Spotlight on Service: Branch Manager Kyle E

Kyle E. is the go-to branch manager in northern Nevada.

Exceeding expectations of customers and employees, and capitalizing on an opportunity to relocate, best describe Kyle’s paths to success at Enterprise.

When other branches need cars, a pick-up of a stranded customer, or just about any other assistance, the call goes to Kyle, the top branch manager in his region during the past fiscal year.

“He’s the leader everyone in the area goes to when it comes to customer service,” says Area Rental Manager Jennifer L.“Kyle has been known to save the day more than once.” 

Taking care of customers and employees first 

So what’s the magic formula? Equal parts employee support and customer service. “I try my best to make my people happy because their attitudes rub off on the customers and make interactions go smoothly,” Kyle says. 

A case in point was a customer who needed a car on a Saturday morning, but couldn’t locate one in Reno. Kyle told the customer a car would be ready if the customer arrived before the office closed at noon. 

The customer showed up just minutes before closing and the branch had no cars. Kyle, also without a car for himself, quickly called a manager at a neighboring branch and asked him to drive over as soon as possible, with no other explanation. When the manager arrived in an Enterprise car, Kyle turned the keys over to the customer. 

“My friend from the other branch said, ‘Did you just rent my car?’” Kyle says. “I said, ‘Sorry, man, but my wife will be here and give us a ride.’ The customer was getting a huge laugh out of it.” And that customer wound up being in the rental for 70 days while he looked for a new vehicle to replace his car that was too old to be worth repairing. 

“You just have to have that mentality with everyone you help every single time,” says Kyle. 

Internship sets the stage 

Kyle has had that mentality ever since he started as an intern in Las Vegas five years ago. He received an internship award for proposing that Enterprise staff a branch with Spanish-speaking employees in a part of town with many Latino residents. “They would come into our branch asking in English if we had anyone who spoke Spanish, and when we said no, they left,” Kyle says. “I did some research and found there were many Latinos in a part of Las Vegas who did not speak English at all, or who were uncomfortable speaking English. So they were an untapped market for us.”

During his internship and in his first few years afterward, Kyle noted he performed better when his managers built strong relationships with him. It’s a lesson Kyle took to heart when he accepted an offer to transfer to Reno for promotion to branch manager.

“You’ve got to know your people — who they are and why they are here — and use that motivation to get them going,” Kyle says. “I want them to know if there’s a difficult situation, I will be there to help them handle it. I will take accountability for anything that could happen in the office.”

Jennifer has worked with Kyle in Las Vegas and Reno. She notes that employees at Kyle’s branch have learned the mantra ofcustomer service. “He’s done a great job training new employees to have that mentality,” she says. “He makes sure they understand what it takes to exceed the customer’s expectations in every transaction.”

“Since he’s been here, he’s shown that in almost any situation, he finds a way to make it right,” says Jennifer.