Customer Reviews

Exceeding Customer Expectations: What Enterprise, America's #1 car rental company, can teach you about creating lifetime customers

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EXCEEDING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS by Kirk Kazanjian may be viewed in a variety of ways. Many will consider this book nothing more than a marketing campaign, and in large part, they would be correct. However, I find no fault in that. If that were the intention of the people at Enterprise, it is ingenious. They certainly won my loyalty, not that I ever have much need to rent a vehicle, but if I ever do,....

Others might view this book just as the title opines, an instructional treatise on customer service. They too would be correct, but only to a certain degree. I say that because I found the book to be more of a business model. In fact, I would say this book is broken down thusly; 50% business model, 30% Enterprise company history and 20% customer service. Therefore, my only big knock on this book is the title, which leads the reader to believe customer service is the primary focus here. It is not. That is not to say, however, that readers will not glean valuable information on customer service, just not as much as this reader would have liked.

The book reads well and Kazanjian is to be commended for his work, but I do not believe the story paints quite the intended picture. I found in large part, the Enterprise Company bumbled its way into prosperity because a few headstrong employees refused to follow company policy! A good example is the Enterprise "we'll pick you up" mantra. I won't give too much of the book away, but this and other business innovations within the company happened by chance. Please do not mistake this as ridicule of the company. Enterprise is certainly a gem in today's marketplace, just understand that according to this book, much of the company's success wasn't planned that way. Perhaps that in and of itself is what has made them successful; their ability to adapt.

I would like to make one other observation about the title of the book. My fear is that many will miss out on this book because of the title. This is an excellent resource for constructing a business model and is, at best, a mediocre source on customer service. If you are on a quest for knowledge on "exceeding customer expectations" you will likely be disappointed here as there are certainly more informative volumes available.

This is a good book, but Mr. Sklar's reading of the material makes it sound like the guys at Enterprise Rent A Car should, by the 4th disc, have a cure for cancer! It is interesting to hear how CEO Jack Taylor was able to start the business from a small idea at a single car dealership in St. Louis. But, as the company grows, Jack and later his son Andy are given credit for anticipating every challenge, and solving them with their stunning execution of the business plan to provide "excellent customer service."

At every turn, Enterprise emerges as the leader, the innovator, the business where everything turns to gold! When talking about the succession plan from Jack to Andy Taylor, Andy is presented as the humble genius who has the vision that dad did not, while wise dad looks on with fatherly pride as his son and family members 'of course' think that running a family business 'is best' because after all, Enterprise Knows Best!

By the 3rd CD, I kept listening just to hear how amazing everyone could Enterprise could be! IT Systems? Deployed in a single bound. Partnerships with insurers? Progressive L O V E loves Enterprise, so much so that the CEO appears 'unscripted' in a "Thank You" commercial sent to Enterprise employees. Enterprise is so smart that they 'know' that if they reduce the number of days that their insurance customers are in a car (thus reducing immediate revenue to Enterprise), it will save the insurer money, which will result in more love for Enterprise among claims adjusters - truly a 'Win Win!' Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah.

When by the 4th CD, they admit some 'mistakes' the examples truly aren't mistakes because they recognize the challenges so fast that the mistakes barely appear as blips on their balance sheet.

As a claims adjuster who started in the insurance business in 1984, I am interested in the subject - insurance replacement vehicles. But I know from experience as an Enterprise customer that the genius and seamless technology touted only partly works. I've made reservations on the ARMS automated rental system, then called the office to talk about the order that I placed on ARMS. The local offices have told me that they don't know how to use ARMS, so they can't answer my question about how ARMS works. Or, if I assign a car at insurance rates, the local office will still try to sell supplemental insurance and ad ons even though the local office knows that it isn't part of my company's profile.

While the book makes it sound like the Enterprise field offices are entrepreneurial fields of dreams, they are sometimes run down and scuff walled lonely outposts in the backs of car dealerships and body shops. The book says that Enterprise doesn't want to spend much money on offices because customers won't be there long. This is balanced by the awesome customer service, and the free soda offered on a hot day. I've never been offered a free soda at an Enterprise office.

As to the culture, from speaking with former Enterprisers, after a while, the go go go atmosphere becomes too much. If you are not 25-30, young and willing to party it up, you won't keep up with the culture. I also get the impression that the work hours are very tough - 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at a job where you are running all day to move cars.

All that being said, Enterprise is the only car rental company that I refer as a claims adjuster. They get the job done, know the claims process, and have plenty of locations. I can confidently refer a claimant to Enterprise and know that the process will go smoothly enough, and Enterprise will be helpful to me and the claimant.

This book was written in 2007. Listening to the book in 2009, after the bank meltdowns and stock market flop, it's hard to be this enthusiastic about the wizards of car rental that founders of Enterprise are made out to be. This business book has some solid customer service ideas, many which are in practice at the $4B/year company I work for, but I would have liked a little less candy coating ala Mr. Sklar's reading of the material.

Although there is some good information in this book, it is hidden behind a gushing view of the one company used as an example, Enterprise. It is obviously just a book about Enterprise, but without any hint of objectivity. The title should have been "Enterprise: An Almost Perfect Company". If I had known that prior to reading it, I would have had a much different expectation.

A few other annoying habits in this book include:

1. End every section with a list of ideas just presented in the chapter.
2. Always remind the reader how great Enterprise is.
3. Pound it into our brains.
...
18. Make sure every list is a really, really long list.

On reading Exceeding Customer Expectations, I was very positively struck by the well defined, actionable and insightful "lessons learned" that can be applied to any business/industry. While employing a relatively straightforward business model and corporate philosophy, Enterprise inspires and engenders loyalty in a customer base that returns on a regular basis. The superior service that those customers enjoy then leads to the best advertising of all - word of mouth testimonials to fellow customers/consumers who have a myriad of choices but who ultimately choose Enterprise. Bravo to Enterprise and to author Kazanjian for bringing forward this success story in Exceeding Customer Expectations!

Disclaimer: I briefly worked for Enterprise back in the '90s. It's true, "customer service" was pounded into our heads from day one. Not because anybody really cared about it, but because they were afraid of what would happen if the customer service ratings sucked. Heads would roll.

Who needs that kind of work environment? Providing good service for customers is an obvious key to success in any business. Scaring the employees to death about it only causes stress, employee resentment, high turnover and...lousy service.

Get a clue, Enterprise. Learn how to treat employees as human beings. Sure, customer service should be a priority, but going about that in a way that makes employees want to do that...that's how you do it.

Obviously, this book was written as propaganda, so the corporation could feel good about itself. The reality is, nobody's buying into the hype. Nobody's drinking the kool aid anymore.

The author uses Enterprise to uncover critical insights that he distills into clearly stated key points. The essential focus of the book is on people...employees.

This is an first-rate analysis of a winning company, giving the reader important guidelines for success in any highly competitive market. Human resource professionals (yes, HR folks) should read this book, along with those who are concerned with business planning and marketing.

This book was well written and told a nice story about a very successful company, Enterprise Rent-a-Car. But something seemed to be missing here: Reality.

All the business jargon sounds good, and may have been the way the company used to do business, but that business model isn't working in today's recessionary times. They're not making as much money, their employee morale is low, their turnover is high, and their customer service, while not horrible, isn't what it used to be. Something's gone wrong, and this book does nothing to find out what went wrong, or since it was written a while back---what was about to go wrong.

Maybe the author should do a follow up piece, but I don't think this one would get the corporate stamp of approval this time around.

But at least it might be a more realistic depiction of the way things are in today's business climate.

The author writes a wonderful story about the humble beginnings of what would become the world's largest and most profitable car rental company; and how the company's simple philosophy of treating its employees fairly, and providing the best possible service for its customers, would help build an empire.

That actually happened. I know; I worked there for 26 years, and saw it happen, because I was right in the thick of things, as the pioneer for much of the company's expansion in the Desert Southwest.

I left the company over eight years ago, sensing the ill-fortune that would be forthcoming, but not really believing things could get as bad as they actually got.

I watched from the sidelines, shocked by the massive layoffs that began in late October of 2008. Employee morale seemed to have hit new lows, not just because of the tough economic times, but because very few really seemed to believe the company really cared about them anymore.

As is so often the case in Corporate America, Enterprise seems more concerned with their immediate financial condition than about the long-term prospects of creating a positive and highly motivated work environment; and that's a shame.

This book is AWESOME! Although Enterprise is a car rental company, many of their methods can be successfully applied to other businesses. Another great companion book to this is The Ultimate Question by Fred Reicheld. They both make the assertion that you have to turn first time customers into "promoters" who will return AND bring others with them. When I need to rent a car I will Pick Enterprise...They Pick Me Up!!!

I found this book to be one of the best I've come across for showing what you can do to really create lifetime customers. It truly starts with doing the right things for your employees and training them to always acknowledge and make customers feel welcome and appreciated. I found the examples from Enterprise to be inspiring and enlightening, and especially enjoyed learning about the company's unique program for compensating and motivating employees.

The book is well written and the lessons really do apply to any kind of business. I highly recommend it whether you are looking to improve customer service, increase employee loyalty and retention, or make your business operate more efficiently.