You never know what’s going to come at you in your day. For example, you could be taking a friend to the airport, letting them get out of your car, and have a Lexus whip around and take out your passenger door (and almost your passenger too) – like this:
My poor car… beat up by a really crummy driver speeding in a loading zone. 
But, thank God, my friend was not hit.
And, interestingly enough, a business opportunity came from what would have normally been a slow, irritating, claims process.
My car (not drivable because she took my door from being partially opened to pushing it beyond it’s opening radius) was towed to a repair facility near my home, and I had to rent another car two weeks of repair time. The collision center had Enterprise come pick me up.
I travel a lot. I’ve rented cars from many companies, but never Enterprise. And I have to say, it was one of the best customer service experiences I’ve had in ages. Picked me up from the facility, great staff, a great deal of follow-up to make sure all was okay with the car they gave me – and when there was a problem with my rental (strange noise), an immediate upgrade was given at no additional expense.
In a difficult situation, they made a difference.
In fact, it was such a positive experience for me that it led me to ask to speak to a regional manager to set up a corporate account for Piranha, and make them a Preferred Partner for Piranha where we create a partnership agreement that gets our Piranha Members negotiated rates on any rental needs they have.
The lesson here isn’t simply that I had a car accident… but what was able to be created out of an event I had no control over.
Someone else’s mistake, became my opportunity – because I CREATED it.
And if Enterprise in Tempe had given me a horrible customer experience, I would have simply complained rather than created. (Dan Sullivan talks about how in trying times people have two coping mechanisms, they can either create or they can complain… so this was a perfect example of this truth in action.)
The other lesson is that you NEVER know what opportunity you can create by delivering a great customer service experience.
If they would have seen me as just some woman with a beat up car, and a rental at a low insurance negotiated day rate, this could have been much different.
But, because they treated me as their best client of the day (as they seemed to with every client), this simple single “transaction” has the possibility of becoming a large source of on-going revenue for them.
All of us, in every business, have this opportunity to create “gold” in our business day. By treating every opportunity to connect with a client as valuable, you literally can uncover possibilities you didn’t even know existed.
Keep it ELF!
- Lisa Wagner
Enterprise is really good. They make mistakes like any other company, but they do an excellent job of recovering.
I had an experience in Las Vegas with Dollar. They really messed up on their 800 line and let me reserve a car that the local office did not have. I had plenty of time to get another car, if I knew, but I thought I had one reserved. When I went to get the car I blew up at the agent. She took it well, then called me later after I went back to the hotel and told me I could have a car that was just returned. It was dirty, but I could have it.
Frankly I wouldn’t have called me if I were her. I was a total jerk then, but she turned it around and made me happy. She created Gold for Dollar. I’ll always remember her.
Comment by Scott @ onlinemlm.com — January 22, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
Great story and example of how to habitually give great value. Thanks
Comment by patrick walsh — January 22, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
So sorry to hear of your experience… but so glad to see you turn it around. We have used Enterprise for over 20 years. A couple of hiccups over the years, but they’ve always fixed it beyond our expectations.
I write to their corporate office every time I have a problem that they resolve, and have several response letters from them on file.
The next step, Lisa, is to get these guys to exhibit (and sponsor) at your upcoming trade show, and maybe have you or Joe make a presentation at one of their local… then national meetings.
Comment by Martin Howey — January 22, 2009 @ 7:15 pm
I have always had good experiences with Enterprise. In regards to turning it into a business opp. I often eat at particular small resturant, more-so during the duck and pheasant season. As I was frequenting my favorite eatery one day, with my hunting partner, I noticed that the carpet had been recently cleaned but not well. I asked the owner who was doing their carpet cleaning and offered to do her next quarterly cleaning for the same price. If she didn’t think the quality of cleaning was significantly better, it would cost her nothing and she could go back to using her old service. That was 4 years and 4 referals ago. Relationships and oppertunities are a wonderful thing
Rick Cabral
RE-NU CARPET CARE
Comment by Rick — January 22, 2009 @ 10:59 pm
Very true Lisa. You turned a negative into a positive. Thanks for thinking about us. Your actions showed that your Piranha members are always on your mind. It’s good food for thought to help us in keeping cool under diress and seeing how unselfishly we can turn it into a positive…Lisa, you seem to naturally be that way anyway
Is that true Joe? 
I’m happy to hear you struck up a deal with Enterprise. They hve always ben good to me and do have excellent customer service…By the way, I’m glad nobody got hurt! The Lexus driver teaches us also to stop,take deep breaths, smell the roses and CHILL OUT 
You were keeping it ELF Lisa…Kudos
Comment by David Estrada — January 26, 2009 @ 11:32 am
Great story and example
Comment by Genel Temizlik — January 28, 2009 @ 7:13 am
Lisa,
As my work van was just broadsided earlier today (by a nice older gentleman who failed pulling out of a grocery store lot right into me) I can attest to the fact that is nice to have good business relationships and to utilize your opportunities. The customer service from that local body shop is incredible as we’ve build a relationship with them over the past years – more through referrals to them than business for them thankfully.
Enterprise is our first choice when coming to Platinum meetings due to their customer service. The smiles, occassional complimentary upgrades (for more legroom) and the complimentary bottle of cold water in hot Arizona all make coming off a flight easier. The little touches that along with a competitive price make the big difference.
Comment by Bert — January 30, 2009 @ 12:01 am
There are careless drivers & thoughtless people in our world but you made good of the situation and came out ahead. It reminds me of an event at an airport when flights were canceled, one exceptional person, “Sir Richard” became obsessed with that situation and took the initiative that led to many great business arrangements later on in his life. And…that’s the real power of life. We don’t know from one day to the next what changes will occur and no matter how hard we strive to plan our events, destiny has it’s own rules of engagement. Thank You for welcoming me onto this site.
Comment by frank burns — February 7, 2009 @ 6:43 pm