Earning Customer Loyalty
Déjà vu
Reading this tweet from Doug Fleener on Twitter this morning caused me to dig into the archives and update this story. “There seems to be no cars available at Dollar Rent a Car. Not a very good experience sitting here waiting!”
It was mid-December (2007) when I contacted Budget Rent-a-Car saying that I needed a car on Maui on Christmas Day. “No way”, or something like that was the response. I had to understand, since Christmas Day begins the busiest week of the year here in Hawaii.
One week later I was on a plane to Maui and got into a discussion with the guy next to me. He turned out to be a VP of National Car Rental. I explained my Christmas Day dilemma and he said, “If I can get you a car, can we have your business?” I said, “You can for that trip, for sure. Where we go from there we will have to see; I have been loyal to Budget for more than 25 years.”
He gave me his card saying, “E-mail me your flight information and I will see what I can do”. I did, and when I arrived on Maui on Christmas Day, there was a driver waiting for me with a brand new car.
Well that was a year and a half ago, (now 2 1/2) and I have not been back to Budget since.
It pays to be willing to go the extra mile to get (and or keep) business.
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
I would think that after all of those years of good service that you would be more understanding about Budget not having a car for you on Christmas Day. Can we call you “spoiled?”
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:48 am
I would say that the whole point here went over the head of Reality Check. This was not so much about what Budget didn’t do as it was what someone else did; went the extra mile. In this case that act of buying a car to satisfy the customer gained his loyalty for years to come.