What’s the secret to wowing your customers while maintaining a loyal and dedicated workforce? No one knows better than Enterprise, the nation’s #1 car rental company. Drawing upon the time-tested strategies that have propelled Enterprise from a single location in St. Louis into a $9 billion global powerhouse, EXCEEDING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS reveals how to:

• Actively seek out unsatisfied customers and quickly turn them into loyal fans
• Hire smart people and train them from the ground up
•Develop methods to reduce costs and add value for your customers in every interaction.
• Grow your business by rewarding employees with financial incentives, forming strong partnerships, and focusing on the long-term
• Thrive during tough economic times by bringing new advantages to the market
• Cultivate a fun and friendly workplace where teamwork rules

In EXCEEDING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS, noted business author Kirk Kazanjian reveals how your company can consistently outperform and outsmart the competition by following a simple philosophy espoused by Enterprise founder Jack Taylor: “Take care of your customers and employees first, and the profits will follow.” Winning customer loyalty is like running a marathon–not a 100-yard dash. By mastering this principle, Enterprise has earned not only record profits, but also received numerous awards for customer service and earned an enviable reputation as one of the world’s best companies to work for.

EXCEEDING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS imparts timeless lessons on satisfying both customers and employees that you can put to use right away, no matter what your business or industry.

Customer Rating:
Summary: "Pick Up" Your Customer Service!!!
Comment: 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!!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book about a great company
Comment: Enterprise is the best, and this book tells us exactly why. Take care of your customers and employees first, then the profits will follow. Well written, easily understood, this is a book that anyone having anything to do with customer service should read. Learn the secret that makes Enterprise Rent-a-Car so succussful. Well worth the read.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: PROVIDES IMPORTANT GUIDELINES FOR SUCCESS IN A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE MARKET.
Comment: 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 reading 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.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Book. Wrong Title.
Comment: 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.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for your business
Comment: If you are looking for a book to give your employees for customer service skills this is the only one.

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