Background
Badger Rental Services was founded in Savannah, Ga., in 1978, by Roy Redmond. In 1989, Redmond made his sons-in-law, Gary Shurling and Paul Drew, full partners in the business and the company moved to Garden City, Ga. Now Garrett Shurling (Gary’s son), who was raised in the business, represents a third generation of family leadership at Badger. The company prides itself on its ability to provide quality equipment and excellent service to everyone from international firms to homeowners.
Problem
Shurling is a technophile. Badger Rental Services has been using Point of Rental to run its business since 1997. Many rental software businesses that have been around a while rely on their reputation and their customers’ inertia to keep customers on board. How do Shurling and Point of Rental ensure that Badger Rental Services is able to integrate new technologies to benefit the company?
Solution
While Point of Rental has always listened to its customers to drive its innovation (11 RER Innovative Product Awards attest to that), the company formalized its listening process in 2017. uInnovate, an online feedback management system that allows users to submit software suggestions, vote on current suggestions, and see what additions the company plans to add, now helps guide future software enhancements.
“It’s good to know that Point of Rental is really listening to their customers,” Shurling said.
From RFID tracking integration to website order management and electronic signature capabilities, Point of Rental has been providing Badger Rental Services with the technology they need to compete as an independent retailer.
“When you have a small team, and you are a single, independent store that’s growing at the speed that we are, it’s literally impossible to grow your business without good software behind it,” said Shurling. “We really do need exceptional software from a team that understands equipment rental and understands the needs of a growing company. I think we’ve found that with Point of Rental.”
Result
The partnership between Badger Rental Services and Point of Rental has never been stronger.
“As computers and technology continue to evolve, as AI and machine learning come onto the scene in a commercial way…you can either choose to embrace it or not,” said Shurling. “If you choose the latter, you’re going to be left behind. Down the road, we’ll continue to run into issues that we don’t have the answers for…It’s good to know that we can just pick up the phone and there’s always somebody there on the other end from Point of Rental, willing to help.”