If car rental is changing at its quickest pace ever, the most important aspect will always remain constant — the customer. Educational programming scheduled for the 2020 International Car Rental Show (ICRS) is designed to help operators understand their customers to better serve and retain them. 

In “Improving the Customer Experience in the Digital Age,” Daniel Florence, chief operating officer for Sixt USA, will walk attendees through Sixt’s training tools and customer interaction techniques to deliver a seamless customer experience as car rental evolves in the digital age.

This evolution does come with questions on the future of service-based sales. In the seminar “The Changing Customer and Future of Ancillary Product Sales,” presenters Jenni Corwin of JD Power & Associates and Ken Stellon of Frontline Performance Group will explore new product offerings in the context of the modern traveler’s mindset.

They’ll demonstrate how other parts of the travel spectrum — from airlines to cruises — have addressed the balance of service and ancillary sales to drive profitability in this new era.

The American public books over half of their travel on a mobile device, and that percentage is growing.

With that in mind, the seminar “Your Customers Are Mobile - Are You?” will outline the critical factors to implementing a fully mobile rental experience to gain those mobile customers. Brian Walsh of Sofiac, Shawn Concannon of TSD, and Jason Manelli of Rent-A-Wreck will conduct the seminar. 

For Latin American attendees of La Convención de América Latina, the seminar “Service vs. Sales: The Everyone Wins Scenario” will explore the conundrum of low daily rates in certain parts of Latin America and the pressures to capture profitability through high-pressure incremental sales.

Presented in Spanish by consultant Robert Gordon, attendees will gain strategies to sustain profitability while maintaining a high CSI (customer service index). 

“At the ICRS we’ll deliver the technology and the tools to create a more efficient operation,” says Chris Brown, executive editor of Auto Rental News and conference chair. “Yet we’ll never lose focus that the customer is the reason any car rental company stays in business.”

The 2020 International Car Rental Show convenes March 22-24 at Caesars Las Vegas.