Avis – We try harder…

I was thinking the other day about the Avis slogan “We try harder.” as I waited in a very long Avis line in the Atlanta airport after a late flight in. There were no less than 30 people deep in line and only 3 clerks. The slogan just kept ringing in my ears. “We try harder.”

As I neared the front of the line after no less than 40 minutes standing in line I was getting excited. It sometimes feels like winning the lottery when you are close to the front and all those suckers are behind you. Haha I thought, I am in the front and you are in the back – I win. Is it odd that my pain is eased by the pain of others?

However the sweet taste of victory was soon swept away as one of the clerks decided that her shift was over and left with no more than a uninterested glance. I have no doubt she worked her full shift, but I just didn’t understand how she could look up with no expression and said I am done and left. There were still 25+ people in line.

One of the other line patrons exclaimed, “Try harder? at what?” He threw in a few choice adjectives as well which I edited for this blog entry. After I finally got a car, the bus took about 15 minutes during the time that the Avis renters all counted the Hertz buses going by (all 7 of them). When we boarded the bus was packed with people each hoping to get a car. After the normal bus ride each of us were dropped at our car.

I was pointed to the silver SUV in D4 (or something like that) I wearily threw my bags in and drove to the gate. The guy checked my papers and said – wrong car. Ok – i went to the space marked on my rental form, what should I do now? He said, wrong car – go find the right one.

Ouch, this hurt. Nevertheless I turned around reparked the wrong car and started to inspect adjacent spaces for the car that was specified in the contract NOT the space # noted on the form. I did finally find it and it all worked out. I invested FAR MORE time that I expected to at with Avis and I don’t believe that they try harder.

As a NYSE traded company (NYSE:CAR) you would think that a slogan would be more than just a bumper sticker. Let me say that I have had a couple other experiences at Avis in the past that were neutral or positive, but one SUPER negative experience tends to cloud that memory.

What is my point? Well to me the lesson is to be careful what you promise. The slogan we try harder was hard to swallow for customers as I witnessed multiple counts of apathy from virtually all employees of Avis.

I know that the bar for iFLOOR is high and we have such passionate people working around the clock to create and then protect a positive customer experience. The experience with Avis to me reinforces that I must remain ever vigilant against complacency. Our leadership team must focus on a predictable and positive experience EACH AND EVERY TIME or customers will vote elsewhere with their checkbooks. Our people make the difference.

That is why we encourage our folks to “PUT THEIR NAME” on every transaction. Treat it as if this experience was for your best friend or your mother. We want to make a difference by showing what customer service can be! We must be better. We must be different. When we fail to meet these aspirations it hurts customers and impedes success.