CNLP 263: Horst Schulze with Lessons From the Ritz-Carlton on Coaching the Best From a Team When You Can’t Pay Top Wages, What Guests Really Want, How to Satisfy a Customer and What To Do With Customer Complaints

1. Calling people to excellence brings about excellent results

As a result of a lesson he learned from a maitre’d, Horst’s motto became: “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentleman.” He helped his employees realize that if they work for Horst they are all ladies and gentlemen who are serving other ladies and gentleman.

This caused a change of approach and mindset in his employees. They began to show up and produce excellence, because his employees were not showing up just to work, they were showing up to create excellence at every level.

2. Having employees that are nice can be the largest growth engine for an organization

According to Horst, being nice is the largest driver of customer satisfaction and it leads to loyalty. The very thing that doesn’t cost anything is what can be the biggest advantage for your organization. The challenge comes when you have to keep this standard of nice all the way up and down the company ladder. Horst follows a 4 step process to ensure his employees are nice across the board.

Selection – If you can improve your selection of employees a few percentages above the competition, you will win.

Orientation – Horst’s company teaches new employees about the company, what they value, and that they are not coming to just work, but to create excellence.

Training – They train every employee in the 20 things that are a requirement for any employee in the organization to live out.

Sustaining – The manager is responsible for bringing each of the 20 company requirements in front of their employees on a regular basis. It is the manager’s fault if an employee doesn’t know the values.

3. To avoid turnover, keep your employees engaged in your mission

Often, enthusiastic employees fall into mediocrity after a few months because the leadership does not keep the “why” in front of employees on a regular basis. In Horst’s organizations, if a leader sees someone not producing excellence they immediately call it out and ask “would a gentleman act like that?”

When Leaders keep the people they are leading accountable to the mission, their people stay engaged with the vision and continue to be excellent, passionate employees. When managers and leaders fail to hold the mission in front of their people, they begin to fail. When employees begin to disconnect from the mission, they will leave your organization.

Quotes from Episode 263

Don’t worry about the money. Worry about the things that make the money. @horstschulze Click To Tweet

When I started Ritz-Carlton, I made the motto of the organization, 'We are not servants, we are all ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen'. @horstschulze Click To Tweet

The first step of service has to be exceptional. @horstschulze Click To Tweet

Being nice is the largest driver of customer satisfaction. @horstschulze Click To Tweet

When you have a philosophy, you have to have systems to implement it. @horstschulze Click To Tweet

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