Tips on helping HLE gaining more Market Share

I currently work for HLE. Can anyone give me tips on gaining more business from ERAC (Replacement & Retail). I know ERAC payoff alot of accounts to keep sending them business. Any suggestions will help. Thank you.

send all ERAC corporate accounts a link to this website!!!!

Here are a few in group 26

Dick Dyer Volvo
Progress Energy
Wachovia
Bank of America

Also, setup direct bills with major insurance companies....start advertising........I will do all I can to help you claim market share!!

Go marketing to all of their accounts. Offer pick up and (real) delivery. Enterprise uses the "delivery" tag as a teaser... When they say delivery (sometimes called a special delivery)...it really means they drive the car to the customer, do the paperwork, and have the customer drive the ERAC employee back to the branch. Oh so tricky!

Also, market to the insurance companies, body shops and agents that you will rent their customers similar cars to what they own! Customers hated getting Metro's and Sunfires for the $25/day their insurance would cover.

You could also try billing Insurance Replacement rentals on a 24 hour day instead of Calendar day as ERAC does... That use to really piss people off!

Finally, on Insurance rentals-accept Debit cards or cash for deposits. ERAC gets a lot of customers simply because no one else will rent to them!!! Oh-and rent clean cars with a full tank of gas. That alone will probably do the trick!!

HLE simply is not set up to compete with ERAC on any real level. Your marketing techniques are simple. You go into an ERAC account and throw a bunch of money at them while promising great service. Sometimes ERAC will agree to pay the account "rent" in an effort to fend you off, but in the end HLE and their bottomless pockets (thanks to Ford Motor Company) will get the account. After a 4-6 months the account usually comes back after the HLE employees pissed off all their customers. Please reply. Let's talk about this.

I agree, alot of ERAC employees are very outgoing, and aggressive people. Both companies thrive in providing great customer service. But, ERAC brainwash their people in "hard selling every customer," running a tight fleet (most of the time no cars), and overall it seems employees are getting abused and mislead by the ERAC Dream that will NEVER COME TRUE all over the nation. Just look at this website! In my opinion, HLE wants accounts to realize it is better for them to have a OPEN playing field. ERAC will never again be the only rental car company in the suburban market. Accounts and people will have the power to choose.

I agree that ERAC will never again be the sole company in what was once our unique market. ERAC must run tight in order to be profitable. If we are not profitable, we do not have a wealthy company like Ford to pay our bills for us. Please understand that I am not putting down Hertz in any way. People on this website hate ERAC because ERAC is one of the few companies left out there that actually demands that its employees perform. So many other companies (not just rental car companies) out there pay their employees to just show up and do not place any real emphasis on job performance. If you do well at one of these companies you move up quickly. If you do not do well, you become one of the non-productive masses that fill space in a cubicle. The fact that we run so lean makes it necessary for every employee to pull his or her own weight.

As far as accounts having the option to choose, I think this is a very good thing. Monopoly breeds poor customer service and lazy business practices.

As an analogy, I will compare ERAC and Hertz to the airline industry. ERAC is very similar to companies like Southwest and JetBlue. These organizations are set up to provide quick, inexpensive service to short haul customers that do not require many custom amenities. These organizations run very lean operations and rely on high utilization of their resources in order to remain profitable. Cost cutting and the elimination of wasteful spending is crucial to the success of these organizations.

Hertz on the other hand is comparable to companies like American Airlines and United. These organizations specialize in providing luxurious, long haul service to discriminating customers. Sky-high overhead and inefficient utilization of company resources what these organizations have become known for. Their inability to control their costs has forced the government to bail them out time and time again. Cost cutting is not a part of their corporate culture. These dinosaurs are constantly trying to cut costs to become more competitive but their proverbial guts have grown so fat that they cannot tighten the belt far enough to truly compete with Southwest and JetBlue.

I know ERAC and HLE (Ford) both have deep pockets. I have seem numbers from both companies. Both generate billions in revenue per year. I think job performance is important where ever you work. Both company do want to be profitable.

The difference is HLE's utilization is around 85% and up. ERAC's utilization goal is 92% and up. Customers never have an option to choose what they want to drive w/ ERAC. At HLE, you have the option to upgrade if you want. It seems ERAC people are put under so much pressure to SALE. Where employees have no way, but to use "scared tactics," cheat, and lie to customer to close a sale. ERAC's uppermanagement are always trying to sell rookie employees in dreaming of making a 6 figure salary someday, that will NEVER COME TRUE. Can you tell me if I were to work for ERAC today, what are my chances of becoming a ARM in 4-6 years? If I were to quit ERAC in good terms, will ERAC rehire me down the road?

People on this website hate ERAC because ERAC is one of the few companies left out there that actually demands that its employees perform.
-Not quite, bud. Sell well and say the right things to the right people and you advance. Problem is that MANY of those that do advance are not equipped to lead. They are rushed through and promoted quickly and end up alienating and frustrating their employees simply because they don't know how to be good managers and are not encouraged to be good managers by the company. They are there to maintain the status quo.


ERAC is very similar to companies like Southwest.. Cost cutting and the elimination of wasteful spending is crucial to the success of these organizations.
-The difference between Southwest and Erac is that the culture at Southwest doesn't cause a mass exit of solid employees to leave the company. The same cannot be said of Erac. Your mention of wasteful spending is interesting. Wasteful spending... ya mean like the employees? Pushing experienced employees out the door to bring in new ones that you can pay less may be a great way to be successful in your eyes, but that is simply bullshit and a bad way to treat people in my eyes.

Erac does not care about people, only saving and making money. Sure companies have to control costs, but the way in which Erac does it is crap. I bet you would not be so eager to defend Erac if you suddenly found yourself on the railroad tracks of cutting costs and the big Erac train ran you over. To Erac you're just as expendable as the people you try and put down on this site.

"You're an asset, expendable asset. And I used you to get the job done, got it?"
-Carl Weathers in Predator

To realitycheck:

I agree with you that some employees are put into management positions before they are ready. Unfortunately, some upper managers equate sales ability with management ability. Often, the best salespeople tend to be chronic micro-managers that are uncomfortable with delegating any kind of real responsibility to their employees which only services to perpetuate the cycle of promoting poorly trained managers.

As for pushing experienced employees out the door, how else would you suggest we deal with employees that consistently fail to perform? If have ever worked for ERAC, you know the kinds of people I am speaking of. Do you remember those managers that were at a 100 car branch for two years, or those assistant managers who kept jumping from one mid-sized branch to another, or those MAs who passed their grill and ended up working on the back end for a large branch? All these employees are experienced, but experience doesn't guarantee performance. Do you think we like bringing in new employees? Do you think I enjoyed running a branch with three new hires that required constant hand holding and training? As a front-runner I would much rather have had experienced employees, but as a branch manager I knew I needed employees that wanted to be there and were driven to succeed.

To HLELA:

Now to address HLELA's question: "Can you tell me if I were to work for ERAC today, what are my chances of becoming a ARM in 4-6 years?"

HLELA, do you believe that everyone that works with ERAC for 4-6 years should be automatically entitled to an Area Manager position? If ERAC really was "trying to sell rookie employees in dreaming of making a 6 figure salary someday, that will NEVER COME TRUE", how can you explain the fact that just MY group has over 70 area managers?

Your second question: "If I were to quit ERAC in good terms, will ERAC rehire me down the road?" I personally know someone who quit ERAC on good terms, went to work for HLE in Los Angeles for a year or two, then came back to ERAC and is now an Area Manager. Not only did this guy work for HLE, he used the relationships he built at ERAC to lure several big accounts away from ERAC and over to HLE. Do you think HLE would be as magnanimous if the situation were reversed?

Let me ask you a question HLELA. How does it feel to know that the only way your company can gain market share is by bribing accounts and giving away full/premium sized cars for compact car prices? It must feel good to know that you are killing your own business just to get a temporary boost in performance. It's almost as if HLE is the Jason Giambi of the rental car industry.

You know ERAC does the same thing. If rental car co XYZ rent cars for $20/day or less for their account....you will too.
That's great that you have 70 Area Mgrs in your Group. How many ARM position(s) are open now?
And about the rehire employee that is ARM now, that's a good story. To be honest w/ you, Hertz loves ExERAC employee. ExERAC employee knows the business, hardworking, and are outgoing. Hertz will hire any ExERAC employee in a heart beat.