Why do some #carhire companies go banckrupt! fifth chapter
Team
First of all I have to tell you something about myself, those who do not really know me may think that I am antisocial (and I do not blame them) but I like extraordinary people therefore I am exaggeratedly (some would say) selective in terms of the people with whom I decide to spend my time both personally and professionally and no, I am not an elitist at all (my best friend is a person I have met at work when he was a driver and he also cleaned cars but when he worked he was 100 % there, he is one of the most honest people I have ever met and the type of friend that when you call him and tell him that you have a problem he asks you "who do we kill?" not literally but it makes you understand that he is by your side without asking too many questions). I remember that once I have chosen the team with which I was going to work in Madrid, I only had one person with experience in the car rental business and when I have discussed it with the other branch and country managers they have told me that I am crazy but for me the most important thing is the person and his personality, the rest is can be learned (if I remember well we have been the first office not to lose money :)).
I tell you another story, every week a 56-year-old man came by the office and left his resume, he wanted to work as a car cleaner and I always kept his CV underneath since I thought that with his age he would not be able to bear the rhythm but one day I thought "Fuck Robert, you are a Romanian (or as I have heard many times in this wonderful country, a fucking Romanian!) in which someone has had confidence and you are here running a car rental office, no do what mediocre people do, do not prejudge, so I have decided to give you the opportunity to work together with the rest of the team. It has been one of the biggest surprises and professional lessons I have learned, Mr. Guru (that's what we called him) it was a machine washing cars.
In another car rental company I had a boss (I think he didn't even know why leaders get the respect of their teams without using shouting and threats) who was called the "diabolical doll" where surprise, there was an impressive staff turnover but nobody wondered why, it was always the fault of those who left.
Back to our business, the entire team of a #rentacar company is essential, the cleaning guy because it depends on him having the cars prepared, in optimal aesthetic conditions and on time, the shuttle driver because he is the first person in the company with which the client comes in contact with and we know that the first impression is essential (valid for car rental companies that offer the shuttle service), the agents because they are the ones who serve the clients and the team leader who is in charge that the team works like a Swiss watch, if one of these elements that make up the team does not work well, instead of a Swiss watch we will have, in the best case, a replica of a cheap watch.
Long story short, one of the reasons why a car rental company goes bankrupt is the team (because a bad team equals bad customer service and / or a toxic work environment) and the most important and responsible figure of the hypothetical failure is not the driver nor the reservations agent but the boss / leader.
In my country we say this: "The fish begins to rot from the head!".