Holiday Reflection

This article first appeared in the December 20, 2004 weekly email to my Leaders Edge and Achievers Circle groups. It has since been circulated to Hertz employees all around the Southeast.

I was trying to decide if I should write a normal message this week. During the Holidays I love to take time for reflection. I also know that everyone is so busy these next two weeks and many of you take time off, that I wasn’t sure how much anyone would be in the mood for work. Or reading a long email about selling or some hot category.

But I got my answer about what to write this week when I had my most recent experience with James.

James works as a bus driver for Hertz in New Orleans. He ferries people between the airport terminal and the Hertz facilities a few minutes away. I fly into New Orleans a lot and I always rent from Hertz. So I’ve seen James a few times this year.

If Hertz has a more positive employee anywhere in America than James, I haven’t met them. (And I’ve met a lot!) Coming onto his bus is not a routine experience. He greets every customer in such a warm way. The very first time I rode with James he carried my suitcase out of the bus telling me, “Hey, you look like you need a break.” When I handed him a tip he said, “No thank you, sir. This is my job.”

Saturday I got into James's bus again. “Happy Holidays, sir. How are you today.” He greeted me like he had known me for years; even shook my hand when I got off the bus four minutes later and wished me a great Christmas.

James was back on duty when I returned my car on Sunday. “Hello again, Mr Doyle,” he said. How did he remember my name?) Before the bus departed for the terminal, he spotted a couple who had just returned their car and had a lot of luggage and Holiday packages. I watched as he jumped off the bus and went all the way across the parking lot to help them with their stuff. In all my years of renting cars I have NEVER seen a driver do that. The folks he helped offered him a tip. I watched as he turned it down.

He asked me if this was my last trip before the Holidays. When I told him I would be flying back into New Orleans on Christmas morning he said, “You’ll probably see me. I’m working a 12-hour shift that day.” When I started to commiserate with him for having to work he wouldn’t hear it. “It’s all good. My family is grown. Besides work is sorta like my vitamins, it keeps me going.”

Work is like my vitamins. It keeps me going.

I spent the flight home to Tampa thinking about James. And about Fred, the mailman who is the central character in Mark Sanborn’s best selling book about customer service and attitude, The Fred Factor. (Fred was Mark’s postman. And delivered extraordinary service to his customers!)

Here is my lesson from James. I love and frequently use a meditation/affirmation that says everything I give is given to me in return. I think that means that if I send love into the world, love is returned back to me. If I give service, I get service back. (I also think that if I send anger or resentment into the world I get that back!!!) While watching James two things became apparent to me. First, he gives abundantly. But here’s the cool thing. He gets back. James probably gets more genuine compliments and positive strokes than most of us will ever get. How? By serving in such a totally unselfish way. So in a wonderful way his service to others provides him with the fuel to keep going and keep serving. Positive energy CREATES positive energy.

How would it be if we saw our roles like James? Serving abundantly. Loving life. Giving to others with no expectations. But getting back abundantly as well.

That’s my goal for the New Year and for all years.

I send all of you Holiday greetings and much gratitude for your friendship and your business.

Dodge and Chrysler’s New AD Campaign…the WORST ever

“My name is Ram and my tank is full.”

Have you ever seen an ad campaign this bad in your life? This is the kind of ad that was likely written by a bunch of people who have never, ever even been in a truck; people who must think Texas is a foreign country. It’s that bad!!

And by the way, the new ad efforts for Chrysler and Jeep aren’t a whole lot better. If this is what we can expect from the new Chrysler, then sell your stock immediately. Oh, I forgot, they don’t have stock anymore. They went bankrupt and you and I, the American taxpayer, bailed them out.

Saying an ad campaign is the worst ever is a risky call. That means the Dodge campaign has to have defeated some of the biggest losers of all time. Ones like the Nissan campaign that promoted Mr. K (or was he Dr. K) and a car they had stopped making years before. That wasn’t too smart. Or the classic Infiniti launch where some smart ad agency decided that they shouldn’t offend customers by actually showing the car. So instead, let’s show leaves and streams and hope that customers accidentally discover that our cars look good. Well, the customer apparently didn’t. And 20+ years later Lexus still creams Infiniti in sales.

But the Chrysler ads may even be worse than you think. My opinion? They're making the “It’s Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile” mistake. Don’t change the product. Change the ads. Oldsmobile told me it was no longer my father’s car, but they didn’t bother to change the car. So customers would go into showrooms and say, “Gosh, it sure looks like my father’s Oldsmobile.” And we all know what happened to Oldsmobile.

It’s a pretty fundamental rule of marketing that the customer is actually rather smart. And when they see a sexy ad for a not-so-sexy car, they get it. Or a truck ad written by people who have never driven a truck.

Want to see a great ad campaign? How about Howie Long’s TV spots for Chevrolet? Watch those and you’ll think about switching from Honda or Toyota to Chevrolet. They clearly understand their #1 marketing challenge. They’ve built cars that are competitive and look good (note to Chrysler - you might try that!!). And the ads stake out a clear difference and benefit for the customer.

The Fiat takeover of Chrysler was supposed to bring some new thinking to a stodgy company. But if this is what’s going to happen, my Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep dealer friends are in even bigger trouble than I thought.

“My name is RAM. And my tank is full” What crap!!