Rental Car Customer Service and The Remarkable Leader

Diane Brady, in a recent Business Week blog post commented on a Customer Service horror story. She recounts how on trying to return a rental car 10 hours early, they (Avis) attempt to charge her an almost 50% premium on her rates!

While she did negotiate those rates back down, it leaves me thinking about what I would do if I was the leader at Avis and at the counter at that location. Maybe more to the point,

What would a remarkable leader do?

Before we answer that question, read the post for yourself.

There are issues at at least three levels here:

Policy level
Empowerment level
Customer Mindset level

These levels are intermingled, but let me unpack a couple of thoughts for you.

Perhaps there is a policy in place to handle these situations (however inane it sounds). If so, a Remarkable, proactive leader would be working to change, abolish or remove this policy. Yes, even if that leader is the night counter manager in Newark - a policy that makes no sense and is detrimental to customers requires change!

Since in this case, the charges were changed, it is clear that even if it was a policy, the person at the desk had the ability to use their judgement and change it. This is an empowerment issue. While Diane had to wait too long and work too hard to make this happen, some "justice" was done. As a remarkable leader it is your job to empower people to make those decisions, based on organizational goals and values. As importantly, to make those decisions quickly when working with Customers, which leads to the third level . . .

Remarkable leaders set the pace in creating a mindset that is focused on Customers and meeting/exceeding their needs. If leadership had created the right mindset, Diane wouldn't have had a blog post to write, and neither would I. What is the mindset in your organization in relationship to Customers. Is the end of Diane's story ("hey, she got the rate changed") good enough?

All of us have these Customer service horror stories. The question is, as a leader what are you learning from them?

Lean Towards Your Customer

While reviewing a new program from Charthouse Learning called Leader Fish! (a program for leaders based on the Fish! philosophy, I heard a phrase used by Southwest Airlines people on the DVD. They talked about leaning towards the Customer.

This comment was made talking about encouraging people to try new things and not to be afraid of making mistakes. The comment was that no one will ever get in trouble for a decision if they are leaning towards the Customer.

Which led me to some questions . . .

Did I lean towards my Customers today?
Did I encourage my team to lean towards a Customer?
How can we lean tomorrow?
How can we lean next week?

Leaning towards Customers. It obviously works for Southwest. There is every reason it can work for you too.

Go ahead...

lean towards your Customer.

Speaking Their Language

To be the most effective as a communicator, it is our responsibility to communicate in ways that work for the other person. We must become adept at seeing the other person's perspective, their skills and their style. One of the best short pieces I've read recently on this truth was written by Guy Harris (who calls himself the Recovering Engineer) this week.

This communication truth applies to us in all areas of our communication - in working with Customers, leading others, being a part of a team and more.

His article really hit home for me, and I believe it will for you too. It is titled Speaking Their Language, and I highly recommend reading it.

Customer Loyalty Guaranteed!

I had the distinct pleasure of reading a pre publication copy of Chip Bell and John Patterson's new book entitled Customer Loyalty Guaranteed. This book comes out this fall and I encourage you to put it on Amazon wish list today. The book delivers on its promise on helping you to create, maintain and lead for Customer Service and it's a book that you want when it is published by Adams Media in September.

How did I get to read a draft of the book? I was asked to give a testimonial for it, and here is what I wrote:

"Read this book, and put the ideas into action and you will do exactly as the title suggests, you'll guarantee customer loyalty. If you have customers, read this book."

PhotoReading and Thoughts about Promoting, Selling, and Communicating

I am a customer of PhotoReading - a product of Learning Strategies. You can check out my reviews of both the book and the full system as written about in my newsletter, Unleash Your Potential.

I also recently, partnered with Learning Strategies to promote this product to our Powerquotes list . . . which is why I write this post.

A couple of my readers emailed me expressing concern about me "hawking" this product to my list. I replied to these readers with my thanks for their notes and I addressed their concerns.

I wasn't hawking a product, but promoting something I feel is of great value. I wasn't selling it to make a commission, though I will make one. I was sharing the opportunity with people because I see the value and benefits to them. If you are interested in learning more, you can go here.

The lesson for all of us is that it is important that we make our true intentions clear. When we are transparent and truly working from a position of providing value and benefit to the other person, we can't just assume the other person will see this perspective.

As you communicate with others make sure you message and your intent is clear, and you will have much greater success in the communication process and in building the relationship.

The Power of Gratefulness

It seems everywhere I look, turn or listen I find messages about gratitude. I've always been a person who tries to "count my blessings" and be grateful for the wonderful (and even the not-so-wonderful) things in my life.

I believe that when we need greater lessons and understanding of a topic or idea, if we listen, those lessons will be made available to us. The more I "notice" lessons on gratitude, the more I'm convinced I was ready for deeper lessons.

I have in the past few months become more disciplined about being in a state of gratitude and reminding myself of the things I am grateful for each day. There is no question that this practice is making a difference in my life.

This is not just a personal "feeling better about myself and my world" topic either - there is loads of research that shows that when we are more grateful we build relationships more effectively, communicate more positively and are more effective and efficient. Note this recent post in Curt Rosengren's wonderful Occupational Adventure blog.

It describes a fascinating study of the tangible benefits of being grateful. I encourage you to read it.

Here is an exercise to try today. Before your next meeting, take 2 minutes to write down five things you have to be grateful for over the past two weeks. These can be small or large things - it doesn't matter. Notice how you frame issues and communicate differently in the meeting.

Once you have done this for yourself a couple of times, take a bigger risk (it really isn't a risk but it might feel like one right now) and ask everyone in the meeting to do the same thing.

This isn't a sharing exercise - reassure people that they won't be asked to share what is on their list - it is a personal gratitude exercise.

Taking this action will create a new energy and focus for your meeting. You will create more ideas, and more positive, encouraging conversation.

This is just one example reflecting on your gratitude. (If you are immediately interested and want some other ideas go here.) In the coming weeks and months, I might well have more to share in this area. But even if I don't, this one exercise can make a positive difference in your life when you do it.

What Could I Stop Doing?

I met with a new friend today. He is the Vice President for Business Development at a bank. He told me he made a decision about six months ago. His decision?

"I decided to stop selling banking solutions."

He isn't a slacker - he hasn't stopped working or drawing a paycheck. But rather than trying to sell a banking solution he has been trying to connect and help people - to build relationships.

His results?

Production was double of the first six months of the year and he topped his annual target by 25%.

Reminds me of my new question - How can I help you reach your goals in 2007? (see post here.)

Here's a question for you - what could you stop doing today that would help others more and therefore give you greater results with more fun?