What your bank will tell you when you try to withdraw your money

True story:

Yesterday, The Aussie Hermit walked into my bank to ask a question about transferring some money.

And, after having my questions answered I walk out.

But just as I’m about to leave I turn around and walk back down to the teller.

"Hey, just one more question," I say to him. "If I wanted to withdraw $100k in cash, what’s the process for that? Can I just come here and get it all out in one go?"

"Oh no," he replies. "If you want to do that you’ll need to give us 7 days notice because we have to order it in. Plus, you also have to fill out a form explaining why you want to get that amount of money out."

"Wait. I have to give a reason to get *my* money out?"

"Yes, you do."

"And what if that reason was ‘it’s for an investment’"?

"Well, if it’s for an investment then we can just transfer it to the correct person for you. You don’t need to get it out."

I’m in shock.

"Wait. So what are you saying here? Giving ‘investment’ on the form is not a good enough reason?"

"I can’t answer that," he replies nervously.

"Ok," I say, very confused. "So what is a good reason? When someone comes to get money out what do they typically say?"

"I can’t answer that."

I laugh. "Seriously? Ok then. So what’s the maximum I can withdraw each day without having to go through this process?"

"$5,000."

"Great. So I can just come down here and withdraw $5,000 per day for 20 days and I can get $100k out without having to fill this form out?"

"Ahh. Yes. You could," he replies, a little annoyed with my question.

"Great. Thank you!" And I walk out.

Now, there’s a few things we can learn from this conversation…

1. Your bank doesn’t hold any of your money.
   
   Personally, I knew they didn’t hold much.
   
   But it was shocking for me to see they don’t even have 100k in cash for someone to withdraw. To them a 100k must be like .0000001% of their balance.
   
2. If your bank goes down, you’re screwed
   
   How are you going to get your money if only 5 other people want to get theirs out at the same time?
   
   What about 5,000?
   
   Answer: You won’t.
   
3. You need to get your money out
   
   Or at the very least diversify.
   
   Keeping all your money in one bank is a recipe for disaster.
   
   Personally, after learning what I learnt yesterday, I’m going to spread it across multiple banks plus keep some with me.

The broader business lesson we can learn here is around "unmet expectations."

When I went into the bank I expected to be able to withdraw my money.

Those expectations were shattered when the teller told me I couldn’t.

Who’s fault is this?

Mainly mine.

When I opened the bank account I should have asked these questions. Also, I should have read the fine print.

But I didn’t because I was lazy.

And the bank has every right to tell me that, too.

But, of course, that’s a very dumb way to run their business.

Sure they can "hide" details about what you can/can’t do with your money once they’ve got it. But, eventually, that’s going to come back to bite them.

For example, when there’s a cyber attack or some type of crash and everyone wants to get their money out at the same time.

Point is…

They should have been transparent right from the get-go.

They should have said something like, "Hey, by the way Luke, before you sign up just a few things we need to be transparent about. If you need to withdraw over $5,000 then you’ll have to order that money as we don’t hold much cash here. You ok with that?"

"Sure."

"Also, you’ll need to give a reason why for government purposes. Unfortunately, it’s a law we banks have to follow. Are you OK with that?"

"Not really. But that’s not your fault. I’m still fine with signing up."

Etc etc.

If they had said that, then they wouldn’t have a very pissed off customer (and one that’s probably going to leave).

We need to take the same approach in our coaching business.

Transparency is critical for client satisfacation (and also boosting your referrals).

When someone wants me to run their Facebook ads, I give them a very detailed overview of what my service entails.

I.e. What assets/IP I own.

What assets/IP they own.

Where my service starts and where it ends.

What they can expect from me every week.

What I expect of them.

What my fee structure is for their level of ad spend.

Etc.

I’m 100% transparent about all aspects because I don’t want them coming back and saying, "Hey, how come you’ve charged me more this month than last money?"

I don’t want them to have unmet expectations because it sours the relationship.

Also, it kills any referrals they may have sent me in the future.

More:

From 2014-2017 I ran a magazine called "I Love Coaching Magazine."

And, it was only $9.99/mo to subscribe.

It was a great magazine that even had Jack Canfield on the cover one issue.

But the problem was, when people were billed every month it never sent them a receipt.

And because of that, every month I’d always get pissed off people writing in saying things like, "I’ve been billed for the last 6 months for this magazine and I didn’t even know. Give me a refund now."

Of course, I gave them a refund.

But what I should have done was send each customer a receipt every time they were billed.

In other words - I should have been 100% transparent.

Had I done that, my complaints would have been non-existent, and my customer satisfaction would have gone up even more.

Bottom line:

I know it’s tempting not to send a receipt for that automatic payment.

I know it’s tempting to place fine print in your contract.

And I know it’s tempting to capitalise on your client’s laziness.

But trust The Aussie Hermit - it’s not worth it.

At least, not in the long run.

In the long run, it’s much more advantageous to be 100% transparent.

With that being said…

One thing The Aussie Hermit is always transparent about is how awesome my 15 Minute Client program is.

After all, it is the simplest way to get high paying clients online.

At least, I think so.

Here’s how it works…

Step 1) You build your list by advertising a simple lead magnet…

Step 2) You email that list every day with value and an offer to work with…

Step 3) You sign up those *warm* prospects that have booked in your calendar.

And that’s it.

Of course, in order for those steps to work you need to have the right message and the right offer (and that’s what we figure out together in module 1 of the program).

But once you’ve got that sorted, then getting clients becomes as easy as repeating those 3 steps.

If that sounds like a system you want in your business, make sure to put your name on the waitlist here:

https://The15MinuteClientWaitlist.com

-Luke Charlton
The Hermit Hole, Canberra