Retention, Retention, Retention (and Tow Trucks)

Not a large blog this week. Most of my work energy continues to go into the consolidation of retention strategies at AAA. The trick here is to change the perspective to understand the levers of retention in the eyes of the member. Another way of putting it is: what is it that a member sees that makes them choose to renew or not, and then what can you control for - then finally have you put in place the right initiatives to cover all of the points of decision making for the member. It is within this broad framework that I am trying to categorise the challenges and opportunities for AAA.

For those that were wondering, here is my desk at AAA - and I am managing to keep it a little tidier than is normal for me. I have my own printer at the desk, which is a real luxury, but I have needed to get used to being a little more downsized than my desk back at RAC.

I was lucky enough to get out onto the trucks yesterday. I spent the day with one of AAA top performing contractors, Mountain View Towing. This business started working for AAA 30 years ago and today is run by two sons, Michael and Danny, of the original founder. They were the 2005 and 2006 winners of the top contractor for AAA NCNU (based largely on member satisfaction). This is photo of one of their new truck, which I got to spend 3 hours in cruising with Carl (shown in the photo).

Mountain View uses AAA dispatch, contractors run their own territories and can choose to run their own dispatch or to use AAA. The dispatch for AAA is based in Arizona with their IT, however what I saw of it worked flawlessly (excluding the screen locking up at one point) it was hard to believe the dispatchers were so far away. The trucks all had screens in them called Rangers, which were also controlled from Arizona - they contained key call details and also GPS systems for the drivers to use. Carl had two tows while I was with him, but in general it was a really slow day - normally they would do at least 10 jobs a day.

After a lunch with Michael and Danny, I went out on a battery truck for three hours with Reggie. Reggie was a gun, he regularly sells 40 batteries a month, but from my personal experience can assure he only sells them when it is appropriate. It was great to watch these guys in action (there was not a lot of value I could add!).

Outside of work, I went across to Alcatraz on the weekend with my parents (who left us on Monday - everyone in my family was sad to see them go). It was a great experience, even though the self guided tour was a little slow (but maybe that was just the guide....). Over the weekend it was Fleet Week, which is when the military puts on a show for the public, including the Blue Angels - a troupe of F/A 18s that do airshows, primarily to support military recruitment. So we got to see a pretty cool show while waiting for the ferry. Here is one last photo - which I took late on Sunday night (walking home from dinner with my parents) - it is of the Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco to the East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley and others). It is about 1 km from our condo.

Don't be shy - please keep in touch.