Let Someone Know They Are Much Bigger Than They Think

​Friday morning, I went to my local bank branch to open a small business account. It's been a long time since I've been inside a bank branch. Online and mobile services have made such visits unnecessary. But I felt a little out of my element in this particular endeavor, so I thought it would be wiser to get personal guidance.

I'd barely made it through the door when the bank manager asked me if she could help me. I told her what I was aiming to do and she immediately led me to her office.

We sat down and she asked me questions about my business. I told her I would be doing consulting work that will help build healing-centered communities.

"That's fascinating," she said. "When people tell me they are going to be consultants, I'm always curious what they will be consulting on."

She continued digging deeper into my work. She sounded genuinely curious, and for some reason that threw me off. Aren't bank managers a little too busy to be so curious?

It turns out I didn't have all the paperwork I needed to open my account. She took the information I did have and told me once I got the additional information a simple signature would finalize the process.

I asked her if she could deposit a check in my personal account that I'd brought to open my business account. She took my check, walked out of the office, and came back shortly with a receipt for the deposit.

She then asked me why I stayed with their bank. She acknowledged I'd been with them for well over a decade and wanted to know why.

I told her, "Quite honestly, I'm a creature of habit. If it ain't broke I don't go looking to fix it. You all have never given me a reason to believe you're broke." (Pretty important thing in the banking world!! 😊)

She answered, "But really, what could we do better to make you a happier customer?"

Then I said - feeling like she probably felt obligated to ask me all these questions, "Listen, I am nowhere near one of your BIG$$ customers. If I leave tomorrow no one will notice. So honestly, you don't have to do much to keep me. Just keep doing what you're doing"

She quickly responded, "But to me you're as important as every other customer."

Ok, what bank manager wouldn't say that? Surely that's on a customer service script taped inside her center desk drawer. But honestly, if I was ever going to believe someone saying that, she seemed very believable.

Yesterday morning I got up and checked my bank account through my online banking. The deposit I'd made the day before was nowhere to be found.

Panic and more panic. It was Saturday - the banks aren't open - I'm going to have to wait 48 hours to find out where my money went 😳.

I had the bank manager's contact card sitting next to me with the information she'd given me the day before. I grabbed it, typed out an email to her explaining my situation, figuring I'd at least be ahead of the game come Monday morning.

Last night. Saturday night. Well after dinner. I received an email from the bank manager telling me she'd gone into my account, made the deposit available, apologized, and told me she'd get back with me Monday morning once she'd found out exactly what had gone wrong in the deposit process.

I recalled that she'd told me she was taking one of her children prom dress shopping that day. It occurred to me she was likely having a family day on her day off. And yet.....

And yet, somehow, she saw a need to treat me like something other than an ordinary customer. She felt the need to respond to my rather ordinary deposit like it was a million dollar deposit.

She somehow found a way to have a Saturday evening walk with her Friday banking hours talk.

We live in a world where it is easy to believe we are much too small to be noticed in a great big world.

But - we also live in a world where we all have the power to remind someone they are much bigger than they know.

Sometimes that is good for business. But it is always good for humanity.