Episode 16 - Hertz

Focus on Customer Service Podcast

With more than 10,000 locations in 150 countries, Hertz is a world-renown rental car brand. In fact, Hertz is the largest worldwide airport general use car rental company with more than 1,600 airport locations in the U.S. and more than 1,300 airport locations internationally. Not surprisingly, that creates the need for outstanding customer service – before, during and after the actual car rental experience. Laura Smith, Senior Director of Customer Care, North America at Hertz brings more than 15 years of experience in customer contact centers to the role. With an eye toward growing social customer care beyond what is already 10% of service inquiries at Hertz, she believes in meeting the customer wherever they are and exceeding their expectations. Laura joined me and Dan Moriarty for episode 16 of the Focus on Customer Service podcast. Some of the most quotable moments of this episode include: • “At Hertz, there’s a really good understanding and support for social and the importance that it plays.” • “We really believe that it’s our role to meet the customer at whatever point in their journey they choose and through whichever channel they choose.” • “We can create opportunities for our brand.” Here are the highlights of Episode 16 and where to find them: 1:26 Laura’s role at Hertz 2:50 How Laura’s team handles social care across multiple brands 6:16 Hertz’s response time goals and prioritization methods 9:11 The ROI of social care 11:48 Should companies be pushing customer service inquiries to social media? 12:55 Hertz’s social care hiring practices 17:10 Examples of how Hertz empowers its customer service agents 18:37 How social care efforts integrate with loyalty programs 20:37 Where social customer service is going in 2016 23:17 Laura’s advice for companies trying to build an awesome social care team To suggest a brand for a future podcast, please tweet us using the hashtag #FOCS. The Focus on Customer Service podcast is also available on iTunes and Stitcher.