stop and you pick up the trash.

100.

No one is above creating the environment.

Of excellence they've created internally through these basics and a culture, if you will, of ownership. Right? Right. And everybody owns the outcome and the operations of the hotel, and they're empowered to do so.

And. And I know with it. We talked about this multiple times after we got done of our intense study of the Florence prescription about a culture of accountability, and I went ahead and pulled it for this podcast. You could hold people accountable for showing up on time and for fulfilling the terms of their job descriptions or role responsibilities. Same thing. But you can't hold them accountable for being committed and engaged. You can't hold people accountable for caring. You build it through having something like these basics, core values and a core purpose there. Right? Joel?

What you do in your business is what creates patriots or keeps people as mercenaries.

Wow. Will you repeat that, please?

What you do in your business and your culture is what makes people patriots or keeps them mercenaries.

Wow. And we want nothing but on our teams.

Nothing but patriots.

Nothing but patriots. And by the way, thank you for being a patriot. And I'll say publicly, thank you to Anita Hernandez and Andrea White for being patriots. They are patriots for our cause of impacting people's lives personally and professionally. We are 100 committed and dedicated to every single person listening to this podcast. All we want to do is help you grow, create wealth, and have more freedom. Great stuff. Culture of ownership.

Culture.

Let's wrap this part. Session, Part two of Excellent Wins Excellence Wins with Ritz Carlton Basic number 10. Ready?

Ready.

Each employee is empowered. We just talked about it. They're empowered. They're trained. For example, when a guest has a problem or needs something special, you should break away from your regular duties and address and resolve the issue. You just talked about that. Right? So I love this. Yeah. They're all blending together. Right? Go ahead. Yeah.

If you think about this, Mike, it's okay if a person is their. Their job is to clean the restroom, but a guest needs something. You will not have a Restroom to clean if the guests don't come back.

Aha.

Back to the rinse and repeat or retention or whatever you want to classify it as. Right, Right. And this is true in any business.

I learned that from one of my original marketing mentors, and he said, yeah, everybody's thinking, that's not my business. Back to that button. Right, Right. Brilliant Sunshine bs. It is your responsibility. And as leaders, we all have a duty and a responsibility to lead people. I had a comment also on the 9th basic really quick.

You know, it's we, we create this culture of ownership and empower employees to do whatever they need to do. But the responsibility of leadership is this one is to lead people. People are silently waiting to be led. Number two is to empower them. And through the basics, they've empowered them. And you can do the same thing in your business by installing all of this. If you haven't, if you already have, congratulations. Don't forget to inspect what you expect. Number three, praise and recognition or discipline is part of the leadership's responsibilities. And other than that, train them and get the heck out of their way and let them do what they do.

Great stuff. And let me, let me tell you the last thing to wrap up basic number 10 that I learned about Ritz Carlton in empowering their employees. Every employee company wide.

Had a $2,000 annual allowance. They didn't have to ask anybody $2,000. That if they saw a situation that they wanted to take action on to support a guest or anybody, period, they were empowered to use it.

Wow.

Yeah. I've got two examples that I've learned about that. One, an employee of Ritz in the Atlanta, Georgia market at a written in in Buckhead, Atlanta, in the Atlanta, Georgia area, went into a room. It was a, you know, somebody was cleaning a room, found a guest's laptop.

Got a hold of the guest, and the guest was on their way home to Hawaii for important meetings, didn't have their laptop. What do you think the employee did?

Joel McKinley overnighted that laptop to the, to that guest.

She didn't trust that the overnight companies, no disrespect to our friends out there who do that kind of thing, that the overnight company would get it there on time. She bought a plane ticket, got on an airplane, flew to Hawaii and put the laptop personally in the hands of the guest.

Wow.

And many might think, well, I'm already in Hawaii. I'm going to take a couple of days. The employee said, no, I'm going back to work. Got right back on an airplane and went Back to Atlanta.

Wow.

I know. I was like, holy Toledo. Back to the responsibility of leadership. What do you think leadership did? They praised and recognized publicly.

The teammate for doing that. In their daily huddles, when they talk about the 20 basics.

They'Re empowered to do that. Here's another one. A couple had just gotten married, and they were spending their honeymoon at the Ritz in Cancun, Mexico. They were on the beach.

I can't remember if it was a husband or wife. Doesn't matter. Wedding ring fell off. They couldn't find it in the sand. They were heartbroken. They just got married, right? And they're looking, and they're looking. And one of the team members got wind of this, went out looking with them. They could never find it. So that teammate who was empowered to do what it took said, I know what I can do. I'm going to go buy four metal detectors, not just one. Four metal detectors engaged. Three other teammates, and they combed the beach looking for the ring. They found it the next morning. They intentionally set a table for the couple. When the couple was coming down to breakfast, it was sitting on a plate on the table, and they had them sit down, and they said, by the way, we have a gift for you because we didn't want you to not enjoy the rest of your stay. To say the the couple was blown away is a massive understatement.

The power of empowerment. Incredible. Joel McKinley, right?

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, imagine the review that that couple or that. That. That business person that left their lap. They're not just going to say, five stars. It was great. They're going to leave a review that tells an entire story. And facts may tell, but stories sell bigger than that.

How long do you think they're going to be telling that story to other people? And you and I both know, everybody knows 250 people that you come to the wedding or come to their funeral. How long are they going to be telling that? 200. Those 250 people that story?

I would imagine at every single time they get together, right?

Every time they hear the word hotel, every time they hear the word trip, every time they get together with somebody they care about, every time they talk about their ring, every time their ring gets cleaned.

Every time that entrepreneur uses his laptop.

How often are they going to be telling that story?

And not only that, Mike, I would imagine that the people that they tell are also going to share that story, because it's incredible.

100%. It's. It's going to permeate. As long as these People breathe, period.

And where did it originate? It originated in the Ritz Carlton 20. Basics through training, through awareness, through consistent daily habits of practicing what they mean, who they are, and within the team environment. Man, I. I don't know about you, Joel McKinley. I'm as fired up as anybody just going through these again.

Yeah, it's. It's incredible. The words that they use, Mike, is. Is not these, it's the words. Basics, foundation, the core. This is. It's all. They just lay the groundwork and it's very, very simple. But they. They master the basics. They master the basics. They master the basics over and over again. It's not. If you think about sports and everything else, you know, what are they doing? They're not practicing doing these elaborate plays. They're throwing the ball over and over again until it's muscle memory and then retraining those muscles over and over again.

100%. I can't wait. Man, I am so pumped and excited on part three of Excellence wins. On the next episode, we're going to go through basics 11 through 20 and we're going to share with you how some ideas on how you can also implement it in your business. And that's the great thing that's part of living the up life life. All you need to do is master the basics. It's not rocket science is not that difficult. You just have to have the plan. And that's what we help you with, is creating the unstoppable plan for your agency business. We fold in Joel McKinley. Thank you for being on this episode, Joel.

Thanks, Mike.

Great job, man. And then, Joe, we fold in Joel McKinley, who brings the accountability and support to make sure that you continually, consistently implement this stuff in your agency business. Because you will grow, you will create wealth, and you will have more freedom to live life on your own terms. That's all we want for you, Joel McKinley. Again, thank you. I will see you on part three.

I. I'm looking forward to it, Mike. I want to record it right now.

Yeah, me too. So anyway, with that being said, if this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromso. I'm widely recognized as a leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can learn more about us @unstoppable profit podcast.com if you're interested in attending one of our live events or one of our virtual events. Our virtual event portal is upfastart.com and our live event portal is Be Unstoppable Boot Camp. All of our events are Designed to share with you our greatest money making strategies developed over 35 years plus of research in the insurance agency business. I was a proud independent insurance agent for 35 plus years and we share it all with you. All with the sole purpose of helping you grow your business, creating wealth so you can have more freedom to live life on your own own terms. And if you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, please share it with anybody and everybody that you know so they too can grow, create wealth and have more freedom. And the law reciprocity is always in effect. And please go to unstoppable profit podcast.com go up to the top and click subscribe. So you will not miss one episode of the podcast because we continue to bring this for you every single week. The latest, best money making strategies for your agency business. That's all we want for you. We're also out there on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, our YouTube channel and more. Super easy to find. All we want is to help you. Joel McKinley, thank you for helping so many members and other agents out there in the unstoppable.

Insurance agency world. Grateful for you man.

Thank you Mike. And thank you to the listeners for showing up. Because you know, all we want is your success. And the more time you invest in your development, it's going to translate right down to your teams too.

You mean if you want to have more, you got to become more? Every day you attract exactly what you are and who you become. You know it in every way. All right everybody, we believe in you. You got this. Get out there, make a difference, be unstoppable and leave no regrets. We will see you on part three of Excellence Wins next week. Until then, get out there and implement, execute and take action. We'll see you in the next episode.

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