I’m in anywhere from 20-50 rental cars each year, and I’ve got a question for the rental car companies:

Why don’t they have a 4×6 laminated index card attached to every dashboard with the handful of basic functions we all need to know about?

How to start the car, where the wipers are, how to open the gas cap, how to control lights and brights, etc.

“Not my job.”

That’s why; because it’s nobody’s job.

Every car company today is trying to out-do each other with cool gadgets and new technology, which means no two cars have basic functions in the same place anymore. 

People in rental cars are traveling, which means they’re often rushed and stressed. They’re in an unfamiliar environment and just want to get where they’re going.

Why should they have to spend an extra 30 minutes just figuring out how to use the car’s more basic functions?

Empathy-based Business

Lay out an elegant, color-coded card with pictures for each car and stick it to every dashboard with a piece of velcro. And if you’re a branch manager and don’t know how to do that, just call your tech-savvy niece. She’ll have it done in an hour. Give her cookies or something.

Just because it doesn’t directly increase the bottom line doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. Empathy is the foundation of great organizations. 

If you have customers, their perspective is the only one that matters.