If you want to increase your equipment rental revenue, it’s time to get back to rental basics. It’s easy to get wrapped up in taking care of your day-to-day work of managing people, deliveries, pickups, maintenance, and everything else you need to take care of – and that’s great! It means business is humming along. But by refreshing yourself and your team on these three basics, you’ll open the door for even more revenue opportunities.
Is your communication on point?
Your counter staff has a tough job: They need to answer phones and take orders quickly, but they also need to ask questions to ensure each customer gets what they need to get their job done properly.
Don’t just rent the equipment a customer is asking about. Ask about the job the customer is renting on. Anticipate other potential equipment needs the customer may have. Make those suggestions as a knowledgeable adviser! You’ll need to have information available as quickly as possible to ensure the customer isn’t waiting too long – equipment is pretty similar regardless of where a person rents from. Two things bring customers back: Understanding what they need and providing it efficiently.
Whenever it seems too difficult to reconcile the “ask questions/get the order taken care of ASAP” conundrum, remember the CSR’s prayer: “Lord, grant me the serenity to accept customers whose orders I can’t change, the courage to ask questions to those that need it, and the wisdom to know which customers are which.”
How quickly are items returning to fleet?
Equipment rental stores are focused on their equipment rental revenue. Sometimes, that means maintenance (and maintenance cost tracking) takes a back seat…but it shouldn’t. By tracking how long repairs take, the cost of repairs and maintenance, etc., you’ll be getting the full story on the equipment in your lot. As it ages, you’ll start to see the uptick in repair costs, and can make an informed decision about when to offload your assets.
Are you just giving it away?
When we visit potential clients, especially dealerships, we often see old parts in the back, just gathering dust. Old inventory continues to lose value until you scrap it. But before you scrap something, why not have your sales guys call customers to see if they’d like to buy it at a huge discount? Not only will you actually be making money on the stuff you were going to get rid of, but your customers will appreciate the fact that you thought of them. Oddly enough, people often are happier receiving something at a huge discount than getting it for free, because it feels like they got something of value (just don’t let them know that you were going to give it away for free).
The best part about the basics is that they’re easy to implement, especially if you have rental software. Your counter staff needs to know which items you have available to add to a piece of machinery? Software can pull up a list of suggested items when they add it to a contract. Rental software reports include repair and maintenance history, give you machine ROI and help you determine when to sell. It even allows you to pull up lists of customers who would be able to use those parts you’re about to scrap, so you’re not wasting your sales team’s (and your other clients’) time.
Point of Rental’s equipment rental experts, Jon Hoffer (Herc Rentals, Volvo CE, Home Depot) and John Wooten (All Star Rents, RentX) will answer your questions in a webinar on August 27. They’ll be talking about specific techniques you can use to enhance your profits (both from this list and beyond). Sign up now!
